Haarakäskyt

Haarakäskyt, often translated as "branching commands" or "branching instructions," are a fundamental concept in computer programming and machine architecture. They are instructions that alter the sequential flow of program execution. Instead of simply proceeding to the next instruction in memory, a haarakäsky directs the processor to jump to a different location in the program's code. This ability to change the execution path is crucial for implementing control structures such as loops, conditional statements (if-else), and function calls.

There are two main types of haarakäskyt: conditional and unconditional. An unconditional haarakäsky, as the name suggests, always transfers control to a new location. A conditional haarakäsky, on the other hand, examines certain conditions within the processor's status flags. If the specified condition is met, the jump occurs; otherwise, execution continues sequentially. These conditions often relate to the result of a previous arithmetic or logical operation, such as whether a number is zero, positive, or negative. The implementation and specific mnemonics for haarakäskyt vary between different processor architectures and assembly languages, but their underlying function remains consistent across them all.