- Instructions
- Instructions are basic commands composed of one or more symbols that when passed to a processor as input, produce a specific output pattern. Functions an instruction can perform include adding two numbers, subtracting two numbers, reading a byte from input, writing a byte to output and more.
At the lowest level, computer processors execute instructions. Computers must be given information and then told what to do with it. Binary data is the information and instructions are the 'what to do'. The computer's clock cycles in a regular pattern between zero and one, releasing pulses of electricity into the rest of the computer's circuitry. Each pulse is called a 'clock cycle'. During each clock cycle, the computer executes part or all of an instruction. Some instructions take more than one clock cycle, others take only part of a clock cycle.
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