It is frequently characterized as a “16/32‑bit” processor as its design exhibits a unique hybrid architecture: the programming model is 32‑bit (with 32‑bit registers and a 32‑bit instruction set), yet its data arithmetic is carried out by a 16‑bit arithmetic logic unit (ALU) and it utilizes a 16‑bit external data bus. Its 24‑bit address bus enables direct access to 16 megabytes of memory, a very large space for the era.
This innovative compromise helped lower chip made it possible to fit the CPU within a 64-pin count and cost package while delivering performance that spurred a generation of computing systemsnot resorting to multiplexing pins.
Although there were definitely other CPUs in use in the 1980s, the vast majority of microcomputers people had at home or at the office used either a [[MOS 6502]] (or one of its variants), a Zilog [[Z80]], an early member of the [[Intel 8086]] family, or a [[Motorola 68000]].
Among those four CPUs, the 68000 is the easiest to program in assembly due to its superior flexibility and clean, orthogonal instruction set.
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