Introduction to Computer architecture and Organization

In Computer engineering, computer architecture is the conceptual design and fundamental

operational structure of a computer system. It is the technical drawings and functional
description of all design requirements (especially speeds and interconnections), it is how to
design and implement various parts of a computer — focusing largely on the way by which the
central processing unit (CPU) operates internally and how it accesses addresses in memory.

It can be defined as the science and art of selecting and interconnecting hardware components to
create computers that meet functional, performance and cost goals.

Computer architecture includes at least three main subcategories:

1. Instruction set architecture, or ISA, is the abstract model of a computing system that is
seen by a machine language (or assembly language) programmer, including the
instruction set, memory address modes, processor registers, and address and data formats.
2. Microarchitecture, also known as Computer organization is a lower level, a detailed
description of the system that is sufficient for completely describing the operation of all
parts of the computing system, and how they are inter-connected and inter-operate in
order to implement the ISA. The size of a computer's cache for instance, is an
organizational issue that generally has nothing to do with the ISA.
3. System Design which includes all of the other hardware components within a computing
system such as:

 System interconnects such as computer buses and switches.

 Memory controllers and hierarchies.
 CPU off-load mechanisms such as direct memory access.
 Issues like multi-processing.

 Computer architecture is a specification detailing how a set of software and hardware

technology standards interact to form a computer system or platform. In short, computer
architecture refers to how a computer system is designed and what technologies it is
compatible with.
As with other contexts and meanings of the word architecture, computer architecture is likened
to the art of determining the needs of the user/system/technology, and creating a logical design
and standards based on those requirements.

Examples of architecture attributes include the instruction set, the number of bit to represent
various data types (e.g.., numbers, and characters), I/O mechanisms, and technique for
addressing memory.

Examples of organization attributes include those hardware details transparent to the

programmer, such as control signals, interfaces between the computer and peripherals, and the
memory technology used.

Structure and Function of a computer system

A computer is a complex system; contemporary computers contain million of elementary

electronic components. How, then, can one clearly describe them? The 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.

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

 Function: The operation of each individual component as part of the structure.

In term of description, we have two choices: starting at the bottom and building up to a complete
description, or beginning with a top view and decomposing the system, describing their structure
and function, and proceed to successively lower layer of the hierarchy. The approach taken in
this course follows the latter.

Function

In general terms, there are four main functions of a computer:

 Data processing
  Data storage
 Data movement
 Control

Figure 1.1 A functional view of the computer

Finally, there must be control of there three functions. Ultimately, this control is exercised by the
individual who provides the computer with instructions. Within the computer system, a control
unit manages the computer’s resources and orchestrates the performance of its functional parts in
response to those instructions.

At this general level of discussion,

the number of possible operations
that can be performed is few. The
figure 1.2 depicts the four possible
types of operations.

The computer can function as a data

movement device (Figure 1.2a),
simply transferring data from one
peripheral or communications line to
another. It can also function as a
data storage device (Figure 1.2b),
with data transferred from the
external environment to computer
storage (read) and vice versa (write).
The final two diagrams show
operations involving data
processing, on data either in storage or in route between storage and the external environment.
Figure 1.2 Possible computer operations
Structure

Figure 1.3 is the simplest possible depiction of a computer. The computer is an entity that
interacts in some fashion with its external environment. In general, all of its linkages to the
external environment can be classified as peripheral devices or communication lines. We will
have something to say about both types of linkages.

 Central Processing Unit (CPU): Controls the operation of the computer and performs its
data processing functions. Often simply referred to as processor.
 Main Memory: Stores data.
 I/O: Moves data between the computer and its external environment.
 System Interconnection: Some mechanism that provides for communication among CPU,
main memory, and I/O.
Figure 1.3: The computer: top-level structure

There may be one or more of each of the above components. Traditionally, there has been just a
single CPU. In recent years, there has been increasing use of multiple processors, in a single
system. Each of these components will be examined in some detail in later lectures. However, for
our purpose, the most interesting and in some ways the most complex component is the CPU; its
structure is depicted in Figure 1.4. Its major structural components are:

 Control Unit (CU): Controls the operation of the CPU and hence the computer.
 Arithmetic and Logic Unit (ALU): Performs computer’s data processing functions.
 Register: Provides storage internal to the CPU.
  CPU Interconnection: Some mechanism that provides for communication among the
control unit, ALU, and register.

Each of these components will be examined in some detail in next lectures.

Figure 1.4 The CPU

 A main memory, which stores both data and instructions.

 An arithmetic-logical unit (ALU) capable of operating on binary data.
 A control unit, which interprets the instructions in memory and causes them to be
executed.
 Input and output (I/O) equipment operated by the control unit.
Peripheral devices
Input devices

The following are few of the important input devices which are used in a computer:

 Keyboard
 Mouse
  Joy Stick
 Light pen
 Track Ball
 Scanner
 Graphic Tablet
 Microphone
 Magnetic Ink Card Reader(MICR)
 Optical Character Reader(OCR)
 Bar Code Reader
 Optical Mark Reader(OMR)

Keyboard

Keyboard is the most common and very popular input device which helps in inputting data to the
computer. The layout of the keyboard is like that of traditional typewriter, although there are
some additional keys provided for performing additional functions.

Keyboards are of two sizes 84 keys or 101/102 keys, but now keyboards with 104 keys or 108
keys are also available for Windows and Internet.

The keys on the keyboard are as follows:

Sr.No Keys Description

These keys include the letter keys (A-Z) and digit keys (0-9)
1 Typing Keys
which generally give same layout as that of typewriters.

It is used to enter numeric data or cursor movement. Generally,

2 Numeric Keypad it consists of a set of 17 keys that are laid out in the same
configuration used by most adding machines and calculators.

The twelve function keys are present on the keyboard which are
3 Function Keys arranged in a row at the top of the keyboard. Each function key
has unique meaning and is used for some specific purpose.
 These keys provide cursor and screen control. It includes four
directional arrow keys. Control keys also include Home, End,
4 Control keys
Insert, Delete, Page Up, Page Down, Control(Ctrl),
Alternate(Alt), Escape(Esc).

Keyboard also contains some special purpose keys such as

5 Special Purpose Keys Enter, Shift, Caps Lock, Num Lock, Space bar, Tab, and Print
Screen.

Mouse

Mouse is most popular pointing device. It is a very famous cursor-control device having a small
palm size box with a round ball at its base which senses the movement of mouse and sends
corresponding signals to CPU when the mouse buttons are pressed.

Generally it has two buttons called left and right button and a wheel is present between the
buttons. Mouse can be used to control the position of cursor on screen, but it cannot be used to
enter text into the computer.

Advantages

 Easy to use
 Not very expensive
  Moves the cursor faster than the arrow keys of keyboard.

Joystick

Joystick is also a pointing device which is used to move cursor position on a monitor screen. It is
a stick having a spherical ball at its both lower and upper ends. The lower spherical ball moves in
a socket. The joystick can be moved in all four directions.

The function of joystick is similar to that of a mouse. It is mainly used in Computer Aided
Designing(CAD) and playing computer games.

Light Pen
Light pen is a pointing device which is similar to a pen. It is used to select a displayed menu item
or draw pictures on the monitor screen. It consists of a photocell and an optical system placed in
a small tube. When the tip of a light pen is moved over the monitor screen and pen button is
pressed, its photocell sensing element detects the screen location and sends the corresponding
signal to the CPU.

Track Ball

Track ball is an input device that is mostly used in notebook or laptop computer, instead of a
mouse. This is a ball which is half inserted and by moving fingers on ball, pointer can be moved.
Since the whole device is not moved, a track ball requires less space than a mouse. A track ball
comes in various shapes like a ball, a button and a square.

Scanner

Scanner is an input device which works more like a photocopy machine. It is used when some
information is available on a paper and it is to be transferred to the hard disc of the computer for
further manipulation. Scanner captures images from the source which are then converted into the
digital form that can be stored on the disc. These images can be edited before they are printed.

Digitizer

Digitizer is an input device which converts analog information into digital form. Digitizer can
convert a signal from the television or camera into a series of numbers that could be stored in a
computer. They can be used by the computer to create a picture of whatever the camera had been
pointed at. Digitizer is also known as Tablet or Graphics Tablet because it converts graphics and
pictorial data into binary inputs. A graphic tablet as digitizer is used for doing fine works of
drawing and image manipulation applications.
Microphone

Microphone is an input device to input sound that is then stored in digital form. The microphone
is used for various applications like adding sound to a multimedia presentation or for mixing
music.

Magnetic Ink Card Reader(MICR)

MICR input device is generally used in banks because of a large number of cheques to be
processed every day. The bank's code number and cheque number are printed on the cheques
with a special type of ink that contains particles of magnetic material that are machine readable.
This reading process is called Magnetic Ink Character Recognition (MICR). The main
advantages of MICR is that it is fast and less error prone.

Optical Character Reader(OCR)

OCR is an input device used to read a printed text. OCR scans text optically character by
character, converts them into a machine readable code and stores the text on the system memory.

Bar Code Readers

Bar Code Reader is a device used for reading bar coded data (data in form of light and dark
lines). Bar coded data is generally used in labelling goods, numbering the books etc. It may be a
hand held scanner or may be embedded in a stationary scanner. Bar Code Reader scans a bar
code image, converts it into an alphanumeric value which is then fed to the computer to which
bar code reader is connected.

Optical Mark Reader(OMR)

OMR is a special type of optical scanner used to recognize the type of mark made by pen or
pencil. It is used where one out of a few alternatives is to be selected and marked. It is specially
used for checking the answer sheets of examinations having multiple choice questions.

Output devices

An output device is a piece of hardware that is used to output data that has been previously
entered into a computer or device.

In computing terms, an output device is a piece of hardware that obeys a computer command to
do something in the real world. For example a printer is an output device that will produce a
page of information when the correct commands are sent to it from a computer
Here are some examples of output devices:

 monitor
 printer
 plotter
 projector
 speaker
 headphones
 light / LED

Communication devices

A communication device is a hardware device capable of transmitting an analog or digital

signal over the telephone, other communication wire, or wirelessly. The best example of a
communication device is a computer Modem, which is capable of sending and receiving a signal
to allow computers to talk to other computers over the telephone. Other examples of
communication devices include a network interface card (NIC), Wi-Fi devices, and an access
point. Below is a picture of some of the different types of Wi-Fi devices that are all examples of
a communication device.

Communication device examples

Below is a full listing of all the different types of communications devices you may encounter
when dealing with a computer.

 Bluetooth devices
 Infrared devices
 Modem (over phone line)
 Network card (using Ethernet)
 Smartphone
  Wi-Fi devices (using a router)
The Computer Mother borard

The motherboard serves to connect all of the parts of a computer together. The CPU, memory,
hard drives, optical drives, video card, sound card and other ports and expansion cards all
connect to the motherboard directly or via cables.

The motherboard is the piece of computer hardware that can be thought of as the "back bone" of
the PC.

The Motherboard is Also Known As

mainboard, mobo (abbreviation), MB (abbreviation), system board, logic board

The PC File systems

In computing, a file system (or filesystem) is used to control how data is stored and retrieved.
Without a file system, information placed in a storage area would be one large body of data with
no way to tell where one piece of information stops and the next begins. By separating the data
into individual pieces, and giving each piece a name, the information is easily separated and
identified. Taking its name from the way paper-based information systems are named, each
group of data is called a "file". The structure and logic rules used to manage the groups of
information and their names is called a "file system".

There are many different kinds of file systems. Each one has different structure and logic,
properties of speed, flexibility, security, size and more. Some file systems have been designed to
be used for specific applications. For example, the ISO 9660 file system is designed specifically
for optical discs.

File systems can be used on many different kinds of storage devices. Each storage device uses a
different kind of media. The most common storage device in use today is a hard drive whose
media is a disc that has been coated with a magnetic film. The film has ones and zeros 'written'
on it sending electrical pulses to a magnetic "read-write" head. Other media that are used are
magnetic tape, optical disc, and flash memory. In some cases, the computer's main memory
(RAM) is used to create a temporary file system for short term use.

Some file systems are used on local data storage devices;[1] others provide file access via a
network protocol (for example, NFS,[2] SMB, or 9P clients). Some file systems are "virtual", in
that the "files" supplied are computed on request (e.g. procfs) or are merely a mapping into a
different file system used as a backing store. The file system manages access to both the content
of files and the metadata about those files. It is responsible for arranging storage space;
reliability, efficiency, and tuning with regard to the physical storage medium are important
design considerations.
Filenames

A filename (or file name) is used to identify a storage location in the file system. Most file
systems have restrictions on the length of filenames. In some file systems, filenames are not case
sensitive (i.e., filenames such as FOO and foo refer to the same file); in others, filenames are
case sensitive (i.e., the names FOO, Foo and foo refer to three separate files).

Most modern file systems allow filenames to contain a wide range of characters from the
Unicode character set. Most file system interface utilities, however, have restrictions on the use
of certain special characters, disallowing them within filenames (the file system may use these
special characters to indicate a device, device type, directory prefix, or file type). However, these
special characters might be allowed by, for example, enclosing the filename with double quotes
("). For simplicity, special characters are generally discouraged within filenames.

Directories

File systems typically have directories (also called folders) which allow the user to group files
into separate collections. This may be implemented by associating the file name with an index in
a table of contents or an inode in a Unix-like file system. Directory structures may be flat (i.e.
linear), or allow hierarchies where directories may contain subdirectories. The first file system to
support arbitrary hierarchies of directories was used in the Multics operating system.[3] The
native file systems of Unix-like systems also support arbitrary directory hierarchies, as do, for
example, Apple's Hierarchical File System, and its successor HFS+ in classic Mac OS (HFS+ is
still used in Mac OS X), the FAT file system in MS-DOS 2.0 and later and Microsoft Windows,
the NTFS file system in the Windows NT family of operating systems, and the ODS-2 (On-Disk
Structure-2) and higher levels of the Files-11 file system in OpenVMS.

Metadata

Other bookkeeping information is typically associated with each file within a file system. The
length of the data contained in a file may be stored as the number of blocks allocated for the file
or as a byte count. The time that the file was last modified may be stored as the file's timestamp.
File systems might store the file creation time, the time it was last accessed, the time the file's
metadata was changed, or the time the file was last backed up. Other information can include the
file's device type (e.g. block, character, socket, subdirectory, etc.), its owner user ID and group
ID, its access permissions and other file attributes (e.g. whether the file is read-only, executable,
etc.).

A file system stores all the metadata associated with the file—including the file name, the length
of the contents of a file, and the location of the file in the folder hierarchy—separate from the
contents of the file.

Types of file systems

File system types can be classified into disk/tape file systems, network file systems and special-
purpose file systems.

Disk file systems

A disk file system takes advantages of the ability of disk storage media to randomly address data
in a short amount of time. Additional considerations include the speed of accessing data
following that initially requested and the anticipation that the following data may also be
requested. This permits multiple users (or processes) access to various data on the disk without
regard to the sequential location of the data. Examples include FAT (FAT12, FAT16, FAT32),
exFAT, NTFS, HFS and HFS+, HPFS, UFS, ext2, ext3, ext4, XFS, btrfs, ISO 9660, Files-11,
Veritas File System, VMFS, ZFS, ReiserFS and UDF. Some disk file systems are journaling file
systems or versioning file systems.

Optical discs

ISO 9660 and Universal Disk Format (UDF) are two common formats that target Compact
Discs, DVDs and Blu-ray discs. Mount Rainier is an extension to UDF supported since 2.6 series
of the Linux kernel and since Windows Vista that facilitates rewriting to DVDs.

Flash file systems

Main article: Flash file system
A flash file system considers the special abilities, performance and restrictions of flash memory
devices. Frequently a disk file system can use a flash memory device as the underlying storage
media but it is much better to use a file system specifically designed for a flash device.

Tape file systems

A tape file system is a file system and tape format designed to store files on tape in a self-
describing form. Magnetic tapes are sequential storage media with significantly longer random
data access times than disks, posing challenges to the creation and efficient management of a
general-purpose file system.

IBM has developed a file system for tape called the Linear Tape File System. The IBM
implementation of this file system has been released as the open-source IBM Linear Tape File
System — Single Drive Edition (LTFS-SDE) product. The Linear Tape File System uses a
separate partition on the tape to record the index meta-data, thereby avoiding the problems
associated with scattering directory entries across the entire tape.

Network file systems

Main article: Distributed file system

A network file system is a file system that acts as a client for a remote file access protocol,
providing access to files on a server. Examples of network file systems include clients for the
NFS, AFS, SMB protocols, and file-system-like clients for FTP and WebDAV.

Comparing NTFS and FAT file systems

A file system is the underlying structure a computer uses to organize data on a hard disk. If you
are installing a new hard disk, you need to partition and format it using a file system before you
can begin storing data or programs. In Windows, the three file system options you have to
choose from are NTFS, FAT32, and the older and rarely-used FAT (also known as FAT16).
NTFS

NTFS is the preferred file system for this version of Windows. It has many benefits over the
earlier FAT32 file system, including:

 The capability to recover from some disk-related errors automatically, which FAT32
cannot.
 Improved support for larger hard disks.
 Better security because you can use permissions and encryption to restrict access to
specific files to approved users.

FAT32

FAT32, and the lesser-used FAT, were used in earlier versions of Windows operating systems,
including Windows 95, Windows 98, and Windows Millennium Edition. FAT32 does not have
the security that NTFS provides, so if you have a FAT32 partition or volume on your computer,
any user who has access to your computer can read any file on it. FAT32 also has size
limitations. You cannot create a FAT32 partition greater than 32GB in this version of Windows,
and you cannot store a file larger than 4GB on a FAT32 partition.

The main reason to use FAT32 is because you have a computer that will sometimes run
Windows 95, Windows 98, or Windows Millennium Edition and at other times run this version
of Windows, known as a multiboot configuration. If that is the case, you will need to install the
earlier operating system on a FAT32 or FAT partition and ensure that it is a primary partition
(one that can host an operating system). Any additional partitions you will need to access when
using these earlier versions of Windows must also be formatted with FAT32. These earlier
versions of Windows can access NTFS partitions or volumes over a network, but not on your
computer.
Memory Unit

A memory is just like a human brain. It is used to store data and instructions. Computer memory
is the storage space in computer where data is to be processed and instructions required for
processing are stored. The memory is divided into large number of small parts called cells. Each
location or cell has a unique address which varies from zero to memory size minus one. For
example if computer has 64k words, then this memory unit has 64 * 1024=65536 memory
locations. The address of these locations varies from 0 to 65535.

Memory is primarily of three types

 Cache Memory
 Primary Memory/Main Memory
 Secondary Memory

Cache Memory

Cache memory is a very high speed semiconductor memory which can speed up CPU. It acts as a
buffer between the CPU and main memory. It is used to hold those parts of data and program
which are most frequently used by CPU. The parts of data and programs are transferred from
disk to cache memory by operating system, from where CPU can access them.

Advantages

The advantages of cache memory are as follows:

 Cache memory is faster than main memory.

 It consumes less access time as compared to main memory.
 It stores the program that can be executed within a short period of time.
 It stores data for temporary use.

Disadvantages

The disadvantages of cache memory are as follows:

 Cache memory has limited capacity.

 It is very expensive.
Primary Memory (Main Memory)

Primary memory holds only those data and instructions on which computer is currently working.
It has limited capacity and data is lost when power is switched off. It is generally made up of
semiconductor device. These memories are not as fast as registers. The data and instruction
required to be processed reside in main memory. It is divided into two subcategories RAM and
ROM.

Characteristics of Main Memory

 These are semiconductor memories

 It is known as main memory.
 Usually volatile memory.
 Data is lost in case power is switched off.
 It is working memory of the computer.
 Faster than secondary memories.
 A computer cannot run without primary memory.
Secondary Memory

This type of memory is also known as external memory or non-volatile. It is slower than main
memory. These are used for storing data/Information permanently. CPU directly does not access
these memories instead they are accessed via input-output routines. Contents of secondary
memories are first transferred to main memory, and then CPU can access it. For example : disk,
CD-ROM, DVD etc.

Characteristic of Secondary Memory

 These are magnetic and optical memories

 It is known as backup memory.
 It is non-volatile memory.
 Data is permanently stored even if power is switched off.
 It is used for storage of data in a computer.
 Computer may run without secondary memory.
 Slower than primary memories.
In[put-Output Organization

The Cache Bus: Higher-level architectures, such as those used by the Pentium Pro and
Pentium II, employ a dedicated bus for accessing the system cache. This is sometimes called a
backside bus. Conventional processors using fifth-generation motherboards and chipsets have the
cache connected to the standard memory bus.

The Memory Bus: This is a second-level system bus that connects the memory subsystem to
the chipset and the processor. In some systems the processor and memory buses are basically the
same thing.

The Local I/O Bus: This is a high-speed input/output bus used for connecting performance-
critical peripherals to the memory, chipset, and processor. For example, video cards, disk storage
devices, high-speed networks interfaces generally use a bus of this sort. The two most common
local I/O buses are the VESA Local Bus (VLB) and the Peripheral Component Interconnect Bus
(PCI).
 The Standard I/O Bus: Connecting to the above three buses is the standard I/O bus, used for
slower peripherals (mice, modems, regular sound cards, low-speed networking) and also for
compatibility with older devices. On almost all modern PCs this is the Industry Standard
Architecture (ISA) bus.

Hard Disk Interfaces

IDE (Integrated Drive Electronics) is a standard electronic interface used between a computer
motherboard's data paths or bus and the computer's disk storage devices. The IDE interface is
based on the IBM PC ISA 16-bit bus standard, but it is also used in computers that use other bus
standards. IDE gets its name because the disk drive controller is built into the logic board in the
disk drive. IDE was adopted as a standard by ANSI in November, 1990. The ANSI name for IDE
is Advanced Technology Attachment (ATA). The IDE (ATA) standard is one of several related
standards maintained by the T10 Committee.

In the first generation of PC's, the electronics to move the arm, position, and to control the
recording or sensing was placed in a separate controller card. Advances in chip technology allow
this function to be done by logic on the disk which can be more easily tuned at the factory to the
special features of each type of device. Today there are two technologies, IDE and SCSI.

PC partition types

This section describes the master boot record (MBR) partitioning scheme, as used in DOS,
Microsoft Windows and Linux (among others) on PC-compatible computer systems. For
examples of partitioning schemes used in other operating systems, see the general article on
partition tables.

The total data storage space of a PC HDD can contain at most four primary partitions, or
alternatively three primary partitions and an extended partition. The Partition Table, located in
the master boot record, contains 16-byte entries, each of which describes a partition.
The partition type is identified by a 1-byte code found in its partition table entry. Some of these
codes (such as 0x05 and 0x0F) may be used to indicate the presence of an extended partition.
Most are used by an operating system's bootloader (that examines partition tables) to decide if a
partition contains a file system that can be used to mount / access for reading or writing data.

Primary partition[

A primary partition contains one file system. In DOS and all early versions of Microsoft
Windows systems, Microsoft required what it called the system partition to be the first partition.
All Windows operating systems from Windows 95 onwards can be located on (almost) any
partition, but the boot files (io.sys, bootmgr, ntldr, etc.) must reside on a primary partition.
However, other factors, such as a PC's BIOS (see Boot sequence on standard PC) may also
impose specific requirements as to which partition must contain the primary OS.

The partition type code for a primary partition can either correspond to a file system contained
within (e.g. 0x07 means either an NTFS or an OS/2 HPFS file system) or indicate that the
partition has a special use (e.g. code 0x82 usually indicates a Linux swap partition). The FAT16
and FAT32 file systems have made use of a number of partition type codes due to the limits of
various DOS and Windows OS versions. Though a Linux operating system may recognize a
number of different file systems (ext4, ext3, ext2, ReiserFS, etc.), they have all consistently used
the same partition type code: 0x83 (Linux native file system).

Extended partition

An HDD may contain only one extended partition, but that extended partition can be subdivided
into multiple logical partitions. DOS/Windows systems may then assign a unique drive letter to
each logical partition.