A processor and an operating method are described. By diversifying an L1 memory being accessed, based on an execution mode of the processor, an operating performance of the processor may be enhanced. By disposing a local/stack section in a system dynamic random access memory (DRAM) located external to the processor, a size of a scratch pad memory may be reduced without deteriorating a performance. While a core of the processor is performing in a very long instruction word (VLIW) mode, the core may data-access a cache memory and thus, a bottleneck may not occur with respect to the scratch pad memory even though a memory access occurs with respect to the scratch pad memory by an external component.