Instruction format

And
Addressing modes

Prepared by Madhurima Patra

14401062011
Instruction format
• An instruction format defines the layout of the bits of
an instruction, in terms of its constituent parts .
• The bits of the instruction are divided into groups
called fields. The most common fields are
• An operation code that specifies the operation to be
performed.
• An address field that specifies a memory address or
register.
• A mode field that tells us how the operand or the
effective address of the operand is to be found out.
Types of instruction formats

Various types of instruction formats

• Three address instructions

• Two address instructions
• One address instructions
• Zero address instructions
Three address instructions
• Computers with three address instructions use three

address fields to specify either a

processor register or a memory operand.
• For example
ADD R1, A, B R1M[A] + M[B]
As shown, it is clear that in the instruction 3 addresses
are specified. In the above instruction one register
address and two memory addresses are specified.
Example of computer using this type of instructions
Cyber 170.
Two address instructions
• Computers that use this type of instruction have two
addresses specified in their instructions.
• For example
ADD R1, A R1  R1 + M[A]
In this instruction one register is specified and one
memory operand is specified.
In this instruction register R1 is both the source and the
destination.
Most commercial computers use this type of
instructions.
One address instructions
• In this type of instructions an implied accumulator
register is used for all data manipulation.
• For example
LOAD A ACM[A]
ADD B ACAC + M[B]
All operations are done between the AC register and
a memory
operand.
Commercially available computers also use this type
of instruction format.
Zero address instructions
• A stack organized computer does not require an
address field for computational instructions.
• Due to the absence of the address field it is known as
zero address instructions .
• For example
PUSH A TOSA
PUSH B TOSB
ADD TOS(A+B)
The ADD instruction does not need any address field.
Example Burroughs large systems
Addressing modes

• What is addressing mode?

• The addressing mode specifies a rule for interpreting

or modifying the address field of the instruction
before the operand is actually referenced.

• The way the operands are chosen is dependent on the

addressing mode.
Addressing Modes
• Implied addressing mode
• Immediate addressing mode
• Direct addressing mode
• Indirect addressing mode
• Register addressing mode
• Register Indirect addressing mode
• Autoincrement or Autodecrement addressing mode
• Relative addressing mode
• Indexed addressing mode
• Base register addressing mode
Implied addressing mode
• In this mode the operands are specified implicitly in
the definition of the instruction.
• Example – ‘complement accumulator’ instruction
CMA
• Reason – from the definition itself it is obvious that
we have to complement the operand that is placed in
the accumulator.

• All register reference instructions that use an

accumulator are implied mode instructions.
Implied addressing mode diagram

Instruction

Opcode

CMA
Immediate addressing mode

• Operand is part of instruction

• Operand = address field
• Example ADD 5
• Add 5 to contents of accumulator
• 5 is operand
Advantages and disadvantages
• No memory reference to fetch data
• Fast
• Limited range
Immediate addressing mode diagram

Instruction
Opcode Operand

ADD 5
Direct addressing mode

• Address field contains address of operand

• Effective address (EA) = address field (A)
• e.g. LDA A
• Look in memory at address A for operand which is to
be loaded in the accumulator.
• Load contents of cell A to accumulator
Advantages and disadvantages
• Single memory reference to access data
• No additional calculations to work out effective address
• Limited address space
Direct addressing mode diagram

Instruction
Opcode Address A
Memory

A
Operand
Indirect addressing mode
• Memory cell pointed to by address field contains the
address of (pointer to) the operand.
• EA = address contained in memory location M
• Look in M, find address contained in M and look there
for operand
• For example
ADD @M
• Add contents of memory location pointed to by contents
of M to accumulator
Indirect addressing mode diagram

Instruction
Opcode Address M
Memory

Pointer to operand

Operand
Register addressing mode
• Operand is held in register named in the address field.
• EA = R
• Example ADD B
Advantages and disadvantages
• No memory access. So very fast execution.
• Very small address field needed .
• Shorter instructions
• Faster instruction fetch
• Limited number of registers.
• Multiple registers helps performance
• Requires good assembly programming or compiler
writing
Register addressing mode diagram

Instruction
Opcode Register Address R
Registers

Operand
Register Indirect addressing mode
• In this the instruction specifies a register whose
contents give the address of the operand in memory.
• Therefore EA = the address stored in the register R
• Operand is in memory cell pointed to by contents of
register R
• Example LDAX B
Advantage
• Less number of bits are required to specify the
register.
• One fewer memory access than indirect addressing.
Register Indirect addressing mode diagram

Instruction
Opcode Register Address R
Memory

Registers

Pointer to Operand Operand

Autoincrement or Autodecrement addressing mode
• This mode is similar to register indirect mode except
that the register is automatically incremented or
decremented after its value is used to access memory.
• This mode is specially useful when we want to access
a table of data.
• For example
INR R1
will increment the register R1.
DCR R2
will decrement the register R2.
Autoincrement or Autodecrement addressing mode
diagram

Instruction
Opcode Register Address R
Memory

Registers

value
value++ Operand

Operand
Relative addressing mode
• In this mode the contents of the program counter is added
to the address field of the instruction in order to obtain the
effective address.
• EA = A + contents of PC
• Example : PC contains 825 and address part of instruction
contains 24.
After the instruction is read from location 825, the PC is
incremented to 826. So EA=826+24=850. The operand will
be found at location 850 i.e. 24 memory locations forward
from the address of the next instruction.
Relative addressing mode diagram

Instruction
Opcode Address A
Memory

Program counter
Contents of register + Operand
Indexed addressing mode
• The contents of an index register is added to the address
field of the instruction to get the effective address.
• The address field of the instruction is the beginning
address of the data array in the memory.
• Index register contains a index value which can be
incremented or decremented as required.
• Therefore
EA = A + IR
• Example MOV AL , DS: disp [SI]
Advantage
• Good for accessing arrays.
Indexed addressing mode diagram

Instruction
Opcode IR Address A
Memory

Index Register
Contents of register + Operand

A
Base Register addressing mode
• In this mode the content of a base register is added to
the address part of the instruction to obtain the
effective address.
• The base register contains the address of the
beginning of the data array.
• Therefore
EA= A + BR
• For example:
MOV AL, disp [BX]
Segment registers in 8086
Base Register addressing mode diagram

Instruction
Opcode BR Address A
Memory

Base Register
Contents of register + Operand

Value of BR