The two things serve different purposes. Machine language is expected to not change drastically over multiple revisions of a processor family, and it's publicly documented (otherwise nobody could use their CPU...) Microcode is the glue between the publicly known machine language and the actual way the processor works internally. It is thus very specific to the particular model of CPU in a way that a normal programmer is simply not interested in. We want the machine language/assembly language to be stable so we don't have to keep learning it over again. The manufacturer has to actually make the CPU *work*.Originally Posted by c_weed
