The Processor
AKA The Brains
The Control Unit
1. It controls and monitors the hardware attached to the system to make sure that the commands given to it by the application software are used.
2. It controls the input and output of data so that the signals go to the right place at the right time
3. It controls the flow of data within the CPU - which is the Fetch-Execute cycle described above.
ALU - Arithmetic and Logic Unit - AKA The Calculator
This is where the computer processes data either by manipulating it or acting upon it. It consists of two parts:
- Arithmetic part - which does exactly what you think it should - it performs the calculations on the data e.g. 3 + 2 = 5
- Logic part - this deals with logic and comparisons. For example, it works out if one value is greater, less than or equal to another.
Register - AKA The Storer
In a computer, a register is one of a small set of data holding places that are part of a computer processor. A register may hold a computer instruction , a storage address, or any kind of data (such as a bit sequence or individual characters).