Computer Systems Organization

An electronic device, operating under the control of instructions stored in its own memory unit, that can accept data, manipulate data, and produce information from the processing.

Computer systems will include the computer along with any_________ that are necessary to make the computer function.

Each computer connected to the system can operate independently, but has the _________ with other external devices and computers.

(T/F) The basic functional units of computer are made of electronics circuit and it works with electrical signal (analog and digital).

(T/F) All the functionalities of computer can be captured with 0 and 1 and its theoretical background corresponds to two valued boolean algebra.

The smallest unit of information that is represented in computer

Four bits together

Eight bits together

Refers to the operational units and their interconnections that realize the architectural specifications.

The chip which acts as a control center for all operations. It executes instructions (a program) which are contained in the memory section.

1.The transfer of data between itself and the memory section
2. Manipulation of data in the memory section or stored internally
3. The transfer of data between itself and input/output devices

The CPU is said to be the ______ of any computer system.

It provides all the ________ signals necessary to transfer data from one point to another in the system

Named after the mathematician and early computer scientist John von Neumann

Allows instructions and data to be mixed and stored in the same memory module.

(T/F) Von Neumann machines have shared signals and memory for code and data. Thus, the program can be easily modified by itself since it is stored in read-write memory.

Instructions in memory are executed sequentially unless a program instruction explicitly changes the order

A computer architecture with physically separate storage and signal pathways for   instructions and data.

The term originated from ______ the relay-based computer, which stored instructions on punched tape (24 bits wide) and data in electro-mechanical counters (23 digits wide).

In a computer using the ________ , the CPU can read both an instruction and perform a data memory access at the same time, even without a cache.

Uses separate memory modules for instructions and for data and is easier to pipeline and there are no memory alignment problems.

(T/F) All the components of a computer are connected by cables

A set of wires, that interconnects all the components (subsystems) of a computer

A communication pathway connecting two or more devices and connects the CPU to main memory on the motherboard.

The _______ reflects how many bits of information can be sent across each wire each second. This would be analogous to how fast the cars are driving on our analogical highway.

What do buses look like?

A collection of wires through which data is transmitted from one part of a computer to another.

Can be thought of as a highway on which data travels within a computer. This bus connects all the computer components to the CPU and main memory.

(T/F) Remember that there is no difference between “data” and “instruction” at this level

A collection of wires used to identify particular location in main memory.

Identify the source or destination of data. The information used to describe the memory locations travels along the address bus.

The connections that carry control information between the CPU and other devices within the computer. It carries signals that report the status of various devices.

The one who starts the bus transaction and issues the command (and address)

The one who responds to the address, sends data to the master if the master asks for data and receives data from the master if the master wants to send data.

The set of rules agreed upon by both the bus master and the bus slave as to how data is to be transferred over the bus.

It is used to regulate the flow of information between the devices.

The ability of the receiving device to regulate the flow of data from the sending device.

With a _______,  data transfers occur in relation to successive edges of the system clock. Inherent in this type of protocol is the assumption that data will arrive within a certain time window. (if it does not, then the data is lost.)

Transfers bear no particular timing relation to the system clock; transfer can take place at any time

Additional handshake lines are required in order to guarantee data transfers between master and slave.

________ transfer, by the way of contrast, only depend on the system clock (the protocol being built into the system).

________ are useful when matching the different speeds of the CPU and peripheral chips.

A compromise the two previous bus protocols is found in the semi-synchronous bus, which approaches the speed of synchronous buses, but allows for interfacing to  peripheral devices of varying speeds.

Operates essentially as an asynchronous bus until the peripheral devices is ready to transfer, after which the bus becomes synchronous for the duration of the transfer

Contains data or instructions for the processor to execute

A device used to store information for use in a computer.

Also known as main memory or internal memory often referred to simply as memory, is the only one directly accessible to the CPU. It is used for storage systems which function at high-speed

(T/F) The CPU continuously reads instructions stored there and executes them as required. Any data actively operated on is also stored there in uniform manner.

Provides program and data storage that is slow to access but offer higher memory capacity. It is not directly accessible by the CPU, because it is not accessed via the input/output channels

Start at the beginning and read through in order

Individual blocks have unique address. Access is by jumping to vicinity plus sequential search

Individual addresses identify locations exactly

Data is located by a comparison with contents of a portion of the store. Access time is independent of location or previous access