Processor

__** Processor **__

**Definition** Central Processing Unit (CPU) is the part of a computer that is a software execution device

**History** Computers such as the [|ENIAC] had to be physically rewired in order to perform different tasks, which caused these machines to be called "fixed-program computers." Because the term "CPU" is defined as a software (computer program) execution device, the earliest devices that could rightly be called CPUs came with the newly-developed idea of the stored-program computer.The idea of a stored-program computer was already present in the design of [|J. Presper Eckert] and [|John William Mauchly]'s ENIAC, but was initially omitted so the machine could be finished sooner. On June 30, 1945, before ENIAC was completed, mathematician [|John von Neumann] distributed the paper: First Draft on The Report of the EDVAC. It showed the design of a stored-program computer that would eventually be completed in August 1949. EDVAC was designed to perform a certain number of instructions or operations of all different types. These instructions could be combined to create useful programs for the EDVAC to run.

**Comparison of Past and Present-Day Devices**

Old Processor, Present-Day Processor

**Purpose** The processor is responsible for all the processing of the computer, unless there is another process that does the job like a: Graphics Processing Unit or Physics Processing Unit.

**References** [|wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn] Google Google Images