| |  | *** [instruction set|http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instruction_set] is the complete set of operations a particular CPU is engineered to perform |
| | | The set of fundamental operations that a computer is engineered to perform are known as it's [instruction set|http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instruction_set]. The fundamental operations of a computer tend to be very primitive operations; that is, each operation does very little, and it takes a lot of operations to accomplish significant work. But these fundamental operations can be done very quickly. |
| | |
| | This small sample computes the sum of the integers from 1 to 1000 |
| | |
| | {noformat} |
| | mov #0,sum ; set sum to 0 |
| | mov #1,num ; set num to 1 |
| | loop: add num,sum ; add num to sum |
| | add #1,num ; add 1 to num |
| | cmp num,#1000 ; compare num to 1000 |
| | ble loop ; if num <= 1000, go back to 'loop' |
| | halt ; end of program. stop running |
| | {noformat} |
 | | *** the instruction set and packaging are what make a Pentium different from a PowerPC |
| | | |
