Computer architecture: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 17:07, 26 May 2025

Revision as of 12:55, 30 May 2025

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{{Main|Instruction set architecture}}

{{Unreferenced section|date=March 2018}}

An [[instruction set architecture]] (ISA) is the interface between the computer's software and hardware and also can be viewed as the programmer's view of the machine. Computers do not understand [[high-level programming language]]s such as [[Java (programming language)|Java]], [[C++]], or most programming languages used. A processor only understands instructions encoded in some numerical fashion, usually as [[Binary numeral system|binary number]]s. Software tools, such as [[compiler]]s, translate those high level languages into instructions that the processor can understand.<ref>{{cite web |title=Glossary |url=https://codasip.com/glossary/isa |website=Codasip |access-date=30 May 2025}}</ref>

Besides instructions, the ISA defines items in the computer that are available to a program&mdash;e.g., [[data type]]s, [[Processor register|registers]], [[addressing mode]]s, and [[Computer memory|memory]]. Instructions locate these available items with register indexes (or names) and memory addressing modes.