Chapter 1: Essentials of Computer Organization and Architecture 5th Edition

What is an ISA?

Instruction Set Architecture

Name the three basic components of every computer?

CPU, Memory, I/O Devices

How does the fetch-decode-execute cycle work?

The CPU fetches the next instruction from memory

Then the instruction is decoded

Then the instruction is executed

What is a multicore processor?

A multicore processor contains multiple CPUs each capable of executing a different program at essentially the same time.

In what ways are hardware and software different? In what ways are they the same?

Between hardware and software, hardware provides more speed, software provides more flexibility. Hardware and software are related through the Principle of Equivalence of Hardware and Software. They can solve problems equally, although solutions are often easier in one versus the other.

What is the Principle of Equivalence of Hardware and Software?

A fundamental concept in computer science that states that any task that can be performed by hardware can also be performed by software, and vice versa.

How many milliseconds (ms) are in 1 second?

How many microseconds (μs) are in 1 second?

How many nanoseconds (ns) are in 1 millisecond?

How many microseconds are in 1 millisecond?

How many nanoseconds are in 1 microsecond?

How many kilobytes (KB) are in 1 gigabyte (GB)?

How many kilobytes are in 1 megabyte (MB)?

How many megabytes are in 1 gigabyte (GB)?

How many bytes are in 20 megabytes?

How many kilobytes are in 2 gigabytes?

1,000 ms

1,000,000 μs

1,000,000 ns

1,000 μs

1,000 ns

1,000,000 KB

1,000 KB

1,000 MB

20,000,000 MB

2,000,000 KB

Briefly explain two breakthroughs in the history of computing.

Answers may include explanations of vacuum tubes, transistors, integrated circuits, VLSI, binary arithmetic, quantum computing, and parallel computing.

List five applications of personal computers.

Is there a limit to the applications of computers?

Do you envision any radically different and exciting applications in the near future? If so, what?

There are many applications, including such things as word processing, bookkeeping, digital image editing, creating/writing music, graphics design, gaming, coding, mapping, record storage (database), and control (such as in an assembly line or any real-time system), not to mention as an electronic resource or for various medical applications (such as in CAT scan machines).

In the Von Neumann model, explain the purpose of the:

-processing unit

-program counter

The processing unit performs all of the arithmetic and logic functions.

The program counter is responsible for keeping track of the next instruction to fetch.

Under the von Neumann architecture, a program and its data are both stored in memory. It is therefore possible for a program, thinking a memory location holds a piece of data when it actually holds a program instruction, to accidentally (or on purpose) modify itself. What implications does this present to you as a programmer?

Care must be taken when programming to make sure the code doesn't modify itself in some way.

For example, if a memory location holds an instruction (which is represented by a binary number), and a value is added to that instruction, the result could be a valid

instruction that is later executed, resulting in an error that is very difficult to track down.

The modification of an instruction could also cause a program to crash.

Explain what it means to "fetch" an instruction.

The program counter holds the memory address of the next instruction to be executed.

The control unit retrieves that instruction from memory so it can be decoded and executed.

What are the limitations of Moore's Law? Why can't this law hold forever?

There are technical limitations, including heat dissipation and power leakage, not to mention the physical limitations of space and the fact that transistors can only get so small (we can't go smaller than the size of an atom).

What does a processor consist of?

Arithmetic Logic Unit (ALU) - to perform computations and make decisions.

Control Unit - to direct data to the correct locations

Registers - Storage locations to hold data that the CPU needs to access quickly.

What is a computer bus?

The bus is a special pathway that connects the ALU, registers and memory.

What is a datapath?

A datapath is the collection of the ALU, registers and the bus.

What are the five different computer categories?

Supercomputers

Mainframes

Personal computers

Mobile devices

Embedded systems

Common Prefixes Associated with Computer Organization and Architecture

See Table in attached image

What are clock frequencies are measured in?

Hertz or cycles per second

What is SDRAM?

Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory

Memory that can synchronize itself with a microprocessor's bus.

What is DDR_SDRAM?

Double Data Rate

Dual-channel RAM, it requires that memory modules be added in identical pairs.

What is Level 1 cache (L1)

Small, fast memory cache that is built into the microprocessor chip

What is Level 2 cache (L2)

Collection of fast, built-in memory chips situated between the microprocessor and main memory.

What is the IEEE organization?

Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)

Dedicated to the advancement of the professions of electronic and computer engineering.

The IEEE actively promotes the interests of the worldwide engineering community by publishing an array of technical literature.

Sets standards for various computer components, signaling protocols, and data representation.

A democratic, convoluted, procedure established for the creation of new standards.

Its final documents are well respected and usually endure for several years before requiring revision.

What is the ITU?

The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) is based in Geneva, Switzerland.

Formerly known as the Comité Consultatif International Télégraphique et Téléphonique CCITT (International Consultative Committee on Telephony and Telegraphy).

Concerns itself with the interoperability of telecommunications systems, including telephone, telegraph, and data communication systems.

Standards prefixed by ITU-T

What is the ANSI?

USA international umbrella organiztion American

National Standards Institute (ANSI)

What is the BSI organization?

Great Britain has its British Standards Institution (BSI) in addition to having a voice on the CEN (Comité Européen de Normalisation), the European committee for standardization.

What is the ISO organization?

The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) is the entity that coordinates worldwide standards development, including the activities of ANSI with BSI, among others.

ISO is not an acronym, but derives from the Greek word isos, meaning "equal."

Who is credited with the construction of the first completely electronic Computer?

John Atanasoff (1904-1995)

What is recognized as the first all-electronic, general-purpose digital computer?

The ENIAC

What is a transistor?

A device used to switch or amplify electronic signals in a circuit.

Short for transfer resistor, is the solid-state version of a switch that can be opened or closed by electrical signals.

What are the functions of a transistor?

It can behave either as a switch or as an amplifier.

What is a microchip made of?

An integrated circuit (IC), or microchip is made from silicone.

What is Rock's Law?

The cost to develop semiconductors will double every 4 years

What is the semantic gap?

Space between wires and C++

The Abstraction Levels of Modern Computing Systems

See attached image

Describe hardwired control units?

In hardwired control units, control signals emanate from blocks of digital logic components.

These signals direct all the data and instruction traffic to appropriate parts of the system.

Typically very fast

Difficult to modify

Describe microprogramed control units?

Microprogram is a program written in a low-level language that is implemented directly by the hardware.

Machine instructions produced in Level 2 are fed into this microprogram, which then interprets the instructions by activating hardware suited to execute the original instruction.

One machine-level instruction is often translated into several microcode instructions.

Modified relatively easily.

Are slower than hardwired control units.

What is cloud computing?

Cloud computing is the general term for any type of virtual computing platform provided over the internet that offers a set of shared resources, such as storage, networking, applications, and various other processes.

What is SaaS?

Software as a Service provides on-demand online access to specific software applications or suites without the need for local installation (or even local hardware and OS requirements in many cases).

Level 6 of the Abstraction Levels of Modern Computing Systems

What is PaaS?

Provides server hardware, operating systems, database services, security components, and backup and recovery services so you can develop applications of your own.

Levels 3, 4, and 5 of the Abstraction Levels of Modern Computing Systems

What is IaaS?

Infrastructure as a Service is the most basic of the models, allows you to buy access to basic computer hardware and thus provides only server hardware, secure network access to the servers, and backup and recovery services. The customer is responsible for all system software, including the operating system and databases.

What is supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA)?

SCADA systems operate vital portions of our physical infrastructure, including power generation facilities, transportation networks, sewage systems, and oil and gas pipelines, to name only a few.

What is Von Neumann architecture?

Consists of three hardware systems:

- A central processing unit (CPU, which has a control unit, an arithmetic logic unit, registers, and a program counter)

- A main memory system (which holds programs that control the computer's operation)

- An I/O system.

Has the capacity to carry out sequential instruction processing.

Contains a single path, either physically or logically, between the main memory system and the control unit of the CPU, forcing alternation of instruction and execution cycles. This single path is often referred to as the von Neumann bottleneck.

What is the von Neumann execution cycle?

Fetch, decode, execute cycle

What is the system bus model?

The data bus moves data from main memory to the CPU registers (and vice versa).

The address bus holds the address of the data that the data bus is currently accessing.

The control bus carries the necessary control signals that specify how the information transfer is to take place.

What are the non-von Neumann machines?

Harvard Architicture

Reduction machines

Digital signal processors (DSPs)

Media processors

Neural Networks

Cellular automata

Cognitive computers

Quantum computers

What is multitasking in an operating system?

the ability to switch between different applications stored in memory

What is multithreading?

A technique in which a process/program is divided into threads that can run concurrently.

What is Amdahl's Law?

Law states that the performance enhancement possible with a given improvement is limited by the amount that the improved feature is used.