Overview of Computer Architecture

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Computer is defined in the Oxford dictionaryas an automatic electronic apparatus for making calculations or controlling operations that are expressible in numerical or logical terms. A program is a sequence of instructions which operates on data to perform certain tasks. Computer use eight bits to represent a character internally. A word may be defined as a unit of information which a computer can process or transfer at a time. Von Neumann machine consists of a CPU which includes a ALU and CU, a main memory system and an input/output system.

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The basic function performed by a computer is the execution of a program. The instruction execution takes place in the CPU registers. The processing needed for a single instruction is referred to as instruction cycle. The instruction cycle consist of the fetch cycle and the execute cycle. Execution of an instruction may involve any of these actions - data transfer, data processing and sequence control. Each instruction of the machine consists of two components operation code and address of the operand in memory.

Instruction Execution

Instruction Set

1. An instruction set is a collection of all the instructions a CPU can execute. 2. Instructions are represented as sequence of bits. 3. A layout of instruction is termed as instruction format. 4. An instruction first is read into an instruction register (IR), then the CPU decodes the instruction and extracts the required operands on the basis of references made through the instruction fields and processes it. 5. The instruction set plays important role in design of the CPU as it defines many

Addressing Schemes

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The term addressing schemes refer to the mechanism employed for specifying operands. The arrangement of opcodes and operands and their numbers within the instructions determines the form or the format of an instruction. The choice of addressing schemes and instructions formats are governed by the efficiency, (time as well as space) economy and programming flexibility considerations. The symbol EA (Effective Address) refers to a physical address in a nonvirtual memory environment and refers to a register in a virtual memory address environment. Von Neumann had suggested that the execution of a program is possible only if the program and data is residing in memory.

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General Structure of CPU

1. The CPU basically consists of two main components

An arithmetic and logic unit to perform the arithmetic or logic operation on data. A control unit which plays important role for the functioning of the CPU itself and transfer of data / information from / to another device to / from CPU.

2. CPU contains several operational registers.

3. An instruction is executed using several small operations called micro-operations. 4. The design of CPU in modern form was first proposed by John Von Neuman. 5. CPU registers are used to store instructions and operands within the CPU.

Register Organization
1. The internal processor memory of a CPU is served by its registers.

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The register set can be classified under two basic categories:-Programmer visible registers. -Status control registers.

3.When a large number of register are included in the a CPU, it is most efficient to connect them through a common bus system. 4.The registers communicate with each other not only for direct data transfers, but also while performing various micro 5.It is necessary to provide a common unit that can perform all thearithmetic, logic and shift micro operations in the operations. processor.

MICRO OPERATIONS
1. 2. A micro operation is a primitive action performed by a machine on the data stored in the registers. There are four types of micro-operations:-Register transfer micro-operations. -Arithmetic micro-operations. -Logic micro-operations. -Shift micro-operations. 3.Computer registers are designated by capital letters to denote the function of the register. 4.The symbolic notation used to describe the micro-operation transers among registers is called a register transfer language.

ALU organization
1. 2. 3. An ALU performs the simple arithmetic logic and shift operations. The complexity of an ALU depends on the type of instruction set which has been realized for it. The simple ALUs can be constructed for fixed point numbers, on the other hand the floating point arithmetic implementation require more complex control logic and data processing capabilities i.e. the hardware. Fixed point ALU is the simplest organization as suggested by John Von Neumann.

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5. A floating point ALU can implement floating point operations

Arithmetic Processors

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An arithmetic processor is the part of a processor unit that executes arithmetic operations. The data type assumed to reside in processor registers during the execution of an arithmetic instruction is specified in the definition of the instruction. An arithmetic instruction may specify binary or decimal data, and in each case the data may be in fixed point or floating point form Two mechanisms are used for connecting arithmetic processor to the CPU peripheral processor and coprocessor. The arithmetic processor is very simple if only a binary fixed point add instruction is included. It would be more complicated if it includes all four arithmetic operations for binary and decimal data in fixedpoint and floating-point representation.

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Control Unit Organisation

1. The control unit performs two basic functions:-cause the execution of a micro-operation. -enable the CPU to execute a proper sequence of micro-operation which is determined by the instruction to be executed.

2.The control unit generates control signals which inturn performs various functions.

3.Control unit keep track on the instruction cycle. 4.A prime requirement for control unit is that it must know all the instruction to be executed and also the nature of the results along with the indication of possible errors. 5.A control unit contain a clock portion, whose job is to provide clock pulses.

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A control unit whose binary control variables are stored in memory is called microprogrammed control uint. Microprogramming is a second alternative for designing the control unit of a digital computer. The principle of microprogramming is an elegant and systematic method for controlling the micro-operation sequences in a digital computer. Each micro instruction can generate a set of control signals on the control lines which inturn implement one or more micro-operations. A set of control signals with each bit representing a single control line is called a control word. The computers which have microprogrammed control unit have two separate memories:-main memory. -control memory.

Microprogrammed Control Unit

RISC versus CISC

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A computer with a large number of instructions is classified as a complex instruction set computer. In the early 1980s, a number of computer designers recommended that computers use fewer instructions with simple constructs so they can be executed much faster within the CPU without having to use memory as often. This type of computer is classified as a reduced instruction set computer or RISC. The essential goal of a CISC architecture is to attempt to provide a single machine instruction for each statement that is written in a high level language. The concept of RISC architecture involves an attempt to reduce execution time by simplifying the instruction set

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Memory Hierarchy

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Memory in a computer system is required for storage and subsequent retrieval of the instructions and data. The storage devices along with the algorithm or information on how to control and manage these storage devices constitute the memory system of a computer. The basic objective of a memory system is to provide fast, uninterrupted access by the processor to the memory such that the processor can operate at the speed it is expected to work. The cost versus access time anomaly has lead to a hierarchy of memory where we supplement fast memories with larger, cheaper, slower memories.

5. A memory system can be considered to consist of three group of memories internal processor memories, Primary or main memory and Secondary memory

Main Memory

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The main memory is the central storage unit in a computer system. Main memory is a random access memory (RAM). The main memory can be read and written into, therefore, is called readwrite memory. Memory is normally organized (logically) as words of fixed length. The length of a word is called word length. RAM and ROM chips are connected to a CPU through the data and address buses. The designer of a computer system must calculate the amount of memory required for the particular application and assign it to either RAM or ROM.

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Auxiliary Memory

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The most common auxiliary memory devices used in computer systems are magnetic disks in tapes To understand fully the physical mechanism of auxiliary memory devices one must have a knowledge of magnetics, electronics and electromechanical systems. The important characteristics of any device are its access mode, access time, transfer rate, capacity and cost. The average time required to reach a storage location in memory and obtain its contents is called the access time. A magnetic disk is circular plate constructed of metal or plasti coated with magnetized material. Magnetic tape consist of tape constructed from a plastic and are covered with magnetic oxide layers.

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Optical Memories

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With the advancements in the optical

technology now the optical disks are trying to make inroads as one of the major external memory. 2. Optical memories are alternate mass storage

devices with huge capacity. 3. 4. The CD-ROM (Compact disk read only memory). WORM (Write-once read-many) disks are

prepared in such a way that they can be written only once subsequently by a laser beam of modest intensity. 5. The most recent development in optical disks is

the erasable optical disk.

Associative Memory

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In associative memories any stored item can be accessed directly by assigning the contents of the item in question, such as name of a person, account number, number etc. as an address. Associative memories are known as content addressable memories (CAMs). The entity chosen to address the memory is known as the key. The information is stored in CAMs as fixed length words. The VLSI technology has made these associative memories economically feasible.

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Cache Memory
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Cache memory are small fast memories placed between the processor & the main memory. The caches although are fast yet are used in only small sizes. Cache contains a copy of certain portions of main memory. The performance of cache memory is frequently measured in terms of a quantity called hit ratio. Three types of mapping procedures are of practical interest when considering the organization of cache memory:-associative mapping. -direct mapping.

-set-associative mapping.

Virtual Memory

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Virtual memory is a concept used in some large computer systems that permit the user to construct programs as though a large memory space were available, equal to the totality of auxiliary memory. Virtual memory is used to give programmers the illusion that they have a very large memory at their disposal, even though the computer actually has a relatively small main memory. A virtual memory system provides a mechanism for translating program generated addresses into correct main memory locations. A virtual memory system is a combination of hardware and software techniques. The collection of only the part of a program into a program into a physical memory requires the incorporation of certain policies into the virtual memory management scheme.

Paging
1. Paging is a memory management technique that permits a program's memory to be non-contiguous into physical memory thus allowing a program to be allocated physical memory wherever it is possible. 2. The program generated addresses are called virtual addresses and

form the virtual address space.

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An important component of paging operation is a page map table

which contains starting address or base address of each page stored in physical memory. 4. The main objectives for hardware support for paging is to store

page map table and make virtual to physical address translation more efficient since every access to memory must go through the PMT.

Segmentation is a memory management scheme which supports programmer's view of memory. Segments are formed at program translation time by grouping together logically related entities. An important component of address mapping is a segmented system is a segment table.

Segmentation

ike the page map table, segment table can be stored either into fast registers or in primary memory.

Protection of one segment from another segment is done through protection bit.

Input/Output Organisation

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The input-output subsystem of a computer, referred to as I/O, provides an efficient mode of communication between the central system and the outside environment. Programs and data must be entered into computer memory for processing and results obtained from computations must be recorded or displayed for the user. Input or output devices attached to the computer are also called peripherals. Input output interface provides a method for transferring information between internal storage and external I/O devices. Computer systems include special hardware components between the CPU and peripherals to supervise and synchronize all input and output transfers.

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Input / Output Techniques

1. The input / output operations can be performed by three basic techniques. These are:-Programmed Input / Output. -Interrupt driven Input / Output. -Direct Memory Access. 2. In programmed I/O the I/O operations are completely controlled by the CPU. 3. In both programmed I/O and interrupt driven I/O CPU is responsible for extracting data from the memory for Output and storing data in memory for input. 4. Many computers combine the interface logic with the requirements for direct memory access into one unit and call it an I/O processor (IOP).

Operating Systems
1. An operating system is a system software which may be viewed as an organized collection of software consisting of procedures for operating a computer and providing an environment for evolution of programs. 2. It acts as an interface between users and the hardware of the computer system. 3. There are two ways one can interact with operating system:-By means of operating system call in a program. -Directly by means of operating system commands. 4. An operating system may process its task serially (sequentially) or concurrently (several tasks simultaneously). 5. On the basis of their attributes and design objectives, different types of operating systems were defined and characterized with respect to scheduling and management of memory, devices and files.

Parallel Processing

1. Parallel processing is a term used to denote a large class of techniques that are used to provide simultaneous data-processing tasks for the purpose of increasing the computational speed of a computer system. 2. Parallel processing can be viewed from various levels of complexity. 3. Flynn's classification divides computers into four major groups:-Single instruction stream, single data stream (SISD). -Single instruction stream, multiple data stream (SIMD). -Multiple instruction stream, single data stream (MISD). -Multiple instruction stream, multiple data stream (MIMD) 4.Parallel processing can be studies as:-pipeline processing. -vector processing. -array processing.