By: Sudin Shakya B.Sc.IT.

2nd semester

special, high-speed storage area within the CPU. All data and computer instructions must be represented in a register before it can be processed. For example, if two numbers are to be multiplied, both numbers must be in registers, and the result is also placed in a register.

The number of registers that a CPU has and the size of each (number of bits) help determine the power and speed of a CPU. For example a 32-bits CPU is one in which each register is 32 bits wide. Therefore, each CPU instruction can manipulate 32 bits of data.

User-visible registers Control and status registers

These registers are used by the user in machine language an can be executed by the CPU These enable the machine or assembly language programmer to minimize main memory references by the use of registers. Categories:
General purpose registers Data registers Address registers Condition Codes

These are used by the control units to control the operations of the CPU and by privileged operating system program to control the execution of programs. These includes:
Program counter(PC) Instruction registers(IR) Memory address register(MAR) Memory buffer registers(MBR)