The CPU executes the instructions of a program one at a time. Unless explicitly modified, instructions are executed in the order in which they are ranked. To execute an instruction, the CU first fetches (gets) the instruction from memory and loads it into the IR register. The CU then interprets and executes the instruction by generating the corresponding set of electronic signals. The execution involves breaking the instruction down into one or more operations. Also it may involve the usage of the ALU so as to perform arithmetic and/or logic operations on the instruction data. |
