What are instructions executed by the computer called?

The word "execute" is often used to mean "perform the machine operation that an instruction asks for." So you can say that "execute the instruction 00000000 to stop the processor," or "billions of instructions execute per second." "Execute" is also used for an entire program or part of a program: "to execute the program, turn the switch to on."

Most programs have groups of instructions that are executed again and again. The light bulb program does this with an instruction that causes the processor to return to the beginning of the program and so to repeat what it just did.

A group of machine instructions that executes repeatedly is called a loop.

A modern processor executes billions of instructions per second. A program without loops would execute for only a few seconds even if it had billions of instructions.

A typical processor is made up of millions of transistors on a small wafer of silicon called an integrated circuit (also called a chip.) The light bulb's processor could probably be built with just a few hundred transistors. Integrated circuits are used for other electronic parts of a computer. For example main memory is implemented with memory chips.

Most modern processor chips have two or more processors on them. Each of the processors on the chip is called a "processor core" or often just called a core. Each core has the same set of tiny electronic operations and runs programs independently of the other cores. When a program is running, it runs on a single core, which performs the tiny electronic operations of the program one at a time.

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Last updated on Sep 22, 2022

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Now that you're investigated many of the parts of the computer and determined how they work together, let's consider a couple of those parts more in depth.

A computer program is a complex system consisting of many different parts. But at the heart -- or the brain, if you want -- of the computer is a single component that does the actual computing. This is the Central Processing Unit, or CPU. In a modern desktop computer, the CPU is a single "chip" on the order of one square inch in size. The job of the CPU is to execute programs.

program is a list of instructions to be followed mechanically by a computer. Computers are stupid; They can only follow instructions in a written in a very simple type of language called machine language. While it is possible to write programs in machine language, this is really tedious and take a long time... so nobody ever really does it anymore. Instead we write in a high-level programming language which is then translated into machine language when our program runs.

When the CPU executes a program, that program is stored in the computer's main memory (also called the RAM or random access memory). In addition to the program, memory can also hold data that is being used or processed by the program. RAM is divided up into sections, or locations, and each location is given a numbered address by the computer. An address provides a way of picking out one particular piece of information from among the millions stored in memory. When the CPU needs to access the program instruction or data in a particular location, it sends the address of that information as a signal to the memory; the memory responds by sending back the data contained in the specified location.

The CPU executes a program that is stored as a sequence of machine language instructions in main memory. It does this by repeatedly reading, or fetching, an instruction from memory and then carrying out, or executing, that instruction. This process -- fetch an instruction, execute it, fetch another instruction, execute it, and so on forever -- is called the fetch-and-execute cycle

A computer executes machine language programs mechanically -- that is without understanding them or thinking about them -- simply because of the way it is physically put together. This is not an easy concept, so let me simplify COMPUTERS DO NOT THINK. A computer is a built of millions of tiny switches called transistors, which can each by turned to "on" or "off". As a computer computes, these switches turn on or off in a pattern determined both by the way they are wired together and by the program that the computer is executing.

Machine language instructions are expressed as binary numbers. A binary number is made up of just two possible digits, zero and one. So, a machine language instruction is just a sequence of zeros and ones. A computer can work directly with binary numbers because switches can readily represent such numbers: Turn the switch on to represent a one; turn it off to represent a zero. Machine language instructions are stored in memory as patterns of switches turned on or off. When a machine language instruction is loaded into the CPU, all that happens is that certain switches are turned on or off in the pattern that encodes that particular instruction. The CPU is built to respond to this pattern by executing the instruction it encodes; it does this simply because of the way all the other switches in the CPU are wired together.

SUMMARY:

Main memory holds machine language programs and data. These are encoded as binary numbers. The CPU fetches machine language instructions from memory one after another and executes them. It does this mechanically, without thinking about or understanding what it does -- and therefore the program it executes must be perfect, complete in all details, and unambiguous because the CPU can do nothing but execute it exactly as written... just like when a student draws a picture based on instruction. 

Here is a diagram of this first-stage understanding of the computer:

What are instructions executed by the computer called?

TASK: In this lesson, we looked at how the CPU works by repeating the fetch & execute cycle on machine language instruction. Your task for 1.2 is to select another part of a computer, and explain how it works in 1 page or less, just as I did for the CPU above. Include diagrams as appropraite. Be sure to include as much relevant detail as you feel is necessary, but explain it in simple enough terms that your classmates can understand it. Use the internet to research and be sure to SOURCE YOUR WORK (That means, include where you got your information in some way. A simple link is acceptable.).

Your options are:

  1. Video/Graphics Card
  2. Ethernet Card
  3. Hard Drive
  4. Motherboard
  5. Optical Drive
  6. Display

You may choose your own, but there is a catch. You must choose a DIFFERENT one than the people sitting on either side of you. Remember, now the task is NOT to tell me what it does ("a display is used to show stuff that's running on the computer" is not acceptable) I want to know HOW it does what it does.

Enjoy!

What are computer instructions called?

A set of instructions that directs a computer's hardware to perform a task is called a program, or software program.

What is a set of instructions executed by the computer?

A program is a set of instructions that can be executed by a computer to do a specific task. A collection of computer programs, libraries, and related data are referred to as software.

What is execute in computer?

In computers, to execute a program is to run the program in the computer, and, by implication, to start it to run. In usage, people run programs and systems execute them.