1. A system for performing histogram calculations in parallel in a Single-Instruction-Multiple-Stream (SIMD) processor for audio, video, 3-D graphics, and digital signal processing functions comprising: a program flow control unit coupled to the processor; a vector register file coupled to the program control flow unit which includes a set of vector registers, where each vector register comprises N vector elements; a data memory which is partitioned into N modules, wherein each of the N modules is independently addressed and a portion of data ports of the data memory are coupled to the vector register file; a plurality of Look-Up Tables (LUTs), wherein each LUT corresponds to a respective module of the N modules, each LUT for storing count values; a vector execution unit within the processor comprising N computing elements, each computing element corresponding to a respective LUT module, wherein for each computing element, the unit: (i) performs a vector element data read operation to provide an entry index for a LUT and perform an LUT read operation; (ii) increments each read LUT count value; (iii) stores back the respective incremented count value; and, wherein the output and inputs of vector execution unit are coupled to read and write ports of the vector register file; (iv) repeats i through iii for all data for which histogram is to be calculated; and a port of the vector register file selectively coupled to an address input of the data memory; wherein the processor performs a histogram operation.