Minimal instruction set computer

Minimal instruction set computer (MISC) is a central processing unit (CPU) architecture, usually in the form of a microprocessor, with a very small number of basic operations and corresponding opcodes, together forming an instruction set. Such sets are commonly stack-based rather than register-based to reduce the size of operand specifiers.

Such a stack machine architecture is inherently simpler since all instructions operate on the top-most stack entries.

One result of the stack architecture is an overall smaller instruction set, allowing a smaller and faster instruction decode unit with overall faster operation of individual instructions.