The X 86 Microprocessors: Architecture, Programming and Interfacing (8086 to Pentium) 2nd Edition by Pearson

0.1 | A Brief History of Microprocessors

What is a microprocessor? We usually answer that it is a processor on a single microchip,

where the word ‘micro’ stands for small. A processor is a device which has computing, i.e.,

data processing capability. Over the years, the computing power of microprocessor chips

has increased steeply, along with the speed of processing, and this trend is continuing as

newer applications are envisaged.

The idea of a single chip computer was around even as early as the 1950s, but at that

time, electronics and integrated circuit technology were still in their infancy. By the end

of the 1960s, things had changed and ...