ordinateur à jeu d'instructions réduit

OBS: Le RISC tend à ne doter le processeur que de fonctions très simples, très vite exécutées.

CONT: RISC - reduced instruction set computer. The microprocessor, the VLSI chip that serves as the ""brain"" of a computer, performs all the arithmetic and logical operations within the machine. Microprocessors have become progressively more complex and more powerful, and include a richer, more versatile set of instructions. But noticing that ""average"" programs spend 90 per cent of their time executing about 10 per cent of the simpler instructions, some designers have taken a reverse track. Attempting to increase speed, they designed ;large, powerful microprocessors which perform only the simpler, faster instructions. RISC processors are used for some fancy workstations, but as our desire for computing power increases and the prices of workstations fall, workstations are becoming an option at the high end of the personal-computer market.