Types Of Processors

shared memory space to hold both programs and data, which makes it easy to change tasks by loading a different program into RAM single control unit processes one instruction at a time, following the fetch-decode-execute cycle Registers are used as fast access to instructions and data most computers today are built with this idea in mind

memory is split into two parts, one for data and one for programs and each has its own bus Reading and writing data can be done at the same time as fetching. This architecture is typically used by RISC processors.q

uses parallel processing where a processor carries out a single instruction on multiple data items at the same time –often used by graphic processors

multiple instructions are carried on multiple data items across several cores.

multiple computers on a shared network each take part in a bigger problem –this can be done on a grand scale over the internet such as the SETI@home initiative by NASA.

large amount of known instructions (for example 80-100) and these will be complex in nature (i.e. each instruction may represent several steps)

in RISC processors, the instructions are not complex (they are simple) and so a single RISC instruction will not automate all other required steps such as LOAD and STORE

processes large blocks of visual data

single chip containing 2 or more independent processing units

processing program instructions by dividing the work between multiple processors