Navigating the world of computer components can be confusing for the uninitiated. But the most important piece of hardware – the CPU – does the most to make your computers and mobile devices perform the way that they do. The acronym stands for Central Processing Unit, and it’s the electronic machinery that executes the instructions from programs to let you call friends, open a web browser, and more. You can find a CPU in laptops, desktop computers, tablets, smartphones, and even DVD players and smart washing machines.

In essence, the CPU is a sequence of steps that are executed serially, one after another. It starts with fetching an instruction from memory (which can be main or RAM). Next, the CPU decodes that instruction to understand what it must do. Finally, it executes the command by sending control signals to other parts of the processor to execute the instruction.

The arithmetic logic unit (ALU) is the core of the CPU that does all of the fundamental arithmetic and logic operations. It receives input data words (called operands), status information from previous instructions, and a code from the control unit indicating what operation to perform. It also saves final processed data results in the memory unit.

The memory unit – also known as internal storage, primary storage, or random access memory – is where the CPU stores instructions, data, and intermediate results between processing. It also saves the final processed data results from other units before they are sent to output devices. It may store these in internal registers, cache memory, or external memory. Cpu’s