Computer Architecture Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Computer Architecture - Essay Example Von Neumann Architecture Von Neumann’s ideas are significant as they inspired the making of EDVAC computer back in 1952. The construction of Manchester Mark I computer preceded that of EDVAC. To Von Neumann, an efficient electronic computer would contain four main elements. These are the arithmetic logic unit, control unit, memory and input-output devices. In his architecture, Von Neumann moved if an efficient general purpose computer was to be made it is imperative to give it exemplary ability to store data and the intermediate outcomes of computation. On top of this, it is important to enable the computer to keep the instructions and commands given in carrying out whatever computation (Cragon, 2000). To achieve this, Von Neumann proposed that it is necessary to encode computer instructions in numeric form and enable the computer to store these instructions and their data in the same memory. The control unit help execute coded instructions saved in computer memory. Arithmetic unit performs arbitrary subsets of certain arithmetic operations. Von Neumann argued that operation speed, cheapness and simplicity of a machine should determine the economy of the arithmetic unit. Arithmetic unit accesses information from registers so as to be able to manipulate values. Data and program code reside in a computer’s memory. Input and output are enables a computer to communicate with the outside environment. Today’s input and output functions have improved on Von Neumann’s ideas and some take place within the computer (Null & Lobur, 2012). System bus There are wires found in the main board. It is these wires that interlink chips and devices plugged in the mainboard. The bus is the collectivity of these wires. The width of the bus goes with the number of wires. Data bus almost always contains wires in multiples of eight. Besides data wires, there are additional wires that help the computer in signaling and control. Bus throughput capability is the product of the speed of the bus clock (hertz) and the width of the bus (bits). Devices connected to the mainboard communicate via the bus. Bus arbitration is the method used to adjudicate the chance for each device to get access to the bus. Devices of high priority including processor and RAM get preference in accessing the bus (Cragon, 2000). These high priority devices have few interrupts. The control channel signals interrupts. Interrupt signals help interrupt CPU’s tasks in order to attention to whatever event that may occur. The CPU handles interrupt requests with respect to priority of their device. High priority devices have low interrupt numbers. In the past, bus arbitration has advanced over the years so that the computer does not need to arbitrate the bus. Direct memory access allows devices to insert or get data into or out of computer memory. The system bus has several functions. All types of buses allow sharing of data amongst the peripherals connected to the co mputer (Null & Lobur, 2012). System bus helps in addressing. Addressing helps in sending data to and from particular memory sections. System bus supplies power to different computer peripherals. It is the work of the bus to provide system clock that helps in synchronizing computer peripherals with other elements in the system. The use of Boolean operators in computer-based calculations Boolean operators can be used in the