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Summary
a CPU manages the way data flows, coordinates task completion, and can also perform calculations
- Intel introduced the first CPU in 1971 on an integrated chip
- multicore processes were commonplace by the mid-2000s
How a CPU works
- CPU gets instructions from the computer’s memory, decodes it, and learns what it needs to do next
- actually executes the task it figured out from step 1
- after task is done, it stores the result in a register or the memory (depending on the program)
CPU components
Technically there are 3 components: the arithmetic logic unit, a control unit, and registers
- Arithmetic logic unit (ALU): does math (add, subtract, multiply, divide) and logic (comparisons) operations on data
- Control unit (UC): gets instructions from memory, decodes it, then speaks to ALU and other computer parts to execute the task(s)
- Registers: small storage areas inside the CPU, can hold data/instructions currently being processed