The Central Processing Unit (CPU or processor) is, in the most laid of layman's terms, the brain of a computer. That which, like the human mind, is responsible for performing all the fine functions, executing relayed instructions, working out basic arithmetic, logic, control, input and output operations, among other responsibilities. Need to get something done? Without a CPU, your computer's nothing more than an elaborate menagerie of entangled wires, circuitry, and electrical conductivity.
Overview
Overall, most central processing units contain:- A fetcher to grab instructions or data
- A decoder that maps the instructions to the CPU's operation codes.
- An Arithmetic and Logic Unit (ALU) to handle integer-based calculations. Modern ones usually include a floating-point unit (FPU) as well.
- A memory or data bus interface unit, which handles calculating memory addresses and sending data out.
- Registers to hold important bits of information.
All processors have a basic vocabulary known as an Instruction Set Architecture (ISA). This sets some basic compatibility of software between CPUs, so that software written for a particular ISA can generally run on any processor using it. Emulation or rebuilding the program is required to run on a different ISA. Examples of popular ISAs used in recent times are x86-64, ARM, and RISC-V.
The performance of a CPU can be increased by either increasing its Clock Speed, how many bits it can crunch at once, adding small amounts of high-speed memory called cache, or by carefully engineering how it handles instructions on the ISA, in particular with branching and instruction issuing. All these components however take up space and increasing the frequency also increases the heat output of the part. By shrinking the transistors that make up the CPU, more can be put in less space and at the same time up the frequency, as smaller transistors allow faster operation while outputting less heat. As of 2023, the smallest transistors made for production using the 3nm process takes up around 67 square nanometers, which the average width of a human hair is around 22,000 times wider.
A brief History
Early programmable computers were built with individual components, starting with vacuum tubes until discrete transistors were invented in the late 1950s. It wasn't until 1971 when Busicom
and Intel developed the first fully integrated (one chip) microprocessor, the Intel 4004. During the 1980s, microprocessor companies were finding more and more things to integrate into the same package until it evolved into the processor that exists today. Extensions of this include the microcontroller, which contains a CPU core with many peripherals such as timers, analog sampling, serial communication, and general-purpose IO, to drive small, embedded devices. The microcontroller later evolved into the System-on-a-Chip (SoC), which can be considered a self-contained computer. These power a lot of today's portable electronics.
See the analysis page for more in-depth information.