Stream of bits really simplifies it. If you read the intel documentation there's a nice diagram that explains the logic. Effectively you can view it as a object

Stream of bits really simplifies it. If you read the intel documentation there's a nice diagram that explains the logic. Effectively you can view it as a object oriented, or grouping mechanism. If you look at instructions and prefixes. It effectively goes. PREFIX-EXTENSION(Ala AVX-256)-INSTRUCTION-ARG1-...-ARGN-PostFix.