Instruction Set

Architecture
Virendra Singh
Computer Architecture and Dependable Systems Lab
Department of Electrical Engineering
Indian Institute of Technology Bombay
http://www.ee.iitb.ac.in/~viren/
E-mail: viren@ee.iitb.ac.in

EE-309: Microprocessors

Lecture 17 (25 Aug 2015)

CADSL

Instruction Set Architecture

Instruc5on set architecture is the structure of a
computer that a machine language programmer
must understand to write a correct (5ming
independent) program for that machine.

The instruc5on set architecture is also the
machine descrip5on that a hardware designer
must understand to design a correct
implementa5on of the computer.
25 Aug 2015

EE-309@IITB

CADSL

Instruction Set Architecture

(ISA)
soBware
instruc5on set

hardware

25 Aug 2015

EE-309@IITB

CADSL

What Are the Components of an ISA?

Some5mes known as The Programmers Model
of the machine
Storage cells
General and special purpose registers in the CPU

The machine instruc5on set

The instruc5on set is the en5re repertoire of
machine opera5ons

The instruc5on format

Size and meaning of elds within the instruc5on
25 Aug 2015

EE-309@IITB

CADSL

Basic Machine Organizations

Source: CA: A quantitative approach

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Complex vs. Simple Instruc5ons

Complex instruc5on: An instruc5on does a lot of work, e.g. many
opera5ons
Insert in a doubly linked list
Compute FFT
String copy
Simple instruc5on: An instruc5on does small amount of work, it
is a primi5ve using which complex opera5ons can be built
Add
XOR
Mul5ply

25 Aug 2015

EE-309@IITB

CADSL

Complex vs. Simple Instruc5ons

Advantages of Complex instruc5ons
+ Denser encoding smaller code size beYer memory
u5liza5on, saves o-chip bandwidth (beYer packing of
instruc5ons)
+ Simpler compiler: no need to op5mize small instruc5ons as
much

Disadvantages of Complex Instruc5ons

- Larger chunks of work compiler has less opportunity to
op5mize (limited in ne-grained op5miza5ons it can do)
- More complex hardware transla5on from a high level to
control signals and op5miza5on needs to be done by hardware

25 Aug 2015

EE-309@IITB

CADSL

Thank You
25 Aug 2015

EE-309@IITB

CADSL