How does the CPU work?
To properly perform its job, the CPU must complete a cycle of four steps. The first step in this cycle is to fetch a instruction from a software program’s memory. Once the CPU fetches the instruction, its second step is to decode the instruction. By decoding the instruction, the CPU is able to organize the information from the instruction in a manner that allows the CPU to complete the next step, which is executing. During the execution step, the CPU completes the instruction. It accomplishes this by following the information gained during the decoding step. Once the CPU has finished executing the instruction, the final step in this cycle is to write-back the results that occurred during the execution step. The CPU can write-back the results to its own internal register, or to the main memory of the computer.
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