Computer Instructions

On modern computers, the length of an instruction is usually 32 bits or 64 bits.

The set of rules in a certain computer that tell how a machine instruction is structured is called ISA: Instruction Set Architecture.

ISA tells how many bits an instruction consists of. For example, whether an instruction must feature 16 bits:

+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
| 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+

or 32 bits:

+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
| 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+