The computer is defined as the program system which the main purpose is to automatically perform a set of logical or arithmetic operations. The instruction set computer is a programming computer having a variety of instructions, registers (very small block of memory available as a part of processing device), memory, addressing modes and so on. It is the processor which is clearly designed to implement the instruction set. In instruction set computer, the operands are interpreted by using the variety of addressing modes.
Generally, there are two types of instruction set computer. They are termed as reduced instruction set computer and complex instruction set computer.
Reduced instruction set computer
What do you mean by reduced instruction set computer? It is defined as the computer which is simple in construction and uses very fewer instructions to execute faster than the complex instruction set computer. It doesn't use much memory while executing instructions within the central processing unit (CPU). The reduced instruction set computer uses less instruction compared to the complex instruction set computer because it has less addressing modes and the memory used while executing is limited to load & store instruction.The instruction in the reduced instruction set computer is not of variable length.
The instruction is of fixed length. The important characteristic of instruction format is that the instruction present in the computer can be easily decoded i.e. the scrambled electronic instruction signal can be easily converted into an interpretable one.
Where is the operation performed by the reduced instruction set computer? For reduced instruction set computer, all the operations are performed within the register of the central processing unit (CPU). The control unit of such a computer is not microprogrammed, rather it is hardwired. Also, the instruction cycle executed is single i.e. no multiple instruction cycles are executed.
Complex instruction set computer
The complex instruction set computer is defined as the computer having multiple instructions and having the complex construction. Here, the construction of computer is not simple like reduced instruction set computer. As a result, it doesn't execute faster within the central processing unit like reduced instruction set computer. As the complex instruction set computer uses multiple instructions, the number of instructions normally used are around a hundred to few hundred.The instruction uses a complicated integer as well as floating point numbers like square root, sine, cosine, etc.
All the multiple instructions used in such computer operate in the same amount of frequency and perform same assigned task.
It doesn't use few addressing modes like the reduced instruction set computer. In fact, the complex instruction set computer uses multiple varieties of addressing modes and the number varies from few to 50 modes. The instruction format of complex instruction set computer is not fixed i.e. it has variable length instruction format. The instruction is not executed in the register.
Here, the instruction is executed in the main memory but the instruction format can't be easily decoded like reduced instruction set computer. The instruction executed in the main memory uses large blocks of memory.