The Personal Computer Microprocessor also known as the central processing unit (CPU) or just a processor is a circuitry field replaceable device usually embedded or attached to the computer motherboard that does the main processing and execution of information on the system. It’s made from a semiconducting material, usually silicon, with millions of electrical components on its surface. The processor or microprocessor is usually referred to as the brain of the computer.
Standard CPUs contain processing units that interpret and implement software instructions, perform calculations and comparisons, make logical decisions and temporarily store information for use by another of the CPU’s processing units, keep track of the current step in the execution of the program, and allow the CPU to communicate with the rest of the computer and it main function is to perform arithmetic and logical operations on data taken from memory or on information entered through some device, such as a keyboard, scanner, or joystick.
MICROPROCESSOR MANUFACTURERS: Intel is a brand that’s been dominating the industry for long aside close rivalry, AMD who are also doing good and great. Others includes Altera, Apollo, ARM, Atmel, NEC, IBM, Hitachi, NVIDIA, Zilog etc.
HOW THE MICROPROCESSOR WORKS AN EXECUTE IT TASK
The CPU is similar to a calculator just that is is more powerful. The CPU is controlled by a list of software instructions, called a computer program. Software instructions entering the CPU originate in some form of memory storage device such as a hard disk, floppy disk, CD-ROM, or magnetic tape. These instructions then pass into the computer’s main random access memory (RAM), where each instruction is given a unique address, or memory location. The CPU can access specific pieces of data in RAM by specifying the address of the data that it wants.
The CPU request data from the RAM through the bus known as the communicating medium.
The data are then decoded by a processing unit called the instruction decoder that interprets and implements software instructions. From the instruction decoder the data pass to the arithmetic/logic unit (ALU), which performs calculations and comparisons. Data may be stored by the ALU in temporary memory locations called registers where it may be retrieved quickly.
The ALU performs specific operations such as addition, multiplication, and conditional tests on the data in its registers, sending the resulting data back to RAM or storing it in another register for further use. During this process, a unit called the program counter keeps track of each successive instruction to make sure that the program instructions are followed by the CPU in the correct order.