itype

Itype refers to several uses, but it is most commonly encountered in computer architecture as a shorthand for "I-type," the instruction format used for immediate-valued operations in certain RISC architectures such as MIPS. In these designs, I-type instructions encode an immediate constant in a 16-bit field, along with two 5-bit register specifiers and a 6-bit opcode. This arrangement allows arithmetic with immediates (for example addi), memory access instructions like lw and sw, and conditional branches such as beq and bne, in which the 16-bit immediate is treated as a signed offset. The I-type format is contrasted with R-type instructions, which operate on register operands, and with J-type instructions, used for jumps. Architects vary details across implementations, but the core idea—the inclusion of an immediate field within the instruction—remains common.

Outside of computer architecture, Itype may appear as a proper name or branding, but there is no single, widely recognized definition. In practice, the hyphenated form I-type is more standard when discussing the instruction format; Itype as a word is less common and may reflect branding or a stylistic choice.