In computer science, predication is an architectural feature that provides an alternative to conditional transfer of control, implemented by machine instructions such as conditional branch, conditional call, conditional return, and branch tables. Predication works by executing instructions from both paths of the branch and only permitting those instructions from the taken path to modify architectural state. The instructions from the taken path are permitted to modify architectural state because they have been associated (predicated) with a predicate, a Boolean value used by the instruction to control whether the instruction is allowed to modify the architectural state or not.