A complex instruction set computer (CISC, /ˈsɪsk/) is a computer where single instructions can execute several low-level operations (such as a load from memory, an arithmetic operation, and a memory store) and/or are capable of multi-step operations or addressing modes within single instructions. The term was retroactively coined in contrast to reduced instruction set computer (RISC).
Examples of CISC instruction set architectures are System/360 through z/Architecture, PDP-11, VAX, Motorola 68k, and x86.
Famous quotes containing the words complex, instruction and/or set:
“The money complex is the demonic, and the demonic is Gods ape; the money complex is therefore the heir to and substitute for the religious complex, an attempt to find God in things.”
—Norman O. Brown (b. 1913)
“Much of the pressure contemporary parents feel with respect to dressing children in designer clothes, teaching young children academics, and giving them instruction in sports derives directly from our need to use our children to impress others with our economic surplus. We find good rather than real reasons for letting our children go along with the crowd.”
—David Elkind (20th century)
“They roused him with muffinsthey roused him with ice
They roused him with mustard and cress
They roused him with jam and judicious advice
They set him conundrums to guess.”
—Lewis Carroll [Charles Lutwidge Dodgson] (18321898)