One of my students - Scott - knew I'd interested in how the Amiga DE byte code is translated to target CPUs (x86, PowerPC, M Core, ARM, StrongARM, MIPS R3000, R4000, R5000, SH 3, SH4, and NEC V850 processors) at load time. From developerWorks : Linux : The new Amiga -- VP assembly code demo

...provides an in-depth introduction to the Amiga's revolutionary VP (virtual processor) assembly code, the heart of the new Amiga's Digital Environment. By the end of the article you'll have a good understanding of how VP works, not to mention how darn cool it is!