Editing Parallel computing (section)

=====Vector processors=====
{{main|Vector processor}}

[[File:Cray 1 IMG 9126.jpg|right|thumbnail|The [[Cray-1]] is a vector processor.]]

A vector processor is a CPU or computer system that can execute the same instruction on large sets of data. Vector processors have high-level operations that work on linear arrays of numbers or vectors. An example vector operation is ''A'' = ''B'' × ''C'', where ''A'', ''B'', and ''C'' are each 64-element vectors of 64-bit [[floating-point]] numbers.<ref name=PH751>Patterson and Hennessy, p.&nbsp;751.</ref> They are closely related to Flynn's SIMD classification.<ref name=PH751/>

[[Cray]] computers became famous for their vector-processing computers in the 1970s and 1980s. However, vector processors—both as CPUs and as full computer systems—have generally disappeared. Modern [[Instruction set|processor instruction sets]] do include some vector processing instructions, such as with [[Freescale Semiconductor]]'s [[AltiVec]] and [[Intel]]'s [[Streaming SIMD Extensions]] (SSE).