Minimal instruction set computer (MISC) is a central processing unit (CPU) architecture, usually in the form of a microprocessor, with a very small number of basic operations and corresponding opcodes, together forming an instruction set.
The disadvantage of a MISC is that instructions tend to have more sequential dependencies, reducing overall instruction-level parallelism.
MISC architectures have much in common with some features of some programming languages such as Forth's use of the stack, and the Java virtual machine.
However, one could employ macro-op fusion as a means of executing common instruction phrases as individual steps (e.g., ADD,FETCH to perform a single indexed memory read).
Probably the most commercially successful MISC was the original INMOS transputer architecture that had no floating-point unit.