what is Processor?

Answer Posted / swarnamay das

Data processing systems are systems that manipulate,
process, and store data. The processor is the brain of a
computer system, performing all calculations and other data
manipulation under the control of application and operating
system software. A computer data processor is often
referred to as a microprocessor. Modern computer systems
include a microprocessor and a system memory for storing
instructions to be executed by the microprocessor and data
to be processed by the instructions. A microprocessor is a
circuit that combines the instruction-handling, arithmetic,
and logical operations of a computer on a single
semiconductor integrated circuit. Microprocessors can be
grouped into two general classes, namely general-purpose
microprocessors and special-purpose microprocessors.
General purpose microprocessors are designed to be
programmable by the user to perform any of a wide range of
tasks, and are therefore often used as the central
processing unit (CPU) in equipment such as personal
computers. A microcontroller, or embedded controller, is
similar to a microprocessor as used in a personal computer,
but with a great deal of additional functionality combined
onto the same monolithic semiconductor substrate. Special
purpose microprocessors are designed to provide performance
improvement for specific predetermined arithmetic and
logical functions for which the user intends to use the
microprocessor. A digital signal processor (DSP) is a
special purpose microprocessor that performs computations
which generally require large numbers of arithmetic
operations to be performed rapidly. Digital signal
processing is connected with the representation of signals
by sequences of numbers or symbols and the processing of
these signals. Microprocessors often employ the use of
pipelining to enhance performance. With pipeline
architecture, the tasks performed by a processor are broken
down into a sequence of functional units referred to as
stages or pipeline stages. Superscalar microprocessors
typically execute more than one instruction per clock
cycle. Superscalar microprocessors allow parallel
instruction execution in two or more instruction execution
pipelines. The goal of superscalar and superpipeline
microprocessors is to execute multiple instructions per
microprocessor clock cycle. In a data processor, a clock
signal is generated by a clock generating circuit and
various circuit resources operate synchronously with the
clock signal. In this way, various kinds of data processing
can be executed.

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