Podcast
Questions and Answers
What is the primary goal of Reduced Instruction Set Architecture (RISC)?
What is the primary goal of Reduced Instruction Set Architecture (RISC)?
How does Complex Instruction Set Architecture (CISC) fundamentally differ from RISC?
How does Complex Instruction Set Architecture (CISC) fundamentally differ from RISC?
What does the instruction set architecture (ISA) include?
What does the instruction set architecture (ISA) include?
What is a common characteristic of CISC instructions?
What is a common characteristic of CISC instructions?
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What is NOT typically a part of an instruction set?
What is NOT typically a part of an instruction set?
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Which of the following statements about machine instructions is true?
Which of the following statements about machine instructions is true?
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Why might programmers need to understand machine instruction sets despite high-level languages?
Why might programmers need to understand machine instruction sets despite high-level languages?
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Which of the following accurately describes the impact of using a CISC architecture?
Which of the following accurately describes the impact of using a CISC architecture?
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Study Notes
Instruction Set
- The instruction set, or ISA (Instruction Set Architecture) defines programming at the machine level.
- The instruction set instructs the processor on what to do.
- Each processor architecture has a unique instruction set
- The instruction set controls the processor's functionality including:
- Addressing modes
- Instructions
- Native data types
- Registers
- Memory Architecture
- Interrupts
- Exception handling
- External I/O
Instruction Set Architectures
- There are two primary types of instruction set architectures:
- RISC (Reduced Instruction Set Computing)
- CISC (Complex Instruction Set Computing)
RISC
- Aims to simplify hardware by relying on a small set of basic instructions
- Focuses on speed and efficiency
- Separate instructions are used for loading, evaluating and storing operations
- Example: load, store, add, subtract, multiply, divide, etc
CISC
- Aims to minimize the number of instructions required to perform a task.
- Focuses on providing complex instructions to reduce code size
- A single instruction can perform multiple operations, like loading, evaluating, and storing
- Example: A single instruction, like "Multiply," could load operands, perform the multiplication, and store the result.
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Description
This quiz covers the fundamentals of Instruction Set Architectures (ISA), focusing on the differences between RISC and CISC architectures. It explores how instruction sets define machine-level programming and their impact on processor functionality. Test your knowledge on key concepts like addressing modes, native data types, and memory architecture.
