I would not say that this approach is definitely a failure. Let's consider the following possible uses of it. 1. UNCOL-like language. Now we have LLVM IR and t

I would not say that this approach is definitely a failure. Let's consider the following possible uses of it. 1. UNCOL-like language. Now we have LLVM IR and this is basically the same old UNCOL with all its bad points. Still, due to help of the large companies and with supporting only a subset of possible processor architectures this "LIL" variant is quite popular. 2. An assember with algebraic syntax. This is really good thing to have, much more readable than all those cryptic mnemonics. Here are few interesting examples: DSP assemblers [1] and [2], low-level DSLs [3]. I'm using algebraic notation in my own compilers. There is a trivial mapping between low-level term-based IR and C-like algebraic assembly source (in some cases you even don't need to have a separate simulator, just compile the code with C compiler). [1] http://www.analog.com/media/en/dsp-documentation/processor-manuals/236999443isr_21xxx.pdf http://www.analog.com/media/en/dsp-documentation/processor-m... [2] http://worrydream.com/bkasm/ http://worrydream.com/bkasm/ [3] https://cr.yp.to/qhasm.html https://cr.yp.to/qhasm.html