Examples of Instruction Sets

There are various popular instruction sets that are used in the industry and are of theoretical importance. Each one has its own usage and advantages. We have provided instruction set examples based on the following classifications:

• Reduced Instruction Set Computer (RISC)
• Complex Instruction Set Computer (CISC)
• Minimal instruction set computers (MISC)
• Very long instruction word (VLIW)
• Explicitly parallel instruction computing (EPIC)
• One instruction set computer (OISC)
• Zero instruction set computer (ZISC)

Following are the examples of each of the intruction set:

Reduced Instruction Set Computer (RISC)

• ARM architecture is the most widely used instruction set architecture and the instruction set architecture produced in the largest quantity

• MIPS architecture is a 32 bit and 64 bit instruction set developed by MIPS Technologies and is often used in academic study

• OpenRISC is a set of open source instruction sets

• SPARC is an instruction set that has been used in Sun's SunOS, Solaris, OpenSolaris and others and several open source implementation exists. The main development has been paused recently.

Complex Instruction Set Computer (CISC)

• x86 instruction set: used in Intel 8086 CPU and its Intel 8088 variants

• z/Architecture instruction set: is IBM's 64-bit instruction set architecture implemented by its mainframe computers

• Intel 8080: An improved instruction set used in Intel 8080 microprocessor

Minimal instruction set computers (MISC)

• Transputer: is a pioneering microprocessor developed by Inmos in 1980s when it was considered as the next great design for the future of computing

Very long instruction word (VLIW)

• Transmeta Crusoe is a family of x86-compatible microprocessors developed by Transmeta in 2000

• Elbrus 2000 is a Russian 512-bit wide VLIW microprocessor developed by Moscow Center of SPARC Technologies (MCST) and fabricated by TSMC

Explicitly parallel instruction computing (EPIC)

• Itanium: is a family of 64-bit Intel microprocessors and has been the fourth-most deployed microprocessor architecture for enterprise-class systems

One instruction set computer (OISC)

• Cryptoleq is an instruction set consisting of one instruction which is capable of performing general-purpose computation on encrypted programs

Zero instruction set computer (ZISC)

• NI1000 is an instruction set developed by DARPA and Intel

• CM1K is a ZISC architecture designed by Anne Menendez and Guy Paillet