Chapter 5 - A Closer Look at Instruction Set Architectures

Vocabulary flashcards covering key terms and concepts from Chapter 5 on instruction set architectures.

Instruction Set Architecture (ISA)

The part of the computer architecture related to programming, including the instruction set, word size, and data types.

Endianness

The order of byte significance in representing multi-byte data types; major types are little-endian and big-endian.

Pipelining

A technique in CPU design where several instruction steps are overlapped to improve execution efficiency.

Immediate Addressing

A mode where the operand is part of the instruction itself.

Direct Addressing

A mode where the address of the operand is specified directly within the instruction.

Indirect Addressing

A mode where the address of the operand is found by looking at a pointer in the instruction.

Register Addressing

A mode where the operand is located in a register.

Stack Architecture

An architecture where operands are processed in a last-in-first-out manner using a stack.

General Purpose Register (GPR) Architecture

An architecture that allows the use of multiple registers to operate instead of directly accessing memory.

Three-Address ISA

Instruction set architecture where each instruction can specify three operands.

Two-Address ISA

Instructions that can specify two operands, with one expected to be in a register.

One-Address ISA

Instruction set architecture that typically requires one operand to be a register.

Load-Store Architecture

An architecture where data processing occurs only on data in registers, not in memory.

Instruction Length

The number of bits in an instruction, which may vary based on the architecture.

Instruction Complexity

A measure of how many operations can be performed by a single instruction.

Architecture Hazards

Situations that prevent the next instruction in the pipeline from executing during its designated clock cycle.

Data Movement Instruction

Instructions that involve moving data from one location to another.

Arithmetic Instruction

Instructions that perform mathematical calculations.

Boolean Instruction

Instructions that operate on boolean values and perform logical operations.