Vector processor

A processor that applies one instruction to multiple data elements using vector operations. Its vector instructions exploit data-level parallelism across arrays or other ordered collections.

Vector instruction: A machine instruction that applies an operation to multiple data elements at once. It expresses the multiple-element operations that define vector processing.
ILLIAC IV: An experimental parallel computer developed at the University of Illinois and NASA in the 1960s and 1970s. Its array-processing design was an early influential approach to data-parallel computing.
Numerical weather prediction: The use of mathematical models and computers to forecast atmospheric conditions. Weather models perform extensive array-based calculations suited to vector operations.
Scalar processor: A processor that typically performs each instruction on one data element at a time. Its element-by-element execution contrasts with vector instructions.
Vector register: A processor register that holds multiple data elements for vector operations. Vector instructions read and write these collections of values.
CDC STAR-100: A 1970s Control Data Corporation supercomputer designed around vector processing. It was among the first commercial computers to implement a vector architecture.
Computational fluid dynamics: The numerical simulation of fluid flow using computers. Its repeated calculations over grids map naturally to vector instructions.
Array processor: A processor architecture that uses multiple synchronized processing elements to operate on data arrays. It achieves data parallelism through replicated processors rather than a vector pipeline.
SIMD: A parallel-computing model in which one instruction operates on multiple data elements simultaneously. Vector processors are a hardware realization of this broader execution model.
Cray-1: A 1976 supercomputer designed by Seymour Cray, known for its fast vector-processing architecture. Its success established vector processing as a practical supercomputer design.

Linked from 5 pages