Difference between revisions of "Co-processor"

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[[Category: CPU Basics]]

Latest revision as of 15:25, 15 December 2018

A co-processor is a block of logic forming a complete data processing unit attached to a CPU, which operates in tandem with the main CPU, under its direction, to perform some of the processing functions of the system.

Floating point units are often co-processors (e.g. the FP11 floating point units of many PDP-11s); channels are effectively co-processors which are specialized to doing I/O.