[Term of the Day]: MIPS
Term of the Day
"MIPS"
What is MIPS?
MIPS, short for million instructions per second refers to the approximate measure of a computer's raw speed and processing power. This measures roughly the number of machine instructions that a computer can execute in one second.
MIPS figures can be misleading because different instructions require more or less time than others and different computers may require different sets of instructions to perform the same activity.
In addition, MIPS refers only to the CPU speed, whereas real applications are generally limited by other factors, such as I/O speed, memory, storage capacity, processor architecture, or programming language used. Hence, there is no standard method for measuring MIPS.
A computer with a high MIPS rating, therefore, might not run a particular application any faster than a computer with a low MIPS rating. For all these reasons, MIPS ratings are not used often anymore. Despite all these, a MIPS rating can give you a general idea of a computer's speed.