CPU infrastructure

Central Processing Unit (CPU) is an integral part of the computer system. The core responsibility of a CPU is to handle all the instructions from hardware as well as software. It is beyond the scope of this book to explore the CPU in detail; however, we will study the basic architecture and underline functioning of a CPU in very high level. This will help us to understand the areas where we need to focus on utilizing a CPU optimally. Not every part of your code will be CPU-dependent, so it is important to find these areas and use a proper coding strategy to make sure we use CPU time more efficiently.

Let's first look at the high-level architecture of CPU. If you dissect the processing of a CPU, you will notice there are two main components, one is Arithmetic Logic Unit (ALU), which is responsible for performing logical, mathematical, and comparison operations. And the second one is Control Unit (CU), which is responsible for directing all of the processor's operations....