Processor Architecture

Today's microprocessors are the powerful descendants of the von Neumann 1 computer dating back to a memo of Burks, Goldstine, and von Neumann of 1946. The so-called von Neumann architecture is characterized by a se­ quential control flow resulting in a sequential instruction stream. A program counter addresses the next instruction if the preceding instruction is not a control instruction such as, e. g. , jump, branch, subprogram call or return. An instruction is coded in an instruction format of