Prozessors

Prozessors are electronic circuits that execute the instructions of computer programs, perform arithmetic and logical operations, and control the flow of data within a device. The term encompasses central processing units (CPUs) and microprocessors, as well as specialized processing units such as GPUs and DSPs when considered as part of a system's processing capability.

Historically, processors emerged with early integrated circuits and the first microprocessors of the 1970s. From simple, single-instruction pipelines, processor design evolved toward higher performance through techniques such as pipelining, superscalar execution, out-of-order processing, and speculative execution. The integration of cache memory and memory controllers has been central to improving effective performance.

Modern Prozessors separate instruction set architecture (ISA), which defines programming interfaces, from microarchitecture, which describes internal implementation. Features commonly include multiple cores, large cache hierarchies (L1, L2, L3), branch prediction, SIMD support for vector operations, and support for virtualization. Power management and thermal limits influence clock speeds and throughput.

Processors vary by use: general-purpose CPUs target diverse workloads, while mobile, embedded, server, and accelerator processors optimize for power, latency, or parallelism. Many devices rely on heterogeneous architectures combining CPUs with GPUs or dedicated accelerators to handle different tasks efficiently.

Manufacturing advances, notably smaller fabrication nodes, enable more transistors per chip and lower power per transistor. This has driven improvements in performance and energy efficiency, while increasing complexity and exposure to security risks. The term Prozessors thus denotes both the broad class of processing units and the particular designs that power modern computing.