Processor Terminology

Question	Answer
Accumulator	Stores the result of the latest instruction
Program counter	Stores the address of the instruction to run next
Instruction register	Contains the current op-code (the operator) - for example addition, subtraction or a branch
Address register	Contains the operand - usually a memory address (a location in the RAM)
Arithmetic and Logic Unit	Carries out all the mathematics and comparisons
Address bus	transmits addresses from the computer to the RAM and other computer components
Control bus	Transmits commands from the processor to other computer components and from other computer components back to the processor
Data bus	Transmits data between the processor and other computer components
Processor communication	Image: 9f699239-ffba-4fe9-a9ed-b5528cfcf4dc.gif (image/gif)
Inside the Processor	Image: 2815a957-2afe-40c2-9111-3a467e706c93 (image/jpg)
Processor cache	A copy of the most regularly used items in main memory that is held on the processor for faster access.
Clock	Controls the speed of the processor like a drum beat for rowers or a metronome in music. Measured in Gigahertz (GHz) - Billions of beats per second
Cores	Each core is a separate processor. Different programs can run on different processors at the same time. A quad core processor has four processor cores inside it.
Instruction Set	The list of different instructions that the CPU can carry out. The LMC has 9 such instructions

Resource summary

	Created by Paul Powell over 7 years ago