Orthogonality (programming)

In computer programming, orthogonality means that operations change just one thing without affecting others. The term is most-frequently used regarding assembly instruction sets, as orthogonal instruction set. An example from IBM Mainframe and VAX highlights this concept. An IBM mainframe has two different instructions for adding the contents of a register to a memory cell (or another register). These statements are shown below: A Reg1, memory_cellAR Reg1, Reg2 In contrast to the above set of statements, VAX has only one statement for addition: ADDL operand1, operand2

Orthogonality (programming)

In computer programming, orthogonality means that operations change just one thing without affecting others. The term is most-frequently used regarding assembly instruction sets, as orthogonal instruction set. An example from IBM Mainframe and VAX highlights this concept. An IBM mainframe has two different instructions for adding the contents of a register to a memory cell (or another register). These statements are shown below: A Reg1, memory_cellAR Reg1, Reg2 In contrast to the above set of statements, VAX has only one statement for addition: ADDL operand1, operand2