CPU

CPU is the acronym which stand for Central processing Unit and it is a crucial component of the computer. Some call it as the ‘brains’ of the computer. It is responsible for carrying out each instruction of the program like performing from the basic arithmetical to input/output operations of the system. The term processor or CPU has been in use since 1960s.  Though the structure of the CPU has under gone many evolutions since it was created yet the fundamentals operations still remain the same.

The Crucial Portion of the Computer

When it was created first, the CPU was larger parts of the computer. And the architecture of this processor was an expensive and time consuming one. Until the standardization happened, these underwent many development changes which mainly occurred for different purposes. The CPU’s control consists of circuitry which will use electrical signals to direct the entire computer system and to carry out the stored program instructions. The role of the control unit is not to execute but to direct instructions to other about what should be carried out. So communication is the key functions of the control unit such as with the arithmetic, logical unit and memory.

The Fundamental Operations of CPU

The basic operations of CPUs are to execute an order of stored instructions known as the program. A particular program is characterized by a series of numbers that are kept in some kind of computer memory. This includes four steps in the process such as fetch, decode, execute and write back.  

Fetch is retrieving a direction from program memory and its location is decided by a program counter which stores a number that identifies the current position in the program. Having received an instruction or direction, the program computer is incremented by the length of the instruction word in terms of memory units. The instruction will decide what the CPU has to do. Whereas in decode part, the instruction is split into parts that have importance to other portions of the CPU. The numerical instruction is interpreted here to the processor to carry out the tasks it has to do.

These execute the steps that come after this. In this step different parts of the CPU are linked so the desired operations can be performed. The ultimate step is to write back which as it means give away the results of the executed programs. That means the results are handed over to the main memory.

Questions:

• What is CPU?
• State some of the important duties of CPU.