Editing Transputer (section)

== Background ==
In the early 1980s, conventional [[central processing unit]]s (CPUs) appeared to have reached a performance limit. Up to that time, manufacturing difficulties limited the amount of circuitry that could fit on a chip. Continued improvements in the [[integrated circuit#Manufacture|fabrication]] process had largely removed this restriction. Within a decade, chips could hold more circuitry than the designers knew how to use. Traditional [[complex instruction set computer]] (CISC) designs were reaching a performance plateau, and it wasn't clear it could be overcome.<ref name=Fuller&Millett2011>Fuller, Samuel H. & Millett, Lynette I., Editors (2011). ''[https://www.nap.edu/read/12980/chapter/6?term=1980s#84 The Future of Computing Performance]'', CSTB, National Academic Press, p. 84. {{ISBN|978-0-309-15951-7}} Retrieved on November 2, 2016.</ref>

It seemed that the only way forward was to increase the use of parallelism, the use of several CPUs that would work together to solve several tasks at the same time. This depended on such machines being able to run several tasks at once, a process termed [[Computer multitasking|multitasking]]. This had generally been too difficult for prior microprocessor designs to handle, but more recent designs were able to accomplish it effectively. It was clear that in the future, this would be a feature of all [[operating system]]s (OSs).

A side effect of most multitasking design is that it often also allows the processes to be run on physically different CPUs, in which case it is termed [[multiprocessing]]. A low-cost CPU built for multiprocessing could allow the speed of a machine to be raised by adding more CPUs, potentially far more cheaply than by using one faster CPU design.

The first transputer designs were due to computer scientist [[David May (computer scientist)|David May]] and telecommunications consultant Robert Milne. In 1990, May received an Honorary DSc from [[University of Southampton]], followed in 1991 by his election as a Fellow of [[The Royal Society]] and the award of the Patterson Medal of the [[Institute of Physics]] in 1992. [[Tony Fuge]], then a leading engineer at Inmos, was awarded the [[Prince Philip Designers Prize]] in 1987 for his work on the T414 transputer.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Prince Philip Designers Prize |url=https://www.designcouncil.org.uk/news-opinion/prince-philip-designers-prize |website=The Design Council |access-date=1 December 2019}}</ref>