Comparison between Microprocessor and Microcontroller:
Microprocessor
Microcontroller
System
It is the heart of the computer
system.
It is the heart of an embedded
system.
Contains
It contains CPU, general
purpose registers, stack pointers,
program counters, clock timing
and interrupt circuits.
It contains the circuitry of
microprocessor and has built-in
ROM, RAM, I/O devices, timers
and counters.
Data memory
It has many instructions to move
data between memory and CPU.
It has one or two instructions to
move data between memory and
CPU.
Circuit
It is large.
It is small.
Cost
Cost of the entire system
increases.
Cost of the entire system is low.
Bit instructions
It has one or two bit handling
instructions.
It has many bit handling
instructions.
Register numbers
It has less number of registers;
hence the operations are
memory based.
It has more number of registers;
hence the programs are easier to
write.
Storage
It is based on Von Neumann
architecture, where the program
and data are stored in the same
memory module.
It is based on the Harvard
architecture, where the program
memory and data memory are
stored in separate module.
Time
Access time for memory and I/O
devices is more.
Less access time for built-in
memory and I/O devices.
Hardware
It requires more hardware.
It requires less hardware.
