Opcode and operands:

Let us further assume that our computer can process only two-digit decimal numbers, i.e. there can be a maximum of two operands each of a maximum of two digits. Thus the computer can add or subtract numbers containing a maximum of two digits. A simple instruction can thus be written as a combination of an opcode and its associated operands. Opcode is denoted by its unique binary code. The operands are decimal digits and therefore also need to be converted to binary code system to pass them as operands to the processor. Suppose BCD code is used to represent the operands. Then following are examples of some valid instructions on the processor:

In the first instruction, the first three bits represent the opcode and the remaining sixteen bits represent the two operands each a two digit decimal number expressed using BCD code. The opcode for addition  as described in the table is 000 and the BCD codes for 9,3,2 and 5 are 1001, 0011, 0010 and 0101 respectively. Thus the instruction 0001001001100100101 represents 93 + 25. Similarly, in the second instruction, first three bits represent the opcode and the  remaining eight bits specify the operand to perform the operation. However, this is the case of a very simple hypothetical computer. Real world processors are much more complex and capable of performing more than 500 machine instructions. Further they can  take their operands in a number ways: directly, from registers, from memory etc. Moreover, modern processors can perform calculations on large numbers. Thus an instruction in a modern CPU could easily comprise  more than 50 bits.