Various embodiments are described of a system for improved processor instructions for a software-configurable processing element. In particular, various embodiments are described which accelerate functions useful for FEC encoding and decoding. In particular, the processing element may be configured to implement one or more instances of the relevant functions in response to receiving one of the processor instructions. The processing element may later be reconfigured to implement a different function in response to receiving a different one of the processor instructions. Each of the disclosed processor instructions may be implemented repeatedly by the processing element to repeatedly perform one or more instances of the relevant functions with a throughput approaching one or more solutions per clock cycle.