Hardware register
A hardware register is a small, rapidly accessible storage location within a processor or processing device that holds data, addresses, or control information during execution.
Modern C
A hardware register is a small, processor-local storage location that holds a machine value or control information.
- How it is used
- Explains how a processor executes assembler instructions and realizes C storage through registers and memory.
- How deep it goes
- Defines registers within the von Neumann model and illustrates their operands in x86_64 assembler, without detailing register conventions.
- Examples
- Uses x86_64 assembler listings for fgoto, including register saves, loads, comparisons, and moves.
- What you can do after
- Evaluate assembler output by identifying register operands and distinguishing their operations from memory accesses.
Rust in Action: Systems programming concepts and techniques
A CPU register is a small, processor-local storage location holding an operand, address, instruction state, or status value.
- How it is used
- Models CPU-accessible values used as arithmetic operands and in control-flow decisions.
- How deep it goes
- Works from a two-register addition model through opcode selection, 16 registers, a program counter, and a carry flag, without describing physical circuitry.
- Examples
- Uses a two-register addition opcode, a 16-register CPU struct, and overflow handling with the last register as a carry flag.
- What you can do after
- Build it from scratch: represent registers in a CHIP-8 emulator and use them when decoding and executing arithmetic instructions.
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Modern C, Third Edition
A hardware register is a small, processor-resident storage location that holds values used during instruction execution.
- How it is used
- Explains how compiled C functions realize execution and automatic storage through processor registers and memory.
- How deep it goes
- Connects registers to assembly instructions, addresses, function arguments, and optimized code, but remains a concrete architecture glimpse.
- Examples
- Uses x86_64 assembler listings showing stack setup, pointer dereferencing, argument passing, and optimized register usage.
- What you can do after
- Evaluate compiled output by tracing values between registers, memory locations, and function arguments.
Read how Modern C, Third Edition explains hardware register →
Classic Game Programming on the NES: Make your own retro video game
A processor register is a small, directly accessible storage location holding an instruction operand, address, or processor state value.
- How it is used
- Uses registers as fast temporary storage for calculations and moving game data in NES assembly.
- How deep it goes
- Defines the 6502 registers and their roles, but stops short of a full assembler tutorial or detailed instruction walkthrough.
- Examples
- Uses player-ship location, player score, music progress, object coordinates, and register-role diagrams and tables.
- What you can do after
- Apply it via 6502 assembly by loading game data into registers for calculations and moving results back to memory.
Related concepts
- memory hierarchypart of · A memory hierarchy is an arrangement of storage levels with differing capacities, access speeds, latencies, costs, or persistence.
- CPUused by · A CPU, or central processing unit, is a general-purpose hardware processor that executes computer instructions and performs computational operations.
- store instructionused by · A store instruction copies a value from a processor register to a specified memory location.
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