Content-addressable parallel processor

A content-addressable parallel processor (CAPP) also known as associative processor is a type of <a href="/facts/Parallel_computing/nQzcpzQt">parallel processor</a> which uses <a href="/facts/Content-addressable_memory/VteSPHMR">content-addressing memory</a> (CAM) principles. CAPPs are intended for bulk computation. The syntactic structure of their <a href="/facts/Algorithm/fnl5NmRt">computing algorithm</a> are simple, whereas the number of concurrent processes may be very large, only limited by the number of locations in the CAM. The best-known CAPP may be <a href="/facts/STARAN/B9jS6pC7">STARAN</a>, completed in 1972; several similar systems were later built in other countries.
A CAPP is distinctly different from a <a href="/facts/Von_Neumann_architecture/te0yulFa">Von Neumann architecture</a> or classical computer that stores data in cells addressed individually by numeric address. The CAPP executes a stream of instructions that address memory based on the content (stored values) of the memory cells. As a parallel processor, it acts on all of the cells containing that content at once. The content of all matching cells can be changed simultaneously.
A typical CAPP might consist of an array of content-addressable memory of fixed word length, a sequential instruction store, and a general purpose computer of the Von Neumann architecture that is used to interface peripherals.

<ul><li>Kent, Allen (1990), Encyclopedia of microcomputers: Volume 4 - Computer-Related Applications: Computational Linguistics to dBase, New York: Dekker, pp. 138–139, <a href="/facts/ISBN_(identifier)/15AdSPa9">ISBN</a> 0-8247-2703-7</li>
<li>Foster, Caxton C (1976), <a href="https://archive.org/details/contentaddressab0000fost">Content Addressable Parallel Processors</a>, Van Nostrand Reinhold, <a href="/facts/ISBN_(identifier)/15AdSPa9">ISBN</a> 0-442-22433-8</li></ul>

Content-addressable parallel processor open-in-new

Content-addressable parallel processor