Procesors

Procesors, often spelled processors, are specialized electronic circuits that execute the instructions of computer programs. They perform arithmetic and logic operations, manage data flow, and coordinate the activities of other hardware components. A processor is typically built as a microprocessor or as part of a central processing unit (CPU) within a computer system. The architecture of a processor is described at two levels: the instruction set architecture (ISA), which defines the set of operations and data types the processor can perform, and the microarchitecture, which describes how the processor implements the ISA in hardware, including the arrangement of cores, caches, pipelines, and buses.

Modern processors commonly include multiple cores, allowing parallel execution of tasks. They use pipelining to improve throughput, speculative execution and branch prediction to minimize stalls, and various caches (L1, L2, L3) to mitigate memory latency. Advanced features include vector or SIMD units for parallel data processing, hardware accelerators, and secure enclaves for trusted computing.

Manufacturing advances enable higher transistor density using process nodes and new transistor designs, affecting performance, power consumption, and heat generation. Power efficiency is a key design constraint, leading to performance-per-watt optimization and technologies such as dynamic voltage and frequency scaling (DVFS) and heterogeneous architectures that combine general-purpose cores with specialized accelerators.

Processors are used in a wide range of devices, from personal computers and servers to mobile devices, embedded systems, and internet servers. Notable families include x86 processors by Intel and AMD, ARM architectures used in mobile devices, and open architectures such as RISC-V. The field evolves with ongoing research in architectural efficiency, security, and machine learning acceleration.