What is data transfer instruction process in Computer Architecture?

Data transfer instructions transfer the data between memory and processor registers, processor registers, and I/O devices, and from one processor register to another. There are eight commonly used data transfer instructions. Each instruction is represented by a mnemonic symbol.

The table shows the eight data transfer instructions and their respective mnemonic symbols.

Data Transfer Instructions

The instructions can be described as follows −

• Load − The load instruction is used to transfer data from the memory to a processor register, which is usually an accumulator.
• Store − The store instruction transfers data from processor registers to memory.
• Move − The move instruction transfers data from processor register to memory or memory to processor register or between processor registers itself.
• Exchange − The exchange instruction swaps information either between two registers or between a register and a memory word.
• Input − The input instruction transfers data between the processor register and the input terminal.
• Output − The output instruction transfers data between the processor register and the output terminal.
• Push and Pop − The push and pop instructions transfer data between a processor register and memory stack.

All these instructions are associated with a variety of addressing modes. Some assembly language instructions use different mnemonic symbols just to differentiate between the different addressing modes.

Example − The mnemonic symbols for load immediate is LDI.

Thus, it is necessary to be familiar with various addressing modes and different types of instructions to write efficient assembly language programs for a computer.