Different Processors

There are many types of processors used in computer systems. You probably know something about the most popular ones such as Intel Corporation's processors (486, Pentium, Pentium II), and the processors used in Apple computers. A computer system is designed around its processor. The other electronics are designed for a particular type of processor.

The fundamental difference between (say) an Apple Power Macintosh and a Dell Corporation computer is the processor each is designed around. Different processors have different machine operations. A machine program for a Dell computer (with a Pentium processor) would make no sense to an Apple computer. This is why you ordinarily have to be careful to purchase the correct version of an application for your home computer. If you buy the game Myst, you need to get the version for whatever processor your home computer uses.

But there is a version of Myst for both Pentium-based computers and for Apples. How can this be, if the processors perform different machine operations? The answer is that even though the processors are different, the machine operations available on each can be used to build the same things. Both processor types have enough power in their little machine operations so that anything one processor can do with a machine program, the other processor can do with a different machine program.

The architecture of a processor is the choices that have been made for its machine operations, how they have been organized and implemented, and how it interacts with main memory and other components. Architecture is concerned with the general plan and functions of a processor; it is not much concerned with electronic details. A course in computer architecture is required in most computer science departments.