METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR COMPRESSING PROGRAM CODE AND INTERPRETING COMPRESSED PROGRAM CODE

A computer system and method for compressing an instruction stream and executing the compressed instruction stream without decompression. The invention utilizes a new pointer instruction, i.e., an “Echo” instruction that is used to replace repeated instructions or sequences of instructions, also referred to as phrases. Replacing subsequent, repeated phrases with the Echo instruction reduces the size of the instruction stream, i.e., compresses the instruction stream. The Echo instruction generally identifies at least one literal instruction appearing before the Echo instruction and further identifies the number of instructions appearing before the Echo instruction to be repeated. No additional delimiters are necessary, e.g., no End Echo instructions are required. Omitting the End Echo instruction allows for overlapping phrases without the need for two Echo instructions. Reducing the number of instructions used significantly increases compression.