Building Embedded Systems: Programmable Hardware

© Changyi Gu 2016

Changyi Gu, Building Embedded Systems, 10.1007/978-1-4842-1919-5_3

3. Inside the CPU

Changyi Gu¹ 

(1)San Diego, California, USA

Help Desk: Double-click on “My Computer”

User: I can’t see your computer.

Help Desk: No, double-click on “My Computer” on your computer.

User: Huh?

Help Desk: There is an icon on your computer labeled “My Computer”. Double-click on it.

User: What’s your computer doing on mine?

—How to be a Good Teacher, by Rupal Jain

As you’ve seen, the CPU is the command and control center of each and every embedded system. Ever since the time when the first computer was conceived, many great minds have dedicated the better part of their lives to new CPU architectures. The topic of CPU architecture is too pandemic ...