The transition from ZOZ to WIZ - page 1

A ZOZ instruction, "A -> B", consists of two serial numbers, eg:

   58574900948484 -> 2930484518273950

Serial numbers, being unique across the planet, require many digits. Physicists generally agree there might be 10^79 particles in the universe. That puts an upper limit for serial numbers at 79 digits (lol).

A WIZ processor cannot directly execute ZOZ instructions. It has a 16-bit instruction word, with two 8-bit register addresses. But "behind" every register is some sort of device which does have a long ZOZ serial number.

For example, suppose we have a WIZ with the exact two devices specified in the above instruction behind two of its registers. Say 58574900948484 is behind our WIZ's register 115, and 2930484518273950 is behind register 28. Then the instruction above can be converted to this WIZ instruction:

   115 -> 28

Note that this is exactly the same instruction, merely encoded in a different way. Either way, it commands that we copy data from the first device to the second. How we encode that command doesn't really matter.