Topic 2b
Vole Machine Language Instructions

Learning Objectives

By the end of this topic students should be able to:

• Given the language description table (Appendix C in the textbook) and a single VOLE command, convert the command into English.
• Given the language description table and an English description of a computer operation, produce the corresponding VOLE command.
• Given a partial description of memory/registers and a single VOLE command, identify the value of a particular register or memory cell upon completion of the command.

Learning Materials

• Readings
• Section 2.2- pp 101-108 in your book
• Vole Instruction set - Appendix C, pp 660-662
• Videos
  • Crash Course Computing #8: Instructions and Programs (Look more at the big picture than the details. This uses a different instruction set than that used in your textbook with Vole.)
• Activity
  • Vole Practice Problems
    • Written Answers to these problems are here.
    • A set of detailed video walkthrougsh of this activity is linked below under Additional Guidance

 

Checking for Understanding

Answer the following questions from your textbook. The answers to all Q&E questions are in the back of your book in Appendix F.

• p 108, #1
• p 108, #2
• p 108, #5
• p 108, #6
• p 108, #7

Additional Guidance

If you are still struggling with the material in this topic, the following video may help.

• Explaining the Practice Problems
  • Activity 1
  • Activity 2
  • Activity 3
• I don't know that the CFU questions here need video explanations like they did in the previous chapter. If you want to talk about any of these, please reach out to me!

Further Information

• We do not expect you to have a deep knowledge of the instructions. But for your own curiousity you may want to read more about what each of the 12 instructions does
  • Section 2.4, Arithmetic and Logic Instructions, pp 116-121