<s>
Scalar	B-General_Concept
processors	I-General_Concept
are	O
a	O
class	O
of	O
computer	O
processors	O
that	O
process	O
only	O
one	O
data	O
item	O
at	O
a	O
time	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Typical	O
data	O
items	O
include	O
integers	O
and	O
floating	B-Algorithm
point	I-Algorithm
numbers	I-Algorithm
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
scalar	B-General_Concept
processor	I-General_Concept
is	O
classified	O
as	O
a	O
single	B-Operating_System
instruction	I-Operating_System
,	I-Operating_System
single	I-Operating_System
data	I-Operating_System
(	O
SISD	B-Operating_System
)	O
processor	O
in	O
Flynn	B-Operating_System
's	I-Operating_System
taxonomy	I-Operating_System
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
Intel	B-General_Concept
486	I-General_Concept
is	O
an	O
example	O
of	O
a	O
scalar	B-General_Concept
processor	I-General_Concept
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
is	O
to	O
be	O
contrasted	O
with	O
a	O
vector	B-Operating_System
processor	I-Operating_System
where	O
a	O
single	O
instruction	O
operates	O
simultaneously	O
on	O
multiple	O
data	O
items	O
(	O
and	O
thus	O
is	O
referred	O
to	O
as	O
a	O
single	B-Device
instruction	I-Device
,	I-Device
multiple	I-Device
data	I-Device
(	O
SIMD	B-Device
)	O
processor	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
term	O
scalar	O
in	O
computing	O
dates	O
to	O
the	O
1970	O
and	O
1980s	O
when	O
vector	B-Operating_System
processors	I-Operating_System
were	O
first	O
introduced	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
was	O
originally	O
used	O
to	O
distinguish	O
the	O
older	O
designs	O
from	O
the	O
new	O
vector	B-Operating_System
processors	I-Operating_System
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
superscalar	B-General_Concept
processor	I-General_Concept
(	O
such	O
as	O
the	O
Intel	B-General_Concept
P5	I-General_Concept
)	O
may	O
execute	O
more	O
than	O
one	O
instruction	O
during	O
a	O
clock	O
cycle	O
by	O
simultaneously	O
dispatching	O
multiple	O
instructions	O
to	O
redundant	O
functional	O
units	O
on	O
the	O
processor	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
Cortex-M7	O
,	O
like	O
many	O
consumer	O
CPUs	B-General_Concept
today	O
,	O
is	O
a	O
superscalar	B-General_Concept
processor	I-General_Concept
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
scalar	O
data	O
type	O
,	O
or	O
just	O
scalar	O
,	O
is	O
any	O
non-composite	O
value	O
.	O
</s>
