Obsoleting values stored in registers in a processor based on processing obsolescent register-encoded instructions

A method of obsoleting a data value stored in a register in a processor, comprising:

• receiving a plurality of instructions in an instruction stream from an instruction memory to be executed, the plurality of instructions comprising at least one computer instruction that includes a register operand;
• processing an instruction among the plurality of instructions;
• determining if the processed instruction includes an obsolescence encoding identifying at least one register operand associated with at least one register among a plurality of registers in the processor to be obsoleted;
• and
• in response to determining the processed instruction includes the obsolescence encoding identifying at least one register operand to be obsoleted, setting an obsolescence indicator associated with the at least one register associated with the at least one register operand to an obsolescent state indicating the at least one register is obsolete;
• determining if the processed instruction includes a source register operand;
• in response to determining the processed instruction includes the source register operand, determining if the obsolescence indicator associated with a source register associated with the source register operand indicates an obsolescent state:
• in response to determining the obsolescence indicator associated with the source register associated with the source register operand indicating an obsolescent state:
• returning a default value as a data value for the source register to be used to execute the processed instruction;
• and
• executing the processed instruction using the default value as the data value for the source register named by the source register operand.