1. A method for processing data using a programmable processor comprising: decoding a single instruction for writing data to memory based on a mask and data contained in at least one register, the mask consisting of N independently selectable mask bits, N being an integer multiple of eight, each of the mask bits corresponding to a data bit contained in the at least one register, each of the mask bits being independently selectable as either a write-enabled mask bit or a write-disabled mask bit; detecting some of the mask bits of the mask as being selected as write-enabled mask bits to identify corresponding data bits of the data contained in the at least one register as write-enabled data bits; and writing the write-enabled data bits to a specified memory location.