I am searching on internet from few hour's to know if ARM is a microprocessor or micro-controller. I know manufactures make Micro-controller and Micro-processor in companies. we use micro-controller and micro-processor in embedded project.

I think, Micro-controller is integrated circuit or chip in which processor has inbuilt with the memory on the same chip and Micro-processor is integrated circuit or chip made without memory device, so if we want to use processor in embedded project then we have to connect external memory with processor. What is this ( LPC148, Cortex M0) Is it processor or micro-controller ? if your answer is processor then what's the reason behind it.

 

 

Thanks. This image showing the difference between micro-processor and micro-controller

My question is that " what is cortex M0" Is it processor or micro-controller? if it's processor then what are the example of ARM- Micro-controller ?

 

Accroding to wise and all-knowing (and user editable) contents of Wikipedia, it's a microcontroller.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ARM_Cortex-M#Cortex-M0

 

Is this stuff REALLY that hard to at least attempt to look up first:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ARM_Cortex-M#Cortex-M0

 

Is this stuff REALLY that hard to at least attempt to look up first:

I had doubt on this statement "The ARM Cortex-M is a group of 32-bit RISC ARM processor cores licensed by ARM Holdings for microcontroller use"

 

What problem is created or solved if you want to call it a microprocessor or a microcontroller?

It is both a microprocessor and a microcontroller.

Inside the package, at the heart of the ARM, it is a microprocessor.

When you add all the memory and peripherals and wrap it in plastic and provide connections to it, it becomes a microcontroller.

 

Why is this distinction of concern to you?
It seems to be a distinction without an important difference.

 

ARM is a very unique beast unfortunately. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ARM_architecture There supposedly will be an ARM version of Windows.

 

What problem is created or solved if you want to call it a microprocessor or a microcontroller?.

Interviewer asked me following questions,

1. what is arm ?
2. what is cortex m0? Is it processor or micro-controler ?
3. Is there any 8 bit arm processor or micro-controller ?

My answer :

1. ARM is manufacturer which make micro-controller and micro-processor
   
2. cortex m0 is arm micro-controller.
   
3. No I haven't seen 8 bit arm processor/microcontroller. I know only about 32 bit arm processor/microcontroller. cortex m0 is 32 Arm based micro-controller

I had told my answer but I was not sure that I was right or wrong

 

#1 isn't true. They license intellectual property.
#2 Arm cortex-m0; It's more of a processor architecture .
#3 No 8-bit as far as I know.

 

#3 No 8-bit as far as I know.

if I simply type "8 bit arm micro-controller" on google I don't see any 8 bit arm micro-controller in my google serach
https://www.google.co.in/search?q=8...-b-ab&gfe_rd=cr&dcr=0&ei=4sReWp_oBIGjX5z9urAN

#1 so british company ARM Holdings develops the architecture and licenses it to other companies, who design their own products that implement one of those architectures‍

 

Interviewer asked me following questions,

1. what is arm ?
2. what is cortex m0? Is it processor or micro-controler ?
3. Is there any 8 bit arm processor or micro-controller ?

My answer :

1. ARM is manufacturer which make micro-controller and micro-processor
   
2. cortex m0 is arm micro-controller.
   
3. No I haven't seen 8 bit arm processor/microcontroller. I know only about 32 bit arm processor/microcontroller. cortex m0 is 32 Arm based micro-controller

I had told my answer but I was not sure that I was right or wrong

Depending one what kind of job you were applying for, my impression is that there weren't very meaningful questions. If they were hiring someone for a position that required someone with a significant amount of experience working with ARM architectures, then perhaps the thinking would be that any such person would have long since picked up on these things if they had any level of curiosity or awareness of the world in which they operate and if they haven't absorbed this kind of information, then they probably don't have the curiosity or awareness you want.

There are probably other scenarios as well where questions like this might make sense. But for most jobs, even ones where the job is going to be entirely focused on ARM programming or designing systems around ARM devices, it would seem like whether someone knows the answers to these or not isn't going to tell you much about whether they can do the job.

Having never worked with an ARM-based device, my knowledge of the family is quite limited. So I could well be wrong on some of this. But here is how I would have answers the questions:

1) ARM is a RISC instruction set architecture ISA.

Processors developed around the ARM ISA are generally used as processing cores around which microcontrollers are based. I don't know whether or not they have been used as the core of more general purpose microprocessors.

2) Cortex-M0 is one variant of the ARM family.

There are many variants, each somewhat optimized for particular application environments reflecting tradeoffs between capabilities, speed, power, cost and other considerations. The only thing I know about the Mo family is that, unlike the name somewhat implies, it was not the earliest variant in the M family. Rather, it was optimized for extremely cost-sensitive applications. I only know that because a friend mentioned it while he was describing why he was choosing the MCU that he did for a product he was working on.

3) My understanding is that it is presently only available in 32-bit and 64-bit versions.

 

ARM is a company that made first ARM processor core. Cortex and LPC are vendors who made their on chip based on ARM processor core

Intel is a company that made first 8051 processor core. Atmel, Philips, Infineon, and Texas Instruments..etc these are vendors who made their own chip based on 8051 processor core

I think I am thinking in right direction, Is it right ?

 

ARM, a part of being a company is an architecture.

Cortex-A is for MPU cores.
Cortex-M is for MCU cores.
Cortex-R is for Real Time Cores.

 

1 Acorn RISC Machines
2 processor enables developers to achieve 32-bit performance at an 8-bit price point, bypassing the step to 16-bit devices. The ultra-low gate count of theCortex-M0 processor also enables its deployment in analog and mixed signal devices.
3 Acorn RISC Machines made 4 bit 8 bit 16 and now under the name ARM 32 64 bit

 

Cortex M0 is a processing core (alu, registers, memory controller etc.). You can buy the design files for it and use it in your product, and it is entirely up to you whether the final product will be a microcontroller with all the peripherals, ram and flash, or a bare microprocessor and all that stuff will be externally connected to your chip. You could also use it as an IP core and embed it inside an FPGA or ASIC along with whatever processing peripherals you require.