clock
<processor> A circuit in a processor that generates a regular sequence of
electronic pulses used to synchronise operations of the processor's components.
The time between pulses is the cycle time and the number of pulses per second is
the clock rate (or frequency).
The execution times of instructions on a computer are usually measured by a
number of clock cycles rather than seconds. Clock rates for various models of
the computer may increase as technology improves, and it is usually the relative
times one is interested in when discussing the instruction set.
(1994-12-16)
Nearby terms:
CLM « CLNP « clobber « clock » clock
frequency » clock rate » clock speed
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