In computer engineering, an execution unit (also called a functional unit) is a part of a CPU that performs the operations and calculations called for by the Branch Unit, which receives data from the CPU. It may have its own internal control sequence unit (not to be confused with the CPUs main control unit), some registers, and other internal units such as a sub-ALU or FPU, or some smaller, more specific components.
It is commonplace for modern CPUs to have multiple parallel execution units, referred to as scalar or superscalar design. The simplest arrangement is to use one, the bus manager, to manage the memory interface, and the others to perform calculations. Additionally, modern CPUs' execution units are usually pipelined.
Famous quotes containing the words execution and/or unit:
“The application requisite to the duties of the office I hold [governor of Virginia] is so excessive, and the execution of them after all so imperfect, that I have determined to retire from it at the close of the present campaign.”
—Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826)
“During the Suffragette revolt of 1913 I ... [urged] that what was needed was not the vote, but a constitutional amendment enacting that all representative bodies shall consist of women and men in equal numbers, whether elected or nominated or coopted or registered or picked up in the street like a coroner’s jury. In the case of elected bodies the only way of effecting this is by the Coupled Vote. The representative unit must not be a man or a woman but a man and a woman.”
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950)