Computer Architecture

Web Links / Supporting Materials

Computer Architecture – A Quantitative Approach , John L. Hennessy

and David A.Patterson, 5th.Edition, Morgan Kaufmann, Elsevier, 2011.

Computer Organization and Design – The Hardware / Software

Interface, David A. Patterson and John L. Hennessy, 4th.Edition,
Morgan Kaufmann, Elsevier, 2009.

Computer Organization, Carl Hamacher, Zvonko Vranesic and Safwat

Zaky, 5th.Edition, McGraw- Hill Higher Education, 2011.

What is Computer Architecture?

The science and art of designing, selecting, and interconnecting hardware components and
designing the hardware/software interface to create a computing system that meets functional,
performance, energy consumption, cost, and other specific goals.

Computer Architecture’s Changing Definition

1950s Computer Architecture

• Computer Arithmetic
1960s
• Operating system support, especially memory management

1970s to mid 1980s Computer Architecture

• Instruction Set Design, especially ISA appropriate for compilers
• Vector processing and shared memory multiprocessors

1990s Computer Architecture

• Design of CPU, memory system, I/O system, Multi-processors, Networks
• Design for VLSI

2000s Computer Architecture:

• Special purpose architectures, Functionally reconfigurable, Special
 considerations for low power/mobile processing, highly parallel
structures

Structure and Function of Computer

The structure and function of the computer depict how the components of the computer are
assembled, how they are interrelated to each other and what operations these components
perform.

Being a complex system, the computer contains millions of electronic components. To

understand the structure and function better we organize these electronic elements in a
hierarchical structure.

1. Function of Computer
○ Data Processing
○ Data Storage
○ Data Movement
○ Control
2. Structure of Computer
○ Main Memory
○ I/O
○ System Interconnection
○ Central Processing Unit

Function of Computer
If we generalise the functions of the computer, we can divide them into four categories. The four
basic functions are as below:

1. Data Processing
2. Data Storage
3. Data Movement
4. Control
The figure above shows the four basic functions of the computer. Let us understand each of
these functioning units.

Data Processing

If we talk of the computer, basically we consider it for performing computation. So, there must be
a unit in the computer that would perform computation. For performing computation this unit
must be capable of processing data.

It is the data processing unit that processes the data. It must also be able to process data in a
wide variety of forms. Thus, the range of processing requirements is broader. Though there is a
tremendous processing requirement, there are only a few methods or types for processing data.

Data Storage

Once the processing has been done there must be some means to store the final and
intermediate results. Even though it seems that we enter the data into the computer, it
processes that data and immediately produces the result. But still, the computer needs to store
those pieces of data that are being worked on at the current moment.

The computer requires two kinds of data storage functions:

1. Short-Term Data Storage Function

2. Long-Term Data Storage Function
The short-term data storage function is generally used to store the intermediary result of any
computation. The long-term data storage function is generally used to store the final result of
any computation. It also involves the storage of files that can be subsequentially retrieved and
can be updated.

Data Movement

Every computer has an input and output device that makes the computer move data between
itself and outside the world. The input devices are meant for entering the data into the computer.
It is the data that we need to process. The output devices are where the computer displays the
produced result or the output data.

The operating environment of any computer requires both input and output peripheral devices.
The computers are also capable of moving data over a longer distance i.e., to or from a remote
device. We refer to this data moving between the remote devices as data communication.

Data Controlling

We have learned about three functioning units’ data storage, movement and processing. As
they are interrelated units, we require a unit that would control and synchronize the function of
these units.

However, control of these three units is regulated by the individual who provides the instruction
to the computer. In response to these instructions the control unit manages the resources of the
computer and controls the performance of the functional units.

Knowing about the functional units lets us proceed with our discussion about the structure of the
computer.

Structure of Computer
If we talk about the structure of a computer it is composed of several components. We can
broadly classify these components into four types:
Main Memory:

This structure of the computer is mainly used for storing data.

I/O:

These structural units of the computer are mainly used for moving data in or out of the
computer.

System Interconnection:

This structural component is held for moving the data and controlling the signal inside the
computer. It provides communication between the functional units of the computer. This
structure includes the system bus

Central Processing Unit:

This structural component of the computer performs the controlling and processing function.
Thus, it is also referred to as the processor.

A computer may have one or more of the above-discussed components. The traditional
computers had a single processor but modern or advanced computers have multiple
processors. Even the processor can be classified into the components discussed below:

Components of CPU:

Control Unit:

This unit controls all the operations of the processor.

Arithmetic & Logic Unit (ALU):

This unit performs the computations while data processing.

Registers:

It is the internal storage unit of the processor.

CPU Interconnections:

This unit provides communication between the control unit, ALU and registers.
There are several ways to implement the control unit of the processor one of which is the
microprogrammed approach that operates by executing the microinstructions.

In this way, the structure and function of the computer associatively decide how the components
of the computer are assembled, how they are interrelated to each other and what operations
these components perform.

A BRIEF HISTORY OF COMPUTERS:

First Generation: Vacuum Tubes

The ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator And Computer), designed and constructed at the
University of Pennsylvania, was the world’s first general-purpose electronic digital computer.
The project was a response to U.S needs during World War II.

Structure of Von Neumann Architecture

In 1946, von Neumann and his colleagues began the design of a new stored-program computer,
referred to as the IAS computer, at the Princeton Institute for Advanced Studies.

It consists of
• The main memory, which stores both data and instructions
• An arithmetic and logic unit (ALU) capable of operating on binary data
• A control unit, which interprets the instructions in memory and causes them to be executed
• Input/output (I/O) equipment operated by the control unit Main memory (M)

The expanded structure of the Von Neumann Architecture or the IAS computer is given below,
Legends of the above-given figure are given below,

1. MBR (Memory Buffer Register): MBR is a two-way register that holds the data
fetched from memory and ready for the CPU to process or the data waiting to be
stored in memory.
2. MAR (Memory Address Register): MAR specifies the address in memory of the
word to be written from or read into the MBR.
3. IR (Instruction Register): IR contains the 8-bit op-code instruction being executed.
4. IBR (Instruction Buffer Register): IBR is employed to hold temporarily the
right-hand instructions from a word in memory.
5. PC (Program Counter): PC is a counter that contains the address of the next
instruction pair to be fetched from memory to be executed.
6. AC and MQ (Accumulator and Multiplier Quotient): AC and MQ are employed to
hold temporarily operands and results of ALU operations.
COMMERCIAL COMPUTERS The 1950s saw the birth of the computer industry with two
companies, Sperry and IBM, dominating the marketplace. In 1947, Eckert and Mauchly formed
the Eckert-Mauchly Computer Corporation to manufacture computers commercially.

The UNIVAC I was the first successful commercial computer. It was intended for both scientific
and commercial applications.

The Second Generation: Transistors The first major change in the electronic
computer came with the replacement of the vacuum tube with the transistor. The transistor is
smaller, cheaper, and dissipates less heat than a vacuum tube but can be used in the same way
as a vacuum tube to construct computers. Unlike the vacuum tube, which requires wires, metal
plates, a glass capsule, and a vacuum, the transistor is a solid state device, made from silicon.

The use of the transistor defines the second generation of computers. It has become widely
accepted to classify computers into generations based on the fundamental hardware technology
employed (Table 1.1).

The Third Generation:

Integrated Circuits In 1958 came the achievement that revolutionized electronics and started
the era of microelectronics: the invention of the integrated circuit. It is the integrated circuit that
defines the third generation of computers.

MICROELECTRONICS: Microelectronics means, literally, “small electronics.” Since the

beginnings of digital electronics and the computer industry, there has been a persistent and
consistent trend toward the reduction in the size of digital electronic circuits.
Later Generations
Table 1.1 suggests that there have been a number of later generations, based on advances in
integrated circuit technology.

SEMICONDUCTOR MEMORY The first application of integrated circuit technology to computers

was the construction of the processor (the control unit and the arithmetic and logic unit) out of
integrated circuit chips. But it was also found that this same technology could be used to
construct memories.

MICROPROCESSORS Just as the density of elements on memory chips has continued to rise,
so has the density of elements on processor chips.