COMPUTER ARCHITECTURE AND ORGANIZATION LECTURE

➢ Introduction
In describing computer system, a distinction is often made between computer architecture and
computer organization.

Computer Architecture refers to those attributes of a system visible to a programmer, or put

another way, those attributes that have a direct impact on the logical execution of a program.

Computer organization refers to the operational units and their interconnection that realize the
architecture specification.

➢ Structure and Function

They key is to recognize the hierarchical nature of most complex system. A hierarchical system is
a set of interrelated subsystem, each of the later, in turn, hierarchical in structure until we reach
some lowest level of elementary subsystem.

The hierarchical nature of complex systems is essential to both their design and their
description.

The designer need only deal with a particular level of the system at a time.

At each level, the system consists of a set of components and their interrelationships.

The behavior at each level depends only on a simplified, abstracted characterization of the
system at the next lower level.

• Structure: The way in which the components are interrelated.

• Function: The operation of each individual component as part of the structure.
• I general terms, there are four main functions of a computer:
o Data Processing
o Data Storage
o Data Management
o Control
• Operating Environment
• Computer Operations
 • Structure of a computer

• The CPU

➢ History of Computers
o First Generation (Vacuum Tubes)
o Second Generation (Transistor)
o Third Generation (Integrated Circuits)
 o Later Generations

➢ First Generation

1. ENIAC (ELECTRONIC NUMERICAL INTEGRATOR AND COMPUTER)

o Designed and constructed at the University of Pennsylvania, was the world’s first
general-purpose electronic digital computer.

o The purpose was a response to U.S needs during Worl War II.

o John Mauchly, a professor of electrical engineering at the University of

Pennsylvania, and John Eckert, one of his graduate students, proposed to build a
general-purpose computer using vacuum tubes for the BRL’S application.

o In 1943, the Army accepted this proposal, and work began on the ENIAC.

o The resulting machine was enormous, weighing 30 tons, occupying 1500 square feet
of floor space, and containing more than 18,000 vacuum tubes.

o When operating, it consumed 140 kilowatts of power.

o It was also substantially faster than any electromechanical computer, capable of

5000 additions per second.

o The ENIAC was completed in 1946, too late to be used in the war effort.

o The use of the ENIAC for a purpose other than that for which it was build
demonstrated its general-purpose nature.

o The ENIAC continued to operate under BRL management until 1955, when it was
disassembled.

2. The Von Neumann Machine

o The first publication of the idea was in a 1945 proposal by Von Neumann for a new
computer, the EDVAC (ELECTRONIC DISCRETE VARIABLE COMPUTER).

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

o The IAS computer, although not completed until 1952, is the prototype of all
subsequent general-purpose computers.
 o The Von Neumann Machine

3. Commercial Computers

o In 1947, Eckert and Mauchly formed the Eckert-Mauchly Computer Corporation to

manufacture computers commercially.

o Their first successful machine was the UNIVAC I (UNVIERSAL AUTOMATIC

COMPUTER), which was commissioned by the Bureau of the Census for the 1950
calculations.

o The Eckert-Mauchly Computer Corporation became part of the UNIVAC division of

Sperry-Rand Corporation, which went on to build a series of successor machines.

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

o The UNIVAC II, which had greater memory capacity and higher performance than
the UNIVAC I, was delivered in the late 1950s and illustrated several trends that
have remained characteristics of the computer industry.
 o The UNIVAC division also began development of the 1100 series of computers,
which was to be its major source of revenue. This series illustrates a distinction that
existed at one time.

o The first model, the UNIVAC 1103, and its successors for many years were primarily
intended for scientific application, involving long and complex calculations.

➢ Second Generation: Transistors

o The transistor is smaller, cheaper, and dissipates less heat than a vacuum tubes 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 solidstate device, made from silicon.

o The transistor was invented at Bell Labs in 1947 and by the 1950s had launched an
electronic revolution. it was not until the late 1950s, however that fully transistorized
computers were commercially available.

o The use of transistors has become widely accepted to classify computers into
generations based on the fundamental hardware technology employed.

o The IBM 794 from the introduction of the 700 series in 1952 to the introduction of the
last member of the 7000 series in 1964.

o This IBM product line underwent an evolution that is typical of computer products.

o Successive members of the product line show increased performance, increased

capacity, and/or lower cost.

➢ Third Generation: Integrated Circuits

➢ Microelectronics
o Microelectronics means, literally, “small electronics”.

o Since the beginnings of digital electronics and the computer industry, there has
been a persistent and consistent trend toward the reduction in size of digital
electronic circuits.

➢ IBM SYSTEM /360

o By 1964, IBM had a firm grip on the computer market with its 7000 series of
machines.

o In that year, IBM announced the System/360, a new family of computer products.
 ➢ DEC PDP-8
o At a time when the average computer required an air-conditioned room, the PDP-8
(dubbed a minicomputer by the industry, after the miniskirt of the day) was small
enough that it could be placed on top of a lab bench or be built into other
equipment.

o It could not do everything the mainframe could, but at $16,000, it was cheap
enough for each lab technician to have one.

o In contrast, the System/360 series of mainframe computers introduced just a few

months before cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.

➢ Later Generation
Generation Approximate Dates Technology Typical Speed
(Operations per
second)
1 1946-1957 Vacuum Tube 40,000
2 1958-1964 Transistor 200,000
3 1965-1971 Small and Medium 1,000,000
Scale Integration
4 1972-1977 Large Scale 10,000,000
integration
5 1978-1991 Very Large Scale 100,000,000
Integration
6 1991- Ultra large scale 1,000,000,000
integration

1. Semiconductor Memory
o The First application of integrated circuit technology to computers was 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.

2. Microprocessors
o A breakthrough was achieved in 1971, when Intel developed its 4000. The 4000 was the
first chip to contain all of the components of a CPU on a single chip.

o The next major step in the evolution of the microprocessor was the introduction in 1972
of the Intel 8000. This was the first 8-bit microprocessor and was almost twice as
complex as the 4004.

o Neither of these steps was to have the impact of the next major event: the introduction
in 1974 of the Intel 8080. This was the first general-purpose microprocessor. Whereas
 the 4004 and the 8008 has been designed for specific applications, the 8080 was
designed to be the CPU o a general-purpose microcomputer.

o About the same time, 16-bit microprocessors began to be developed. However, it was
not until the end of the 1970s that powerful, general-purpose 16-bit microprocessors
appeared. One of these was the 8086.

➢ Microprocessor’s programming model

o The programming Model of all versions of Microprocessor

➢ General-Purpose Registers
o Used in a manner that the programmer wishes

1. Accumulator Register
o Often holds the temporary result after an arithmetic and logic operation
also addressed as EAX, AH, or AL
2. Base Register
o Often hold the base (offset) address of data located in the memory and also the
base address of a table of data referenced by the translate instruction (XLAT)
3. Count Register
o Contains the count for certain instructions such as shift count for shifts and
rotates the number of bytes operated upon the repeated string operations and
a counter with the LOOP instruction.
4. Data Register
o Also holds the most significant part of the product after a 16- or 32-bit
multiplication, the most significant part of the dividend before a division, and
the IO port number for a variable IO instruction.
➢ Pointer and Index Registers
o Also general purpose in nature, they are more often used to index or point to the
memory location holding the operand data for many instruction.

1. Stack Pointer
o Used to address data in a LIFO stack memory
o This occurs most often when the PUSH and POP instructions are executed or
when a subroutine is CALLed or RETurned from in a program.

2. Base Pointer
o Often used to address an array of data in the stack memory.

3. Source Index
o Used to address source data directly for use with the string instructions.

4. Destination Index
o Normally used to address destination data indirectly for use with the string
instructions.

5. Instruction Pointer
o Always used to address the next instruction executed by the microprocessor.
o The actual location of the next instruction is formed by adding the content of IP
to CS+10H

➢ The flag registers of all versions of microprocessors

➢ Flag Registers
o The flags indicated the condition of the microprocessor as well as control its operation.
o The flag bits changes after many arithmetic and logic execute some of the flags are also
used to control features found in the microprocessor.
1. Carry (C)
o Indicates a carry after addition or borrow after subtraction.
o Also indicates error condition in some programs and procedures.
2. Parity (P)
o Is a logic 0 for odd parity
o A logic 1 for even parity
o Parity is a count of ones in a number expressed as even o odd
3. Auxiliary Carry (A)
o Holds a carry after addition or a borrow after subtraction between bits position 3 and 4
of the result.
o This highly specialized flag bit is tested by the DAA and DAS instructions to adjust the
value of AL after BCD addition or subtraction.
4. Zero (Z)
o Indicates that the result of an arithmetic or operation is zero
i. If Z=1, the result is zero
ii. If Z=0, the result is non zero
5. Sign (S)
o Indicates arithmetic sign of the result after an addition or subtraction
i. If S=1, the sign is set or negative
ii. If S=0, the sign is cleared or positive
o The value of the most significant bit position is placed into the sign-bit for any
instruction that affects the flags
6. Trap (T)
o When the trap flag is set, it enables trapping through the on-chip debugging feature.
7. Interrupt (I)
o Controls the operation of the INTR (Interrupt Request) input pin.
i. If I=1, the INTR pin is enabled
ii. If I=0, The INTR pin is disabled
o The state of the I flag bit is controlled by the STI (Set I flag) and CLI (Clear I flag)
instructions.
8. Direction (D)
o Controls the selection of increment or decrement for the DI and/or SI registers during
string instructions.
i. If D=1, the registers are automatically decremented
ii. If D=0, the registers are automatically incremented
o The D flag is set with the STD (Set direction) and cleared with CLD (Cleared Direction)
instructions.
9. Overflow (O)
o Is a condition that occurs when signed numbers are added or subtracted.
o An overflow indicates that the result has exceeded the capacity of the machine.
o For example if 7FH (+127) is added to a 01H (+1), the result is 80H (+127).
o This result represents an overflow condition indicated by the overflow flag for signed
addition.
o For unsigned operations, we ignore the overflow flag.
10. Input/Output privilege Level (IOPL)
o Used in protected mode operation to select the privilege level for IO devices.
o If the current privilege level is higher or more trusted than the IOPL, then IO executes
without hindrance.
o If the IOPL is lower than the current privilege level, an interrupt occurs causing
execution to be suspended.
o Note that the IOPL of 00 is the highest or most trusted and IOPL of 11 is the lowest or
least trusted.
11. Nested Task (NT)
o Indicates the current task is nested within another task in protected mode operation.
o This flag is set when the task is nested by the software.
12. Resume (RF)
o Used with debugging to control resuming execution after the next instruction.
13. Virtual Mode (VM)
o Selects virtual mode operation in a protected mode system.
o A virtual mode system allows multiple DOS memory partitions.
14. Alignment Check (AC)
o If a word or double word is addressed on a non-word or non-double word boundary,
this flag bit is set.

➢ Design Goals

1. Microprocessor Speed
o In microprocessors, the addition of new circuits, and the speed boost that comes
from reducing the distances between them, has improved performance four-or
fivefold every three years or so since intel launched its x86 family in 1978.
o The more elaborate techniques for feeding the monster into contemporary
processors are the following:

i. Branch Prediction
o The processor looks ahead in the instruction code fetched from
memory and predicts which branches, or groups of instructions, are
likely to be processed next.
ii. Data Flow Analysis
o The processor analyzes which instructions are dependent on each
other’s results, or data, to create an optimized schedule of
instructions.
iii. Speculative Execution
o Using branch prediction and data flow analysis, some processors
speculatively execute instructions ahead of their actual appearance
in the program execution, holding the results in temporary
locations.
2. Performance Balance
 o An adjusting of the organization and architecture to compensate for the mismatch
among the capabilities of the various components.

o The interface between processor and main memory is the most crucial pathway in
the entire computer because it is responsible for carrying a constant flow of
program instructions and data between memory chips and the processor.

o Increase the number of bits that are retrieved at one time by making DRAMs
“wider” rather than “deeper” and by using wide bus data paths.

o Change the DRAM interface to make it more efficient by including a cache7 or other
buffering scheme on the DRAM chip.

o Reduce the frequency of memory access by incorporating increasingly complex and

efficient cache structures between the processor and main memory.

o Increase the interconnect bandwidth between processors and memory by using

higher speed buses and by using a hierarchy of buses to buffer and structure data
flow.

3. Improvements in chip organization and Architecture

o Increase the hardware speed of the processor.
o Increase the size and speed of caches that are interposed between the processor
and main memory. In particular, by dedicating a portion of the processor chip itself
to the cache, cache access times drop significantly.
o Make changes to the processor organization and architecture that increase the
effective speed of instruction execution.
o POWER: As the density of logic and the clock speed on a chip increase, so does the
power density.
o RC DELAY: the speed at which electrons can flow on a chip between transistors is
limited by the resistance and capacitance of the metal wires connecting them;
specifically, delay increases as the RC product increases.
o MEMORY LATENCY: Memory speeds lag processor speeds.
o Beginning in the late 1980s, and still continuing, two main strategies have been used
to increase performance beyond what can be achieved simply by increasing clock
speed.
i. First, there has been an increase in cache capacity.
ii. Second, the instruction execution logic within a processor has become
increasingly complex to enable parallel execution of instructions within the
processor.
o A pipeline works much as a assembly line in a manufacturing plant enabling
different stages of execution of different instructions to occur at the same time
along the pipeline.
 o A superscalar approach in essence allows multiple pipelines within a single
processor so that instructions that do not depend on one another can be executed
in parallel.

➢ Quiz

o If the result after an operation is equal to zero, SF=1 ANSWER(false)

o What assembly language instruction will change the value of the interrupt flag bit to 1
ANSWER (STI)
o The translate instruction used in assembly language programming. ANSWER (XLAT)
o It is the first 16-bit microprocessor produced by intel ANSWER (8086)
o Instruction sets, number of bit to represent data types. I/O mechanisms, and
techniques for addressing are example of ANSWER(Computer Architecture)
o The computer must be able to process data through the data movement apparatus,
ANSWER (true)
o The computer must be able to move data between itself and the outside world.
ANSWER(true)
o Apart from IBM, it is the company that started the commercial computers and are
dominating the marketplace during the 1950s. ANSWER(Sperry-Rand Corporation)
o ULSI (ultra large scale integration)
o What model of the IBM was included and introduced as the first third generation
computer? ANSWER(IBM system /360)
o BRL means Ballistic Research Laboratory
o It controls the operation of the computer ad performs its data processing functions.
ANSWER (CPU)
o Control signals, interfaces between the computer and peripherals, and the memory
technology used are example of ANSWER (Computer Organization)
o The evolution of microprocessors continues to bear out Moore’s Law ANSWER (true)

➢ ACRONYMS
o IAS – integrated Analytics system architecture
o DEC- Digital Equipment Corporation