I have always liked to distinguish a microprocessor from a microcontroller based on whether or not there are integrated peripherals on the same chip or just a CPU. There are some companies that seem to refer to what I traditionally thought of as microcontrollers by the term du jour, System-on-a-Chip. Are these two terms synonymous? Furthermore, sometimes these SOCs are referred to in the same documentation as processors. Isn't this a bit imprecise, and wouldn't calling them microcontrollers be better since they are a processor + a bunch of integrated peripherals and memories?
Thanks.