CPU - Exactly What Does It Stand For?

CPU stands for (central processing unit), also known as the brain, but this is useless without memory.


The central processing unit interprets a command and instructs the hard drive to load the command or program into memory. The central processing unit along with this memory makes up the computer's "brain. Memory used to represent storage that has access by the central processing unit or other proccessors. When you enter a command from your keyboard, the central processing unit processes the command and calls for data to be copied from a storage device. Even the central processing unit has a type of memory referred to as "registers". The central processing unit needs wires to connect to memory cells.


We also need a few extra traces to carry the signals that control whether the CPU is reading from or writing to the memory. As the central processing unit can handle only small amount of data at a time, the central processing unit uses cache as a temporary holding area while it performs an operation. Keeping track of what instruction is being executed is so important that a special central processing unit register, called the program counter is used to keep track of the address of the instruction to be executed. This process of putting things the central processing unit needs in a place where it can get at them more quickly is similar to placing various electronic files and documents you're using on the computer into a file folder.


In order to access a word of data, the central processing unit needs to provide the memory address of the word. This means that the information from the memory is not always available when the CPU is ready for it. Hard drives are very slow compared to the central processing unit. RAM is much faster than a hard drive, but still 4-5 times slower than your central processing unit. Cache RAM is extremely fast--it is capable of delivering data at or near the speed of the central processing unit. The speeds are still controlled very much by the speed of your CPU.


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