Module 1: BASIC STRUCTURE OF COMPUTERS

A computer is a digital electronic machine that can be programmed to carry out sequences of arithmetic or
logical operations (computation) automatically. Modern computers can perform generic sets of operations
known as programs. These programs enable computers to perform a wide range of tasks.

1.1 TYPES OF COMPUTERS

1.1.1 Desktop Computers

• These are most commonly used computers in home, schools and offices.
• This has
→ Processing- & storage-units
→ Video & audio output-units
→ Keyboard & mouse input-units.
1.1.2 Notebook Computers (Laptops)
• This is a compact version of a personal-computer (PC) made as a portable-unit.
1.1.3 Workstations
• These have more computational-power than PC.
1.1.4 Enterprise Systems (Mainframes)
• These are used for business data-processing.
• These have large computational-power and larger storage-capacity than workstations.
• These are referred to as
→ Server at low-end and
→ Super-computers at high end.
1.1.5 Servers
• These have large database storage-units and can also execute requests from other computers.
• These are used in banks & educational institutions.
1.1.6 Super Computers
• These are used for very complex numerical-calculations.
• These are used in weather forecasting, aircraft design and military applications.

1.2. FUNCTIONAL UNITS

• A computer consists of 5 functionally independent main parts:
1) Input
2) Memory
3) Arithmetic & logic
4) Output
5) Control units.

1.2.1 Input Unit

• The computer accepts the information in the form of program & data through an input-device.
Eg: keyboard
• Whenever a key is pressed, the corresponding letter/digit is automatically translated into its
corresponding binary-code and transmitted over a cable to either the memory or the processor.
1.2.2 Memory Unit
• This unit is used to store programs & data.
• There are 2 classes of storage:
1) Primary-storage is a fast-memory that operates at electronic-speed. Programs must be stored in the
memory while they are being executed.
2) Secondary-storage is used when large amounts of data & many programs have to be stored. Eg:
magnetic disks and optical disks (CD-ROMs).
• The memory contains a large number of semiconductor storage cells(i.e. flip-flops), each capable of
storing one bit of information.
• The memory is organized so that the contents of one word can be stored or retrieved in one basic
operation.
• Memory in which any location can be reached in a short and fixed amount of time after specifying its
address is called RAM (Random Access Memory).
1.2.3 ALU (Arithmetic & Logic Unit)
• This unit is used for performing arithmetic & logical operations.
• Any arithmetic operation is initiated by bringing the required operand into the processor (i.e. registers),
where the operation is performed by the ALU.
1.2.4 Output Unit
• This unit is used to send processed-results to the outside world.
Eg: printer, graphic displays etc.
1.2.5 Control Unit
• This unit is used for controlling the activities of the other units (such as memory, I/O device).
• This unit sends control-signals (read/write) to other units and senses their states.
• Data transfers between processor and memory are also controlled by the control-unit through timing-
signals.
• Timing-signals are signals that determine when a given action is to take place.

1.3. BASIC OPERATIONAL CONCEPTS

• The processor contains ALU, control-circuitry and many registers.
• The instruction-register (IR) holds the instruction that is currently being executed.
• The instruction is then passed to the control-unit, which generates the timing-signals that determine
when a given action is to take place
• The PC (Program Counter) contains the memory-address of the next-instruction to be fetched &
executed.
• During the execution of an instruction, the contents of PC are updated to point to next instruction.
• The processor also contains „n‟ general-purpose registers R0 through Rn-1.
• The MAR (Memory Address Register) holds the address of the memory-location to be accessed.
• The MDR (Memory Data Register) contains the data to be written into or read out of the addressed
location.

1.3.1 Following are the steps that take place to execute an instruction
• The address of first instruction (to be executed) gets loaded into PC.
• The contents of PC (i.e. address) are transferred to the MAR & control-unit issues Read signal to memory.
• After certain amount of elapsed time, the first instruction is read out of memory and placed into MDR.
• Next, the contents of MDR are transferred to IR. At this point, the instruction can be decoded &
executed.
• To fetch an operand, its address is placed into MAR & control-unit issues Read signal. As a result, the
operand is transferred from memory into MDR, and then it is transferred from MDR to ALU.
• Likewise required number of operands is fetched into processor.
• Finally, ALU performs the desired operation.
• If the result of this operation is to be stored in the memory, then the result is sent to the MDR.
• The address of the location where the result is to be stored is sent to the MAR and a Write cycle is
initiated.
• At some point during execution, contents of PC are incremented to point to next instruction in the
program.

1.4 BUS STRUCTURE

• A bus is a group of lines that serves as a connecting path for several devices.
• Bus must have lines for data transfer, address & control purposes.
• Because the bus can be used for only one transfer at a time, only 2 units can actively use the bus at any
given time.
• Bus control lines are used to arbitrate multiple requests for use of the bus.
• Main advantage of single bus: Low cost and flexibility for attaching peripheral devices.
• Systems that contain multiple buses achieve more concurrency in operations by allowing 2 or more
transfers to be carried out at the same time. Advantage: better performance. Disadvantage: increased cost.
• The devices connected to a bus vary widely in their speed of operation. To synchronize their operational
speed, the approach is to include buffer registers with the devices to hold the information during transfers.
Buffer registers prevent a high-speed processor from being locked to a slow I/O device during a sequence
of data transfers.
1.5 PROCESSOR CLOCK
• Processor circuits are controlled by a timing signal called a clock.
• The clock defines regular time intervals called clock cycles.
• To execute a machine instruction, the processor divides the action to be performed into a sequence of
basic steps such that each step can be completed in one clock cycle.
• Let P=length of one clock cycle R=clock rate. Relation between P and R is given by
R=1/P
Which is measured in cycles per second.
• Cycles per second is also called hertz(Hz)

1.6 BASIC PERFORMANCE EQUATION

• Let T=processor time required to execute a program
N=actual number of instruction executions
S=average number of basic steps needed to execute one machine instruction R=clock rate in cycles
per second
• The program execution time is given by:
T= (N*S)/R------- (1)

• Equation 1 is referred to as the basic performance equation.

• To achieve high performance, the computer designer must reduce the value of T, which means reducing
N and S, and increasing R.
→ The value of N is reduced if source program is compiled into fewer machine instructions.
→ The value of S is reduced if instructions have a smaller number of basic steps to perform.
→ The value of R can be increased by using a higher frequency clock.
• Care has to be taken while modifying the values since changes in one parameter may affect the other.

1.7 PERFORMANCE MEASUREMENT

• SPEC(System Performance Evaluation Corporation) selects & publishes the standard programs along
with their test results for different application domains

The SPEC rating is computed as follows

• If SPEC rating=50 means that the computer under test is 50times as fast as reference computer.
 • The test is repeated for all the programs in the SPEC suite, and the geometric mean of the results is
computed.
Let SPECi, be the rating for program i in the suite. The overall SPEC rating for the computer is given by

where n=number of programs in the suite.

Von-Neumann Model

Von-Neumann proposed his computer architecture design in 1945 which was later known as Von-Neumann
Architecture. It consisted of a Control Unit, Arithmetic, and Logical unit (ALU), Memory Unit, Registers
and Inputs/Outputs.

Von Neumann architecture is based on the stored-program computer concept, where instruction data and
program are stored in the same memory. This design is still used in most computers produced today.

A Von Neumann-based computer:

o Uses a single processor
o Uses one memory for both instructions and data.
o Executes programs following the fetch-decode-execute cycle

Components of Von-Neumann Model:

o Central Processing Unit
o Buses
o Memory Unit
 Central Processing Unit

The part of the Computer that performs the bulk of data processing operations is called the Central
Processing Unit and is referred to as the CPU.

The Central Processing Unit can also be defined as an electric circuit responsible for executing the
instructions of a computer program.

The CPU performs a variety of functions dictated by the type of instructions that are incorporated in the
computer.

The major components of CPU are Arithmetic and Logic Unit (ALU), Control Unit (CU) and a variety of
registers.

Arithmetic and Logic Unit (ALU)

The Arithmetic and Logic Unit (ALU) performs the required micro-operations for executing the instructions.
In simple words, ALU allows arithmetic (add, subtract, etc.) and logic (AND, OR, NOT, etc.) operations to
be carried out.

Control Unit

The Control Unit of a computer system controls the operations of components like ALU, memory and
input/output devices.

The Control Unit consists of a program counter that contains the address of the instructions to be fetched
and an instruction register into which instructions are fetched from memory for execution.

Registers

Registers refer to high-speed storage areas in the CPU. The data processed by the CPU are fetched from the
registers.

Registers Description

MAR (Memory Address Register) This register holds the memory location of the data that needs to be accessed.

MDR (Memory Data Register) This register holds the data that is being transferred to or from memory.

AC (Accumulator) This register holds the intermediate arithmetic and logic results.

PC (Program Counter) This register contains the address of the next instruction to be executed.

CIR (Current Instruction Register) This register contains the current instruction during processing.

Buses are the means by which information is shared between the registers in a multiple-register
configuration system.
 A bus structure consists of a set of common lines, one for each bit of a register, through which binary
information is transferred one at a time. Control signals determine which register is selected by the bus
during each particular register transfer.

Von-Neumann Architecture comprised of three major bus systems for data transfer.

Bus Description

Address Bus Address Bus carries the address of data (but not the data) between the processor and the memory.

Data Bus Data Bus carries data between the processor, the memory unit and the input/output devices.

Control Bus Control Bus carries signals/commands from the CPU.

Memory Unit

A memory unit is a collection of storage cells together with associated circuits needed to transfer
information in and out of the storage. The memory stores binary information in groups of bits called words.
The internal structure of a memory unit is specified by the number of words it contains and the number of
bits in each word.
Introduction of Multiprocessor and Multicomputer
1. Multiprocessor: A Multiprocessor is a computer system with two or more central processing units
(CPUs) share full access to a common RAM. The main objective of using a multiprocessor is to boost the
system’s execution speed, with other objectives being fault tolerance and application matching. There are
two types of multiprocessors, one is called shared memory multiprocessor and another is distributed
memory multiprocessor. In shared memory multiprocessors, all the CPUs shares the common memory but
in a distributed memory multiprocessor, every CPU has its own private memory.
The interconnection among two or more processor and shared memory is done with three methods
1)Time shared common bus
2)Multiport memories
3)Crossbar switch network

2. Multicomputer: A multicomputer system is a computer system with multiple processors that are
connected together to solve a problem. Each processor has its own memory and it is accessible by that
particular processor and those processors can communicate with each other via an interconnection
network.

As the multicomputer is capable of messages passing between the processors, it is possible to divide the
task between the processors to complete the task. Hence, a multicomputer can be used for distributed
computing. It is cost effective and easier to build a multicomputer than a multiprocessor.
Difference between multiprocessor and Multicomputer:
1. Multiprocessor is a system with two or more central processing units (CPUs) that is capable of
performing multiple tasks where as a multicomputer is a system with multiple processors that are
attached via an interconnection network to perform a computation task.
2. A multiprocessor system is a single computer that operates with multiple CPUs where as a
multicomputer system is a cluster of computers that operate as a singular computer.
3. Construction of multicomputer is easier and cost effective than a multiprocessor.
4. In multiprocessor system, program tends to be easier where as in multicomputer system, program
tends to be more difficult.
5. Multiprocessor supports parallel computing, Multicomputer supports distributed computing.

Advantages:

Improved performance: Multicomputer systems can execute tasks faster than single-computer systems,
as the workload can be distributed across multiple computers.
Better scalability: Multicomputer systems can be scaled more easily than single-computer systems, as
additional computers can be added to the system to handle increased workloads.
Increased reliability: Multicomputer systems can continue to operate even if one computer fails, as the
remaining computers can continue to execute tasks.
Reduced cost: Multicomputer systems can be more cost-effective than building a single large computer
system to handle the same workload.
Enhanced parallelism: Multicomputer systems allow for greater parallelism, as different computers can
execute different tasks simultaneously.

Disadvantages:

Increased complexity: Multicomputer systems are more complex than single-computer systems, and they
require additional hardware, software, and management resources.
Higher power consumption: Multicomputer systems require more power to operate than single-
computer systems, which can increase the cost of operating and maintaining the system.
Difficult programming: Developing software that can effectively utilize multiple computers can be
challenging, and it requires specialized programming skills.
Synchronization issues: Multicomputer systems require synchronization between computers to ensure
that tasks are executed correctly and efficiently, which can add complexity and overhead to the system.
Network latency: Multicomputer systems rely on a network to communicate between computers, and
network latency can impact system performance.