Architecture Organization of Computer - Unit 1 Flashcards

Vocabulary flashcards covering core topics from Unit 1 of Computer Architecture and Organization, including functional units, number systems, complements, data representations, codes, and error detection.

Digital Computer

A programmable electronic system that represents information using discrete values, normally binary 0 and 1, to accept, store, process, and output data.

Computer Architecture

Programmer-visible attributes of a computer system, including the instruction set, data formats, and addressing modes.

Computer Organization

The operational units and their interconnections that realize the architected specifications.

Computer Design

The detailed hardware engineering implementation of a computer system.

CPU (Central Processing Unit)

The core component of a computer formed by the Arithmetic and Logic Unit (ALU) and the Control Unit (CU), along with registers.

Radix

The base $r$ of a positional number system that uses digits from $0$ through $r-1$.

8421 BCD

A Binary-Coded Decimal scheme where each individual decimal digit is separately encoded using a 4-bit binary word.

ASCII

A standard character encoding scheme that originally uses 7 bits to represent 128 standard characters.

EBCDIC

An 8-bit character code historically associated with IBM mainframe systems.

$(r-1)'s$ Complement

The diminished-radix complement of an $n$-digit number in radix $r$, calculated by subtracting each digit from $r-1$.

$r's$ Complement

The radix complement of an $n$-digit number in radix $r$, calculated by adding $1$ to its $(r-1)'s$ complement.

1's Complement

A binary diminished-radix complement obtained by inverting every bit in a binary pattern ($0$ becomes $1$ and $1$ becomes $0$).

2's Complement

A binary radix complement obtained by adding $1$ to the 1's complement of a binary number.

Signed Overflow

An error state occurring when an arithmetic result exceeds the maximum representable value for a given signed bit-width.

Fixed-Point Representation

A data representation scheme where the binary point is kept at a predetermined fixed position within the word.

Floating-Point Representation

A number representation using a significand and an exponent, allowing the binary point to change position dynamically.

Normalization

The process of scaling a floating-point significand so that a single non-zero digit appears immediately to the left of the binary point.

Gray Code

A non-weighted binary code in which any two adjacent code values differ by exactly one bit position.

Parity Bit

A redundant bit added to a bit sequence to ensure the total number of 1s is always even (even parity) or odd (odd parity).

Parity Checker

A logic circuit at the receiver that checks whether a received bit pattern satisfies the expected parity condition.