Opcode and Operands

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Opcode and Operands

Published by: Nuru

Published date: 18 Jun 2021

Opcode and Operands Photo

Opcode and Operands

An opcode is nothing but the processor’s Operational code which is designed during the manufacturing of the chip. This means you can not change the opcode unless you change the HARDWARE design of the processor. An operand is a variable that stores data(and data can be a memory address or any data that we want to process. The machine language consists of strings of binary numbers i,e., 0's and 1's and this is only the language that is understood by the computer system. Machine code is the fundamental language of a computer. Machine language is also called a low-level language.

What is OPCODE?

Opcodes mean "operation codes".  An opcode is the first part of an instruction that tells the computer what function to perform. Every computer has an operation code or opcode for each of its functions. It is an instruction that tells the processor what to do with the variable or data written beside it.

What is Operand?

An operand is the second part of the instruction, which tells the computer where to find or store the data or instructions. The number of operands varies among computers. Each instruction tells the Control Unit of the CPU what to do and how to do it. The operations are Arithmetic, Logical, Branch operation, etc depending upon the problem that is given to the computers.