How many x86 instructions are actually used?

According to Intel’s XED, as of this writing, there are 1503 defined x86 instructions (“iclasses” in XED lingo), from AAA to XTEST (this includes AMD-specific extensions too, by the way).

Is x86 still used today?

The x86 instruction set architecture (ISA), used today in more than 90 percent of the world’s PCs and servers, hit the marketplace in 1978 as part of Intel’s 8086 chip.

Who owns the x86 instruction set?

Intel
x86 is a family of instruction set architectures initially developed by Intel based on the Intel 8086 microprocessor and its 8088 variant.

What’s wrong with x86 processors?

The main knock against x86 in my mind is its CISC origins – the instruction set contains a lot of implicit interdependencies. These interdependencies make it difficult to do things like instruction reordering on the chip, because the artifacts and semantics of those interdependencies must be preserved for each instruction.

Do you ever use loop instruction?

Rant about over-use of LOOP even when you already need to increment something else in the loop. LOOP isn’t the only way to loop, and usually it’s the worst. You should normally never use the loop instruction unless optimizing for code-size at the expense of speed, because it’s slow. Compilers don’t use it.

Can you run 16 bit code on x86?

For example, modern x86 hardware still contains support for running 16 bit code natively. Additionally, several memory-addressing models exist to allow older code to inter-operate on the same processor, such as real mode, protected mode, virtual 8086 mode, and (amd64) long mode.

Is the x86 architecture inferior to other architectures?

In some respects, the x86 isn’t inferior, it’s just different. For example, input/output is handled as memory mapping on the vast majority of architectures, but not on the x86.