Episode 94: How Computers Work Part IV - Processor Architecture and Machine Code
The Science of Everything Podcast
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The Status Bits of the a L U Are Used for Conditional Branching Operations
The control bit of the a l u is essentially the op code, or at least a part of the op code. These status bits were often useful for error correction or for branching operations. Some instructions only move data from one register to another, and that doesn't involve the a lu. But many operations will require the a l U. And so like any combinatorial circuit, you just send a number of input bits, and depending on the exact sequence of those bits, it selects what operation to perform.
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