To begin with, we assume you have a knowledge of binary numbers. The Smalltium processor is a 16-bit processor. The Smalltium has 256 words of memory and each word is 16 bits. The system memory is sometimes referred to as core . Instead, the processor understands a language called machine language .
Machine language is expressed in binary numbers.
For a RISC processor, each instruction is the same number of bits, unlike a CISC processor, where the length of an instruction depends on which instruction it is. Part of any machine language instruction has to say what kind of instruction it is. This part of the instruction is known as an opcode . The opcode in Smalltium instructions is the first four bits of the instruction. This is a typical number of instructions for a RISC processor.