Register Transfer Language

A digital computer system exhibits an interconnection of digital modules such as registers, decoders, arithmetic elements, and Control logic.

These digital modules are interconnected with some common data and control paths to form a complete digital system.

Moreover, digital modules are best defined by the registers and the operations that are performed on the data stored in them.

The operations performed on the data stored in registers are called Micro-operations.

The internal hardware organization of a digital system is best defined by specifying:

• The set of registers and the flow of data between them.
• The sequence of micro-operations performed on the data which are stored in the registers.
• The control paths that initiates the sequence of micro-operation

The Register Transfer Language is the symbolic representation of notations used to specify the sequence of micro-operations.

In a computer system, data transfer takes place between processor registers and memory and between processor registers and input-output systems. These data transfer can be represented by standard notations given below:

• Notations R0, R1, R2..., and so on represent processor registers.
• The addresses of memory locations are represented by names such as LOC, PLACE, MEM, etc.
• Input-output registers are represented by names such as DATA IN, DATA OUT and so on.
• The content of register or memory location is denoted by placing square brackets around the name of the register or memory location.