COMP-261

Computer Organization & Assembly Language

Dr Taimur Ahmed
Department of IT & CS, PAF-IAST
 Week# 1
Introduction to Digital Systems and Typical
Architecture – Part 2
Dr Taimur Ahmed
Department of IT & CS, PAF-IAST
Computer Architecture and Computer Organization
 Attributes of a system  Instruction set, number of
visible to the programmer bits used to represent
various data types, I/O
 Have a direct impact on mechanisms, techniques for
the logical execution of a addressing memory
program

Architectural
Computer
attributes
Architecture
include:

Organizational
Computer
attributes
Organization
include:
 Hardware details  The operational units and
transparent to the their interconnections
programmer, control that realize the
signals, interfaces architectural
between the computer and specifications
peripherals, memory
technology used

Lecture# 2 - Introduction to Digital Systems and Typical Architecture – Part 2 | 3

How a Programmer sees a Computer?
Application Programs

High-Level Languages
Architectural aspects High-Level Languages Hardware-independent

Assembly Language Low-Level Language

Hardware-dependent

Machine Language

Microprogram Control
Organizational aspects

Hardware

Lecture# 2 - Introduction to Digital Systems and Typical Architecture – Part 2 | 4

Structure and Function
Structure and Function
 Structure
 The way in which different components are relate to each other

 Function
 The operation of individual components as part of the structure

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Structural View of a Computer
 There are four main structural components of a computer
 Central Processing Unit (CPU)
 controls the operation of the computer and performs its data
processing functions
 Main Memory
 stores data
 Input/Output equipment
 moves data between the computer and its external environment
 System Interconnection
 some mechanism that provides for communication among CPU, main memory,
and I/O
 Such as data bus, address bus etc

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Structural Elements of CPU

 Hierarchical view of the internal

structure of a traditional
single-processor computer

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Functional View of a Computer
 There are four basic functions that a computer can
perform:
 Data processing
 Data may take a wide variety of forms and the range of processing requirements is
broad
 Data storage
 Short-term
 Long-term
 Data movement
 Input-output (I/O) - when data are received from or delivered to a device
(peripheral) that is directly connected to the computer
 Data communications – when data are moved over longer distances, to or from a
remote device
 Control
 A control unit manages the computer’s resources and orchestrates the performance of
its functional parts in response to instructions

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Central Processing Unit – CPU
Central Processing Unit – CPU
 Central processing unit (CPU)
 Portion of the computer that fetches and executes
instructions
 Consists of an ALU, a control unit, and registers
 Referred to as a processor in a system with a single
processing unit
 Core
 An individual processing unit on a processor chip
 May be equivalent in functionality to a CPU on a
single-CPU system
 Processor
 A physical piece of silicon containing one or more
cores
 Is the computer component that interprets and
executes instructions
 Referred to as a multicore processor if it contains
multiple cores

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Central Processing Unit – CPU
 Major structural components:
 Control Unit
 Controls the operation of the CPU and hence the computer

 Arithmetic and Logic Unit (ALU)

 Performs the computer’s data processing function

 Registers
 Provide storage internal to the CPU

 CPU Interconnection
 Some mechanism that provides for communication among the control unit,
ALU, and registers

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Cache Memory
Cache Memory
 A memory block between the processor and main memory
 It is smaller in storage size but faster than the main
memory
 Used to speed up memory access by placing in the cache
data from main memory that is likely to be used in the
near future

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Cache Memory
 A greater performance improvement may be obtained by using
multiple levels of cache, with level 1 (L1) closest to the
core and additional levels (L2, L3, etc.) progressively
farther from the core

L1 L2 L3 L4
Register
Cache
Memory
Primary
Memory
RAM

Secondary
Memory

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Overview of a Computer

Simplified view of major elements of a

multicore computing system

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Real Hardware Examples
 Motherboard with Two Intel© Quad-Core Xeon Processors
W. Stallings, "Computer Organization and Architecture", 10th edition, Pearson, 2016

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 IBM© zEnterprise ECI2
Processor Unit (PU)

 2.75 billion transistors (32 nm CMOS tech.)

 6x cores, 2x L3 Cache

© 2016 Pearson Education, Inc., Hoboken, NJ. All rights reserved.

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 IBM© zEnterprise ECI2
Core Layout

 ISU (instruction sequence unit): Determines the sequence

in which instructions will be processed
 IFU (instruction fetch unit): Logic for fetching instructions
 IDU (instruction decode unit): Decodes all operation
codes
 LSU (load-store unit): 96-kB of L1 data cache, manages
data traffic between the L2 data cache and the functional
execution units
 XU (translation unit): This unit translates logical addresses
from instructions into physical addresses in main memory
 FXU (fixed-point unit): Executes fixed-point arithmetic
operations
 D/BFU (decimal/binary floating-point unit): Handles
decimal/binary and hexadecimal Floating-point operations
 RU (recovery unit): Keeps a copy of the complete state
 COP (dedicated co-processor): Does data compression
and encryption functions for each core
 I-cache: This is a 64-kB L1 instruction cache
 Instr./Data- L2: A 1-MB L2 instr/data cache for instr/memory
© 2016 Pearson Education, Inc., Hoboken, NJ. All rights reserved.

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