Features of SAP-2 Computer with Block Diagram
SAP-2 (Simple As Possible - 2) is an advanced version of SAP-1 computer with extended instruction set, more registers, larger memory, and flag flip-flops, designed to bridge the gap between SAP-1 and commercial microprocessors.
Features of SAP-2
- Extended Instruction Set β SAP-2 has a larger set of instructions including arithmetic, logic, jump, and call instructions
- Larger Memory β It uses 16-bit address bus, allowing access to 64 KB of memory (compared to 16 bytes in SAP-1)
- 8-bit Data Bus β Transfers 8-bit data between components
- More Registers β Contains registers B and C in addition to the accumulator (A)
- Flag Flip-Flops β Has two flags: Sign flag and Zero flag, used for conditional jumps
- Bidirectional Bus β Uses a W-bus (bidirectional) for data transfer between all components
- Input/Output Ports β Has input ports (Port 1, Port 2) and output ports (Port 3, Port 4) for communication with external devices
- Hexadecimal Keyboard Input β Replaces the programming switches of SAP-1
- Unconditional and Conditional Jumps β Supports
JMP, JZ (jump if zero), and JNZ (jump if not zero) instructions
- Subroutine Capability β Supports
CALL and RET instructions
Block Diagram of SAP-2

Components Summary:
- PC (Program Counter) β 16-bit, can address 64KB memory
- MAR β 16-bit Memory Address Register
- IR β Instruction Register holds current instruction
- ALU β Performs ADD, SUB, AND, OR, XOR operations
- Accumulator (A), Register B, Register C β 8-bit data registers
- Flags β Sign and Zero flags for conditional branching
- Controller/Sequencer β Generates control signals for all operations
- Input/Output Ports β For external device communication
Sub-question: How is SAP-2 different from SAP-1? [2 marks]
| Feature |
SAP-1 |
SAP-2 |
| Memory |
16 bytes |
64 KB |
| Address bus |
4-bit |
16-bit |
| Registers |
Only Accumulator |
A, B, and C |
| Flags |
None |
Sign and Zero flags |
| Jumps |
No jump instructions |
Conditional & Unconditional jumps |
| Instructions |
5 instructions |
Full instruction set with CALL/RET |
| I/O |
No I/O ports |
Has Input and Output ports |
In summary, SAP-2 is a significantly more powerful and practical computer compared to SAP-1, with larger memory, more registers, flags, and jump/subroutine capabilities.