orthogonal instruction set

1 definition found

orthogonal instruction set - Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (26 May 2007) :

  orthogonal instruction set
  
     <architecture> An instruction set where all (or most)
     instructions have the same format and all registers and
     addressing modes can be used interchangeably - the choices
     of op code, register, and addressing mode are mutually
     independent (loosely speaking, the choices are
     "orthogonal").  This contrasts with some early Intel
     microprocessors where only certain registers could be used
     by certain instructions.
  
     Examples include the PDP-11, 680x0, ARM, VAX.
  
     (2002-06-26)