The ODYSSEY methodology takes an unconventional approach to designing at Electronic System Level (ESL): it expands the traditional definition of the processor instruction-set and introduces a new class of processors whose instructions correspond to the methods of an object oriented class library. These new processors, called Object-Oriented Application-Specific Instruction Processor (OO-ASIP), provide a versatile vehicle to explore the synergy between hardware and software not only when implementing an OO application for the first time, but also more significantly, when expanding an existing...