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The program instructions are stored in the main memory as a machine language. |
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Programmers prefer to replace the binary form of the machine language to a symbolic language called |
| assembly language. | |
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This assembly language is the tool used to use the computer architecture. |
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Each computer architecture has it is own instruction sets. |
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The control unit in the processor decodes the instruction and sends control signal to process it. |
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To execute an instruction, the following steps are performed (Morris Mano and Charles Kime, (2007)): |
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Fetch the instruction from the main memory and store it in instruction register. | |
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Decode the instruction. | |
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Locate the operands used by the instruction (if necessary). | |
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Fetch operands from the main memory (if necessary). | |
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Execute the operation. | |
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Store the result in the main memory or a register. | |
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Go back to step 1 to fetch the next instruction. |
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The instruction can have different number of operands such as three-address instructions, two-address |
| instructions, one-address instructions and zero-address instructions. |