Informatics Practices

List and briefly explain all the components of a CPU.

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There are mainly three components of a CPU:

Arithmetic and Logical Unit (ALU) — All calculations and comparisons are made in this unit. The ALU performs the arithmetic (+, -, *, /) and logical (AND, OR, NOT, XOR) operations sent from the memory, performs specific operations (addition, subtraction etc) and the result is returned to the memory. The result of the logical operations is either true or false and helps the computer in decision-making.
Control Unit (CU) — The CU controls the flow of data from input devices to memory and from memory to output devices. It controls and guides the interpretation, flow and manipulation of all data and information. It does not actually process the data, instead, it sends control signals to ALU and memory for carrying out the required operations.
Registers — These are high-speed temporary storage areas found in CPU. Registers work as per the instructions given by the control unit (CU), storing instructions and data immediately required for performing an operation. The CPU places the highest priority jobs/data inside registers for faster execution/processing. Registers can be of different sizes (16 bits, 32 bits, 64 bits and so on) and each register inside the CPU has a specific function like storing data, storing an instruction, storing address of a location in memory etc.

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