1. A method performed by a vector-based processor, comprising: obtaining one or more non-linear complex software instructions having at least one complex input vector, wherein said one or more non-linear complex software instructions implement one or more corresponding non-linear complex functions and wherein said at least one complex input vector comprises one or more of real and complex components; and in response to a predefined software instruction keyword for at least one of said one or more non-linear complex software instructions, performing the following steps for each component of said at least one complex input vector, wherein said at least one complex input vector comprises a plurality of complex numbers and wherein said vector-based processor processes said plurality of complex numbers substantially simultaneously, wherein said predefined software instruction keyword for said at least one non-linear complex software instruction is part of an instruction set of said vector-based processor: invoking at least one hardware non-linear functional unit that implements said one or more non-linear complex software instructions to apply one of the one or more corresponding non-linear complex functions to each component of said at least one complex input vector to generate a corresponding complex-valued component of an output vector.