CH1 - part 2

An early general-purpose electronic computer that used vacuum tubes and was programmed through cables and manual settings.

ENIAC

The idea of storing program instructions and data in the same high-speed memory.

Stored-program concept

Mathematician strongly associated with the stored-program concept and the organization of modern computers.

John von Neumann

A proposed stored-program computer that used binary representation.

EDVAC (Electronic Discrete Variable Automatic Computer)

An early stored-program computer used in the book as a major example of von Neumann architecture.

IAS computer

The basic memory word size of the IAS computer.

IAS 40-bit word

The instruction size used by the IAS computer; two instructions could fit in one 40-bit word.

IAS 20-bit instruction

The part of an instruction that specifies which operation to perform.

Opcode

The part of an instruction that identifies a memory location associated with the operand or instruction.

Address field

Keeps track of the next instruction to be fetched or executed.

Program Counter (PC)

Holds the instruction currently being interpreted or executed.

Instruction Register (IR)

An instruction used to move data between locations or components.

Data-transfer instruction

An instruction used to perform arithmetic, logical, or other operations on data.

Data-processing instruction

An instruction that controls or changes the sequence in which instructions are executed.

Program-control instruction

Electronic computers associated mainly with vacuum-tube technology.

First-generation computers

Computers associated mainly with transistor technology.

Second-generation computers

Computers associated mainly with integrated-circuit technology.

Third-generation computers

A register used to help access arrays or sequences of data by modifying addresses.

Index register

Transfers control to a subroutine or another program routine.

Call instruction

Returns control from a subroutine to the point from which it was called.

Return instruction

An instruction for arithmetic on numbers with fractional parts and very large or very small magnitudes.

Floating-point instruction

Handles input-output operations so the main CPU does not have to manage every transfer directly.

I/O processor / channel

The binary instruction representation directly understood by computer hardware.

Machine language

A symbolic low-level language that represents machine instructions using mnemonics and symbolic names.

Assembly language

Translates assembly-language instructions into machine code.

Assembler

A language designed to be easier for humans to write and understand than machine or assembly language.

High-level programming language

Translates a high-level-language program into executable/object machine code.

Compiler

A high-level language historically associated with scientific and numerical computing.

FORTRAN (Formula Translator)

A high-level language historically associated with business data processing.

COBOL (Common Business-Oriented Language)

Processes jobs in collected groups or batches rather than interactively one at a time.

Batch processing

System software that manages computer resources and provides services for programs and users.

Operating system (OS)

Keeps several programs available so the CPU can work on another program when one is waiting, such as for I/O.

Multiprogramming

Divides CPU time among multiple users or programs in short intervals.

Time sharing

A historically influential family of software-compatible computers sharing a common instruction set.

IBM System/360

The ability of programs written for one computer model to run on another compatible model without rewriting.

Software compatibility

The programmer-visible design of a computer, including its instruction set, data formats, registers, and addressing methods.

Computer architecture

The internal hardware arrangement used to implement a computer architecture.

Computer organization / implementation

A technique for implementing CPU control using stored sequences of lower-level control operations called microprograms.

Microprogramming

A very high-performance computer, especially for demanding scientific computations.

Supercomputer

Historically, a smaller and less expensive computer than a mainframe.

Minicomputer

An electronic circuit, mainly made of transistors, manufactured on a small semiconductor chip.

Integrated circuit (IC)

Technology that integrates very large numbers of transistors and complex circuitry onto one IC.

VLSI (Very Large-Scale Integration)

A small piece of semiconductor material on which an integrated circuit is fabricated.

Chip