Computer Architecture Unit 2

numeric format (suitable for storage in memory). The structure of the ISA is
given below:
1. Class of ISA: The operands are registers or memory locations and
approximately all ISAs are now categorised as general-purpose register
architectures. The 80x86 has 16 general-purpose registers and 16
registers for floating-point data. The two accepted editions of this class
are register-memory ISAs, which can access memory only with load or
store-instruction. Figure 2.4 shows the structure of a programming
model consisting of General Purpose Registers and Memory.

Figure 2.4: Programming Model: General-Purpose Registers (GPRs) and

Memory

2. Memory Addressing: Virtually all desktop and server computers,

including the 80x86, use byte addressing to access memory operands.
Some designs require the objects to be aligned. The 80x86 does not
require alignment, but accesses are generally faster if operands are
aligned.
3. Addressing Mode: Every instruction of a computer states an operation
on certain data. There are a numerous ways of specifying address of the
data to be operated on. These different ways of specifying data are
called the addressing modes In addition to stating registers and constant

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Computer Architecture Unit 2

operands, addressing modes mentions the method to calculate the

effective memory address of an operand by using information held in
registers.
The 80x86 supports some addressing modes for code or data:
i) Absolute/direct address

It needs large space in an instruction for long address. It is generally

accessible on CISC machines that have variable-length instructions.
ii) Indexed absolute address

Even this needs large space in an instruction for large address. The address
is the beginning of an array and the particular array element needed could
be selected by the index.
iii) Base plus index plus offset

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Computer Architecture Unit 2

The beginning address of the array could be stored in the base register, the
index will choose the particular record needed and the offset can choose the
field inside that record.
iv) Scaled

The beginning of an array or vector is stored in the base register and the
index could contain number of the particular array element needed.
v) Register Indirect

This is a distinctive addressing mode. Many computers just use base plus
offset with an offset value of 0.
4. Types and sizes of operands: Machine instructions are operated on
operands of several types. Some types supported by ISAs include
character (e.g., 8-bit ASCII or 16-bit Unicode), signed and unsigned
integers, and single- and double-precision floating-point numbers. ISAs
typically support various sizes for integer numbers.
For example, arithmetic instructions which operate on 8-bit integers 16-
bit integers (short integers), and 32-bit integers are included in a 32-bit
architecture. Signed integers are represented using two’s complement
binary representation.

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Computer Architecture Unit 2

5. Instructions: Machine Instructions are of two types control flow

instructions and data processing. Data processing instructions
manipulate operands in memory locations and registers. These support
arithmetic operations, logic operations, shift operations and data transfer
operations. Control flow instructions help us to change the
implementation flow to an instruction other than the subsequent one in
the sequence.
6. Encoding an ISA – There are several factors such as the architecture
type, the number of general purpose registers, the number and type of
instructions, the number of operands, etc. that affects encoding. The
Variable length technique states that every operation can work with
almost all addressing modes compatible with ISAs. The fixed length
instruction encoding, depicts that the opcode is united with addressing
mode specifiers. A third technique known as hybrid is a combination of
both. It reduces inconsistency in instruction encoding, but permits
multiple instruction lengths.
Implementation: Implementation of the instruction set architecture
comprises of two components: organisation and the hardware. The high-
level attributes of a computer’s architecture, such as the memory system,
the memory integration, and the architecture of the internal processor or
CPU, are components of the term organisation. CPU i.e., the central
processing unit is where arithmetic, logic, branching, and data transfer are
implemented.
Hardware are the particulars of a computer, as well as the comprehensive
logic design and the packaging technology of the computer. Frequently, a
line of computers contains computers with different comprehensive
hardware implementation. But these computers are identical instruction set
architectures and nearly identical organisations. Figure 2.5 shows the
components of architecture.

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Computer Architecture Unit 2

Figure 2.5: Components of Architecture

Here, in this unit, the word architecture covers all three aspects of computer
design – instruction set architecture, organisation, and hardware. Thus,
computer designers must design a computer keeping in mind the functional
requirements as well as price, power, performance, and goals. The
functional requirements also have to be determined by the computer
architect, which is a tedious job. The requirements are determined after
reviewing the market specific features. Also, the computer designers must
be aware of the technology trends in the market and the use of computers
to avoid unnecessary costs and failure of the architecture system. Thus, we
will study some important technology trends in the following section.
Self Assessment Questions
5. The world’s first designer was ___________________
6. ___________________ acts as the boundary between software and
hardware.
7. ISA has ___________________ general-purpose registers.
8. CISC stands for ___________________.

Activity 1:
Visit any two organisations. Now make a list of the different type of
computers they are using – desktop, servers and embedded computers –
and compare with one another. What proportion of each type of
computing are they using?

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