ABSTRACT
The two basic divisions between processors today are those between CISC and RISC processors. CISC, or Complex Instruction Set Computers, are the traditional form in which the manufacturer decides the use of the processor, designs the microcode for all of the instructions the processor will use, and implements that microcode on the chip itself, optimizing the data paths for speed. The most common CPUs today, the Intel 80x86 and Motorola 680x0 series, are examples of CISC processors.
