The [Oberon] system introduces a mechanism called ''Slim Binaries'' at

        http://caesar.ics.uci.edu/oberon/research.html#SlimBinaries

It is a way to store optimized ''machine-independent'' code in such a
way that loading can convert it to machine code while loading. Due to
the compactness of the represenation, loading times (from mass storage
or networks) is actually extremely good, compensating for the extra
CPU effort required to generate real code on the fly.

It's also a perfect way to define a portable "almost-executable" s/w
format. See ''Juice'' [http://caesar.ics.uci.edu/juice/] and
''Mobile Code for Intrusion Tolerant Systems'' [http://www.ics.uci.edu/~franz/ITS.html].

Michael Franz's home page the inventor of ''Slim Binaries'' [http://www.ics.uci.edu/~franz/].