Definition: In a CPU, part of the processor tries and fetches instructions from memory before they are needed as otherwise the CPU has to wait for the instruction. This is called pre-fetching and the instructions are held in an instruction pipeline.
If a branch occurs then the pipeline has to be refilled and branch prediction attempts to work out if the branch will be taken and start fetching instructions.
Glossary:
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Processors with long pipelines need careful optimization by branch predictors to minimize the occasions when a branch occurs.
