Addressing Modes

Computer System Architecture

By
M. Morris Mano
Prof. S.Meenatchi, SITE, VIT

Addressing Modes
Specify the way the operands are selected during program
execution.
Usage
To give programming flexibility to the user
pointers to memory, counters for loop control, indexing of data, .

To reduce the number of bits in the addressing field of the

inst.

Prof. S.Meenatchi, SITE, VIT

Operation cycle of the computer

Instruction Cycle- 3 phases
1) Fetch the inst. from memory.
2) Decode the inst. (determine the operation, addressing mode and
location of the operands)
3) Execute the inst.

Program Counter (PC)

Keeps track of the insts. in the program stored in memory.
Holds the address of the inst. to be executed next.
Incremented each time an inst. is fetched from memory

Prof. S.Meenatchi, SITE, VIT

Addressing Mode of the Instruction

Some computers use
1) Distinct Binary Code
Instruction Format
2) Single Binary Code
Designates both Operation and Addressing Mode.

Prof. S.Meenatchi, SITE, VIT

Different Types of addressing mode

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.

Implied Addressing Mode

Immediate Addressing Mode
Direct Addressing Mode
Indirect Addressing Mode
Register Direct Addressing Mode
Register Indirect Addressing Mode
Displacement Addressing Mode (combines the direct
addressing and register addressing modes)
1.
2.
3.

8.

Relative Addressing Mode

Indexed Addressing Mode
Base Addressing Mode

Auto Increment and Auto Decrement Addressing Mode

Prof. S.Meenatchi, SITE, VIT

1. Implied Mode

Operands are specified implicitly in the instruction.

No address field is required
0-address inst. are implied mode inst.
Used by Stack-organized computer
Examples:
COM : Complement Accumulator
Operand in AC is implied in the inst.
ADD
Operands are implied to be on top of the stack.
Effective Address (EA) = AC or Stack[SP]

Prof. S.Meenatchi, SITE, VIT

2. Immediate Mode

Operand is specified in the inst. Itself.

Operand field contains the actual operand.
Useful for initializing registers to a constant value.
Advantage: No memory Reference, fast
Disadvantage: Limited operand magnitude
Example:
Instruction
LD #NBR
Opcode
Operand
Mov R1, #200

Prof. S.Meenatchi, SITE, VIT

3. Register Mode
Operands are in registers.
Register is selected from a register field in the inst.
k-bit register field can specify any one of 2k registers.
Advantage: No memory reference, shorter instructions, faster
instruction fetch, very fast execution
Disadvantage: Limited address space as limited number of
registers
Example:
LOAD R1
MOV R1,R2
Prof. S.Meenatchi, SITE, VIT

4. Register Indirect Mode

Register contains the address of the operand.
Advantage: address field of the inst. uses fewer bits to select a
register than bits required to select a memory address
Disadvantage: Extra memory reference
Example:
LOAD (R1)

MOV R1,(R2)

Prof. S.Meenatchi, SITE, VIT

5. Autoincrement or Autodecrement
Mode

Similar to the register indirect mode except that

the register is incremented after its value is used to access memory
the register is decrement before its value is used to access memory
Example (Autoincrement):
LOAD (R1)+
2 forms post and pre:

Mov R1,(R2)+ post increment

Mov R1,+(R2) pre increment

Mov R1,(R2)- post decrement

Mov R1,-(R2) post decrement

Prof. S.Meenatchi, SITE, VIT

6. Direct Addressing Mode

Operand resides in memory and its address is given in the inst.
In a branch-type inst. address field specifies the actual branch
address.
Advantage: Simple memory reference to access data, no
additional calculations to work out effective address
Disadvantage: Limited address space
Example:
LOAD ADR

MOV R1,2000
Prof. S.Meenatchi, SITE, VIT

7. Indirect Addressing Mode

Address field of inst. gives the address where the effective
address is stored in memory
Advantage: Large address space, may be nested, multilevel or
cascaded
Disadvantage: Multiple memory accesses to find the operand,
hence slower
Example:
LOAD @ADR

MOV R1,(2000)
Prof. S.Meenatchi, SITE, VIT

8. Displacement Addressing Mode

EA = A + (R)
Address field holds two values
A = Base value
R = register that holds displacement
Or vice-versa

Prof. S.Meenatchi, SITE, VIT

(i) Relative Addressing Mode

PC is added to the address part of the instruction to obtain the
effective address
EA= [PC] + address part of the inst.
Advantage: Flexibility
Disadvantage: Complexity
Example:
LOAD $ADR

Prof. S.Meenatchi, SITE, VIT

(ii) Indexed Addressing Mode

XR (Index register) is added to the address part of the
instruction to obtain the effective address
EA= [Index reg.] + address part of the inst.
Advantage: Flexibility, good for accessing arrays
Disadvantage: Complexity
Example:
LOAD ADR(XR)

Prof. S.Meenatchi, SITE, VIT

(iii) Base Register Addressing Mode

EA=Content of a base register + address part of the inst.
Similar to the indexed addressing mode except that the register
is now called a base register (BR) instead of an index register.
Example:
LOAD ADR(BR)
Base register hold a base address
The address field of the instruction gives a displacement
relative to this base address

Prof. S.Meenatchi, SITE, VIT

Basic addressing modes differences

Mode

Algorithm

Advantage

disadvantage

Immediate

Operand=A

Direct

EA=A

No memory
reference
Simple

Indirect

EA=(A)

Register

EA=R

Register indirect

EA=(R)

Displacement

EA=A+(R)

Large address
space
No memory
reference
Large address
space
Flexibility

Limited operand
magnitude
Limited address
space
Multiple memory
references
Limited address
space
Extra memory
refernce
Complexity

Stack

EA=top of stack

No memory
reference

Limited
applicability

Prof. S.Meenatchi, SITE, VIT

Problems
Find the effective address and the content of AC for the given data.

Prof. S.Meenatchi, SITE, VIT

Addressing Mode

Effective
Address

Direct Address

500

AC (500)

800

Immediate operand

201

AC 500

500

Indirect address

800

AC ((500))

300

Relative address

702

AC (PC + 500)

325

Indexed address

600

AC (XR + 500)

900

AC R1

400

Register

Content of AC

Register Indirect

400

AC (R1)

700

Autoincrement

400

AC (R1)+

700

Autodecrement

399

AC -(R1)

450

Prof. S.Meenatchi, SITE, VIT

Numerical Example

Prof. S.Meenatchi, SITE, VIT

Problems
A two-word instruction is stored in memory at an address
designated by the symbol W. The address field of the
instruction (stored at W + 1) is designated by the symbol Y.
The operand used during the execution of the instruction is
stored at an address symbolized by Z. An index register
contains the value X. State how Z is calculated from the other
addresses if the addressing mode of the instruction is

Direct
Indirect
Relative
Indexed

A relative mode branch type of instruction is stored in memory

at an address equivalent to decimal 750. The branch is made to
an address equivalent to decimal 500. What should be the
value of the relative address field of the instruction (in
decimal)?
Prof. S.Meenatchi, SITE, VIT

 How many times does the control unit refer to memory when it
fetches and executes an indirect addressing mode instruction if
the instruction is (a) a computational type requiring an operand
from memory; (b) a branch type.
What must the address field of an indexed addressing mode
instruction be to make it the same as a register indirect mode
instruction?
An instruction is stored at location 300 with its address field at
location 301. The address field has the value 400. A processor
register R1 contains the number 200. Evaluate the effective
address if the addressing mode of the instruction is (a) direct;
(b) immediate (c) relative (d) register indirect; (e) index with
R1 as the index register.
Prof. S.Meenatchi, SITE, VIT

 Assume that in a certain byte-addressed machine all instructions

are 32 bits long. Assume the following state of affairs for the
machine: Fill in the following table:
Address

Value

Instruction

PC

100

Load r0, #200

Immediate

R0

200

Load r0, 200

Direct

R1

300

Load r0, (200)

Indirect

100

200

Load r0,r1

Register

104

300

Load r0, [r1]

Register Indirect

108

400

Load r0, -100[r1]

Based

200

500

300

600

500

700

Load r0, 200[PC]

Addressing mode

Relative

Prof. S.Meenatchi, SITE, VIT

Value in R0

Given the following memory values and a one-address machine with an

accumulator, what values do the following instructions load into the
accumulator?

Word 20 contains 40
Word 30 contains 50
Word 40 contains 60
Word 50 contains 70

Load immediate 20
Load direct 20
Load indirect 20
Load immediate 30
Load direct 30
Load indirect 30

Let the address stored in the program counter be designated by the symbol X1.
The instruction stored in X1 has the address part (operand reference) X2. The
operand needed to execute the instruction is stored in the memory word with
address X3. An index register contains the value X4. What is the relationship
between these various quantities if the addressing mode of the instruction is (a)
direct (b) indirect (c) PC relative (d) indexed?
Prof. S.Meenatchi, SITE, VIT

 An address field in an instruction contains decimal value 14.

where is the corresponding operand located for:

Immediate addressing?
Direct addressing?
Indirect addressing?
Register addressing?
Register indirect addressing?

A PC-relative mode branch instruction is stored in memory at

address 62010. The branch is made to location 53010. The
address field in the instruction is 10 bits long. What is the
binary value in the instruction?

Prof. S.Meenatchi, SITE, VIT