What Is a Processor

What is a processor? This is the question we are going to answer in this presentation. You do not need to have deep knowledge of computer science as the examined topic is covered rather casually. The presentation also contains a lot of illustrative pictures.

I gave the presentation at the Faculty of Science of Masaryk University in 2018 within the F5090 Electronics course.

1. What Is a Processor
Dominik Salvet
github.com/dominiksalvet

2. Computer - Examples
●personal computer (PC)

3. Computer - Examples
●personal computer (PC)

4. Computer - Examples
●personal computer (PC)
●mobile phone

5. Computer - Examples
●personal computer (PC)
●mobile phone
●notebook

6. Computer - Examples
●personal computer (PC)
●mobile phone
●notebook
●tablet

7. Computer - Examples
●personal computer (PC)
●mobile phone
●notebook
●tablet
●microcontroller

8. Computer - Examples
●personal computer (PC)
●mobile phone
●notebook
●tablet
●microcontroller
●and others

9. Computer - Definition
●basically it is a big machine

10. Computer - Definition
●basically it is a big machine
●formally it is an equivalent of a Turing machine (nearly)

11. Computer - Definition
●basically it is a big machine
●formally it is an equivalent of a Turing machine (nearly)
●practically it is a processor and memory

12. Memory (RAM)
●imagine a big, actually a very big table
0 data0
1 data1
2 data2
3 data3
4 data4
5 data5
6 data6
… …
4294967294 data4294967294
4294967295 data4294967295
Address Data

13. Data in Memory
●naturally stored in binary form

14. Data in Memory
●naturally stored in binary form
●can represent one pixel of your opened photo

15. Data in Memory
●naturally stored in binary form
●can represent one pixel of your opened photo
●or some text you are reading

16. How a Processor Uses Memory
●store data (write)

17. How a Processor Uses Memory
●store data (write)
●load data (read)

18. How a Processor Uses Memory
●store data (write)
●load data (read)
●communicate with input and output devices

19. Processor (CPU) - Basic Concepts
●memory

20. Processor - Basic Concepts
●memory
●instruction word (instruction)

21. Processor - Basic Concepts
●memory
●instruction word (instruction)
●program (application, software)

22. Processor - Basic Concepts
●memory
●instruction word (instruction)
●program (application, software)
●arithmetic-logic unit (ALU)

23. Processor - Basic Concepts
●memory
●instruction word (instruction)
●program (application, software)
●arithmetic-logic unit (ALU)
●control unit

24. Processor - Life Cycle

25. Processor Brands
●PC, notebook
●Intel
●AMD
x86, amd64 (x86/64)

26. Processor Brands
●PC, notebook
●Intel
●AMD
●mobile phone, tablet
●Samsung
●Qualcomm
●MediaTek
●...
x86, amd64 (x86/64)
ARM (designed by Arm Holdings)

27. Today's Processor Parameters
●transistor count: ~1,500,000,000
●size of transistor: 10 nm - 45 nm
●clock frequency: ~3 GHz
●instructions per clock cycle: ~6
●number of cores: 2 - 8
●(memory capacity: 4 GB - 16 GB)

28. Questions?
Dominik Salvet
I do not own copyright to images.