A PROCESSOR (6) IS PROVIDED WITH A PLURALITY OF HARDWARE RESOURCES, SUCH AS PERFORMANCE MONITORS (12) AND CONTEXT POINTERS (18). BOUNDARY INDICATING CIRCUITRY (14, 20) STORES A BOUNDARY VALUE WHICH IS PROGRAMMABLE AND WHICH INDICATES A BOUNDARY POSITION DIVIDING THE HARDWARE RESOURCES INTO A FIRST PORTION AND A SECOND PORTION. RESOURCE CONTROL CIRCUITRY (16, 22) CONTROLS ACCESS TO THE HARDWARE RESOURCES SUCH THAT WHEN PROGRAM EXECUTION CIRCUITRY (8) IS EXECUTING A FIRST PROGRAM IT IS RESPONSIVE TO A QUERY AS TO HOW MANY OFF SAID PLURALITY OF HARDWARE RESOURCES ARE PRESENT TO RETURN A FIRST VALUE WHEREAS WHEN THE PROGRAM EXECUTION CIRCUITRY IS EXECUTING A SECOND PROGRAM IT RESPONDS TO SUCH A QUERY BY RETURNING A VALUE CORRESPONDING TO THOSE HARDWARE RESOURCES WITHIN THE SECOND PORTION. (FIGURE 2)
