What Is a Vector Processor?

Vector processors, also known as array processors, can perform comprehensive data operations simultaneously; most CPUs are scalar processors and can only process one element at a time. Vector processors are widely used in scientific computing. They are the basis of most supercomputers in the 1980s and even the 1990s. Most commercial CPUs today include some vector processor instructions, more typically SIMD. In video entertainment controls and user computer graphics hardware, vector processors also play a vital role in their architecture.