ARM vs CISC

We all know that Intel processors are CISC based where as all the ARM processors are RISC based. CISC stands for Complex Instruction Set Computer and RISC stands for Reduced Instruction Set Computer. Let us list some of the other major differences:

• The instruction set of CISC is large where as ARM has a simplified instruction set
• CISC based processors has instruction set to operate directly on memory where as ARM processors use load-increment-store instructions. As per load-increment-store instructions, memory address is stored in a register and is incremented to point to the next address.
• As the CISC instruction set is complex, it takes multiple cycles for execution where as RISC processor takes limited cycles
• As the instruction set is huge in CISC, number of instructions required to execute a program is lesser where as it requires more instructions for RISC
• CISC has a register set more than RISC processor
• RISC has a heavier usage of RAM where as CISC uses RAM efficiently
• For RISC processors, compiler is complex where as CISC has processor complexity. This meant emphasis is on Software in RISC and emphasis is on Hardware in CISC