Computer Architecture
and Assembly
Language
A A ST U ,SO F TW A RE E NG I NEE R IN G DE P AR T MEN T
T A ME R U H .
What do you expect?
Why study this course?
Cont’d…
• Architecture is a very satisfying
profession
• A course in Architecture is a lot of
fun.
• Architecture gives you the liberty to
use the right side of your brain, the
creative part.
What’s Wrong With Assembly
Language
Assembly language has a pretty bad
reputation. Here are the reasons:
Assembly is hard to learn.
Assembly is hard to read and understand.
Assembly is hard to debug.
Assembly is hard to maintain.
Assembly is hard to write.
Why Assembly language?
An old joke goes something like this:
“There are three reasons for using
assembly language: speed, speed,
and more speed.”
Assembly language has several
benefits other than speed:
Cont’d…
Speed. Assembly language programs are
generally the fastest programs around.
Space. Assembly language programs are
often the smallest.
Capability. You can do things in assembly
which are difficult or impossible in HLLs.
Knowledge. Your knowledge of assembly
language will help you write better
programs, even when using HLLs.
What can you do Assembly?
Anything you want in the
software world
boot loader, or device drivers
that live in ROM
Operating System
Course Outcome
At the end of this course you’ll be abele to:
Understand the basics of computer hardware and
how software interacts with computer hardware
Analyze and evaluate computer performance
Understand how computers represent and
manipulate data
Understand basics of Instruction Set Architecture
(ISA) – MIPS
Understand Assembly Programming Language
Text Book
• American Computer Science,
Cryptography and Security
textbook author.
• Written textbooks on computer
science topics such as Operating
System, computer networks,
computer organization, and
cryptography.
Who is the Computer Architect ?
The computer architect need to have the following
principles:
Look Backward (to the past): understand trade-
offs, analyse the past
Look forward (to the future): be the dreamer, and
create new design.
Look Up (towards problems in the computing
stack): understand problems, Develop architecture
to solve them.
Look down (towards device/circuit technology:
platform for the future
Chapter 1: Introduction
Organization and Structure
Computer architecture refers to those
attributes of a system visible to a
programmer.
Computer organization refers to the
operational units and their
interconnections that realize the
architectural specifications.
Cont’d..
Example:
Architectural design issue: whether a
computer will have a multiply instruction.
An organizational issue: whether that
instruction will be implemented by a
special multiply unit or by a mechanism
that makes repeated use of the add unit
of the system.
Cont’d…
How to make the organizational
decision on this issue?
Cont’d…
The organizational decision may be based on:
The anticipated frequency of use of the
multiply instruction,
The relative speed of the two approaches,
And the cost and physical size of a special
multiply unit.
STRUCTURE AND FUNCTION
Structure: The way in which the
components are interrelated.
Function: The operation of each
individual component as part of the
structure.
Function
In general terms, there are only four
basic functions that a computer can
perform:
Data processing
Data storage
Data movement
Control
Cont’d…
Structure
There are four main structural components:
Central processing unit (CPU): Controls the operation of
the computer and performs its data processing functions;
often simply referred to as processor.
Main memory: Stores data.
I/O: Moves data between the computer and its external
environment.
System interconnection: Some mechanism that provides
for communication among CPU, main memory, and I/O. A
common example of system interconnection is by means of
a system bus, consisting of a number of conducting wires
to which all the other components attach.
The Computer: Top-Level Structure
Cont’d…
Question?
Next Lecture
Chapter Two
Computer Evolution and
Performance
