1.2 Types Of Processor

RISC reduced instruction set computers CISC complex instruction set computers

small instruction set each instruction is approximately 1 line of machine code

large instruction set aim to accomplish tasks in as few lines of code as possible instructions are built into hardware used more in embedded systems

compiler has to do more work to translate high level code to machine code more RAM required pipelining is possible since each instruction takes one clock cycle less complex circuitry required so hardware is cheaper

compiler has less work to translate high level code to machine code less RAM required many specialised instructions are made but few of them are used in each program less power efficient so requires a larger battery and better cooling

Processors that contain multiple cores that can each carry out their own fde cycles in parallel.

Systems that achieve a similar task to multi-core systems but only using 1 core through threading.

graphics processing unit

A device that contains lots of independent processors that work in parallel making it very efficient for completing repetitive tasks such as image processing and machine learning.

A secondary processor designed to supplement the activities of the CPU. e.g. a GPU