Delayed branching can help in the handling of control hazards
For all delayed conditional branch instructions, irrespective of whether the condition evaluates to true or false,
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Answer: A
Delayed branching is a technique used in pipelined processors to minimize the performance penalty caused by control hazards (branch instructions).
In a processor with delayed branching:
- The instruction(s) immediately following the branch instruction in the sequential memory space reside in what is called the branch delay slot.
- These instructions in the delay slot are fetched and executed unconditionally, regardless of whether the branch condition eventually evaluates to
true(taken) orfalse(not taken). - This allows the pipeline to remain full and productive while the branch target address and condition are being resolved.
Therefore, the instruction immediately following the conditional branch instruction in memory is always executed. This matches Option A.
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