The Operation Of A Microprocessor Within A PCS free essay sample

Describes the inner workings of a modern computer, focusing on the microprocessor, or a CPU on a single silicon chip. The Operation of a Microprocessor Within a PCS Introduction The microprocessor has become the work horse of the modern electronics communication industry. A microprocessor generally refers to a CPU on a single silicon chip, but exceptions have been made when the CPU includes particularly interesting design ideas. The important characteristics of a microprocessor are the widths of its internal and external address bus and data bus and instruction, its clock rate, and its instruction set. A single chip microprocessor may include other components such as memory (RAM, ROM, PROM), memory management, caches, floating-point unit, input/output ports, and timers. Such devices are also known as microcontrollers (Glossary, 1995). As integrated circuit densities have increased with the