<figure of 4B architecture>
This is a 4-bit processor. Its goal is to be a processor that is small and
simple enough to be implemented by basic logic elements without the need
for a hardware description language. The idea behind this design is
to let students who learn elementary logic design to be able to implement
this processor within one or two weeks. The difficult part is the
control logic.
The data width is 4 bits therefore it does not taking too much effort in
implementing a data path (registers and ALU). Students will work
with the tools such as LogicWorks (or structural description). They
do not require to learn any hardware description language. The
testing of this processor can be done in a logic simulator (versus having
an FPGA board). Therefore the learning curve to achieve a skill level that
one can build a processor is very low.
To make a processor that is very small, its instruction set is severely
limit. We decide to do with a fixed width instruction. There is one
format:
op:3 arg:5
The argument field is 5-bit therefore the maximum "addressable" memory
space is 32. The "program" and "data" are separate. There are
two 8-bit registers: X and Y and one bit flag.
code mnemonics
1 ldx m x = M[m]
2 ldy m y = M[m]
3 stx m M[m] = x
4 jmp ads pc = ads
5 jT ads if F then pc = ads
6 jF ads if F == 0 then pc = ads
7 xop
0 stop stop simulation
xop
1 add x = x + y
2 sub x = x - y
3 inc x = x + 1
4 dec x = x - 1
5 eq F = x
== y
6 eqz F = x == 0
<figure of 4B architecture>
Add 1, 2, 3, 4 the result is 10.
s = 0
i = 1
while i != 5
s = s + 1
i - i + 1
return s
in assembly language of 4B
:loop ldx i
ldy five
eq
jT exit
ldy s
add
stx s
ldx i
inc
stx i
jmp loop
:exit stop
last update 25 Sept 2017
Prabhas Chongstitvatana