CISC vs RISC Processors

Instruction Sets

  • At the core of all computers lies the instruction set.
  • The instruction set is the set of all instructions written in machine code.
  • These instructions are recognized and executed by a CPU.
  • Two main Categories:
    • Complex Instruction Set Computer (CISC)
    • Reduced Instruction Set Computer (RISC)

High-Level Abstraction of a Storage Design

  • Main memory at the top with ten locations.
  • Addressed from 0000 in binary through to 1001.