Instruction Set Architecture

  • The interface between the hardware and the lowest level software
  • Includes anything programmers need to know to make a machine language program work correctly (instructions, I/O, etc.)
  • Allows us to talk about functions independently of the hardware that performs them

Application Binary Interface (ABI)

  • The operating system will encapsulate low-level system functions
  • The combination of the instruction set and OS interface is called the application binary interface

Kinds