1-bit computing: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 20:26, 20 June 2021

Revision as of 21:48, 1 July 2021

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[[File:MC14500BCP.jpg|thumb|1-bit [[programmable logic controller]] MC14500BCP]]

In [[computer architecture]], '''1-bit''' [[integer (computer science)|integer]]s or other [[data#Uses of data inData (computing)|data]] units are those that are {{nowrap|1 [[bit]]}} (1/8 [[octet (computing)|octet]]) wide. Also, 1-bit [[central processing unit]] (CPU) and [[arithmetic logic unit]] (ALU) architectures are those that are based on [[processor register|register]]s of that size.

There are no computers, [[microcontroller]]s of any kind, such as [[programmable logic controller]]s that are exclusively 1-bit for all registers and [[address bus]]es. A 1-bit register can only store 2¹ different values, i.e. 0 or 1, or they can mean e.g. on and off. This is very restrictive, e.g. not enough for a [[program counter]] (which is on modern systems implemented in an on-chip register), that isn't implemented on-chip in some 1-bit systems. [[Opcode]]s for at least one 1-bit processor architecture were 4-bit and the address bus was 8-bit.