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Basic Computer Architecture

Prof. Smruti Ranjan Sarangi
IIT Delhi

Chapter 1: Introduction to Computer

Architecture
2nd version

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 What is Computer
Architecture ?
Answer : It is the study of computers ?

 Computer Architecture
 The view of a computer as presented to software
designers
 Computer Organization
 The actual implementation of a computer in hardware.

3
 What is a Computer ?

A computer is a general purpose device that can be programmed to process

information, and yield meaningful results.

4
 How does it work ?

Information
Program
store

Computer

results

 Program – List of instructions given to the computer

 Information store – data, images, files, videos
 Computer – Process the information store according to
the instructions in the program
5
What does a computer look like ?

 Let us take the lid off a desktop computer

CPU
Hard disk

Memory

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Memory Hard disk

Computer
 Memory – Stores programs and data. Gets destroyed when
the computer is powered off
 Hard disk – stores programs/data permanently

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Let us make it a full system ...

Memory Hard
disk
Computer

Keyboard Monitor
Mouse Printer
8
 Food for Thought...

 What is the most intelligent computer ?

9
 Answer ...

 Our brilliant brains

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 Outline
 Language of Instructions
 Instruction Set Architecture
 Features of an ISA – Complete, Concise, Generic, Simple

 Completeness of an ISA
 Turing Machines
 Universal Machines
 Single Instruction/Multi-Instruction ISA

 Design of Practical Machines

 Harvard/ Von Neumann Machines
 Registers

 Road Ahead
11
How does an Electronic Computer
Differ from our Brain ?

Feature Computer Our Brilliant Brain

Intelligence Dumb Intelligent
Speed of basic calculations Ultra-fast Slow
Can get tired Never After sometime
Can get bored Never Almost always

 Computers are ultra-fast and ultra-dumb

12
 How to Instruct a Computer ?

compile execute
Program Executable Output

 Write a program in a high level language – C,

C++, Java
 Compile it into a format that the computer
understands
 Execute the program
13
What Can a Computer Understand ?

 Computer can clearly NOT understand

instructions of the form
 Multiply two matrices
 Compute the determinant of a matrix
 Find the shortest path between Mumbai and Delhi
 They understand :
 Add a + b to get c
 Multiply a * b to get c

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The Language of Instructions
 Humans can understand

Complicated sentences
 English, French, Spanish
 Computers can understand

Very simple instructions

The semantics of all the instructions supported by a processor is known

as its instruction set architecture (ISA). This includes the semantics of
the instructions themselves, along with their operands, and interfaces
with peripheral devices.

15
 Features of an ISA
 Example of instructions in an ISA
 Arithmetic instructions : add, sub, mul, div
 Logical instructions : and, or, not
 Data transfer/movement instructions

 Complete
 It should be able to implement all the programs that
users may write.

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 Features of an ISA – II
 Concise
 The instruction set should have a limited size. Typically
an ISA contains 32-1000 instructions.
 Generic
 Instructions should not be too specialized, e.g. add14
(adds a number with 14) instruction is too specialized
 Simple
 Should not be very complicated.

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 Designing an ISA
 Important questions that need to be answered :
 How many instructions should we have ?
 What should they do ?
 How complicated should they be ?

Two different paradigms : RISC and CISC

RISC CISC
(Reduced Instruction Set (Complex Instruction
Computer) Set Computer)

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 RISC vs CISC

A reduced instruction set computer (RISC) implements

simple instructions that have a simple and regular
structure. The number of instructions is typically a small
number (64 to 128). Examples: ARM, IBM PowerPC,
HP PA-RISC

A complex instruction set computer (CISC) implements

complex instructions that are highly irregular, take multiple
operands, and implement complex functionalities.
Secondly, the number of instructions is large (typically
500+). Examples: Intel x86, VAX

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 Summary Uptil Now ...
 Computers are dumb yet ultra-fast machines.
 Instructions are basic rudimentary commands used to
communicate with the processor. A computer can execute
billions of instructions per second.
 The compiler transforms a user program written in a high level
language such as C to a program consisting of basic machine
instructions.
 The instruction set architecture(ISA) refers to the semantics of
all the instructions supported by a processor.
 The instruction set needs to be complete. It is desirable if it is
also concise, generic, and simple.

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 Outline
 Language of Instructions
 Instruction Set Architecture
 Features of an ISA – Complete, Concise, Generic, Simple

 Completeness of an ISA
 Turing Machines
 Universal Machines
 Single Instruction/Multi-Instruction ISA

 Design of Practical Machines

 Harvard/ Von Neumann Machines
 Registers

 Road Ahead
21
 Completeness of an ISA

How can we ensure that an

ISA is complete ?

 Complete means :
 Can implement all types of programs
 For example, if we just have add instructions, we
cannot subtract (NOT Complete)

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 Completeness of an ISA – II

How to ensure that we have just enough

instructions such that we can implement every
possible program that we might want to write ?

Skip this part

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 Answer
 Let us look at results in theoretical computer science
 Is there an universal ISA ?

Universal ISA Universal Machine

The universal machine has a set of basic actions, and each such
action can be interpreted as an instruction.

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 The Turing Machine – Alan
Turing
 Facts about Alan Turing

 Known as the father of computer science

 Discovered the Turing machine that is the most powerful

computing device known to man

 Indian connection : His father worked with the Indian Civil

Service at the time he was born. He was posted in
Chhatrapur, Odisha.
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 Turing Machine

Infinite Tape

L R

State Register Tape Head

The tape
head can
only move Action Table
left or right
(old state, old symbol) -> (new state, new symbol, left/right)

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 Operation of a Turing Machine
 There is an inifinite tape that extends to the left and right. It consists
of an infinite number of cells.
 The tape head points to a cell, and can either move 1 cell to the left
or right
 Based on the symbol in the cell, and its current state, the Turing
machine computes the transition :
 Computes the next state
 Overwrites the symbol in the cell (or keeps it the same)
 Moves to the left or right by 1 cell
 The action table records the rules for the transitions.

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Example of a Turing Machine

Design a Turing machine to increment a number by 1.

$ 7 3 4 6 9 $

Tape Head
 Start from the rightmost position. (state = 1)
 If (state = 1), replace a number x, by x+1 mod 10
 The new state is equal to the value of the carry
 Keep going left till the '$' sign

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More about the Turing Machine

 This machine is extremely simple, and extremely

powerful

 We can solve all kinds of problems – mathematical problems,

engineering analyses, protein folding, computer games, …

 Try to use the Turing machine to solve many more types of

problems (TODO)

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 Church-Turing Thesis

Church-Turing thesis: Any real-world computation can be translated

into an equivalent computation involving a Turing machine.
(source: Wolfram Mathworld)

 Note : It is a thesis, not a theorem

 For the last 60 years, nobody has found a counter-example

Definition:
Any computing system that is equivalent to a Turing machine is said to be
Turing complete.

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 Universal Turing Machine
 For every problem in the world, we can design a Turing Machine
(Church-Turing thesis)
 Can we design a universal Turing machine that can simulate any
Turing machine. This will make it a universal machine (UTM)
 Why not? The logic of a Turing machine is really simple. We
need to move the tape head left, or right, and update the
symbol and state based on the action table. A UTM can easily do
this.
 A UTM needs to have an action table, state register, and tape
that can simulate any arbitrary Turing machine.

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Universal Turing Machine

Prog. 1 Prog. 2 Prog. 3

Turing Machine 1 Turing Machine 2 Turing Machine 3

Universal Turing Machine

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 A Universal Turing
Machine
Simulated State Register
Simulated Action Table Work Area

L R
Generic State Register Tape Head

Generic Action Table

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 A Universal Turing
Machine - II
Program
Counter
Simulated State(PC)
Register
Instruction
Simulated Action Table Work Area
Memory Data Memory

L R
Generic State Register Tape Head
Program

PC CPU
Generic Action Table
 Computer Inspired from the Turing
Machine
Program
CPU
Program Control Arithmetic
Counter (PC) Unit Unit

Instruction

Program Data
Memory

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 Elements of a Computer
 Memory (array of bytes) contains
 The program, which is a sequence of instructions
 The program data → variables, and constants
 The program counter(PC) points to an instruction in a program
 After executing an instruction, it points to the next instruction
by default
 A branch instruction makes the PC point to another instruction
(not in sequence)
 CPU (Central Processing Unit) contains the
 Program counter, instruction execution units

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 Let us now design an ISA ...

 Single Instruction ISA

 sbn – subtract and branch if negative
 Add (a + b) (assume temp = 0)

1: sbn temp, b, 2
2: sbn a, temp, exit

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Single Instruction ISA - II
 Add the numbers – 1 … 10
Initialization:
one = 1
index = 10
sum = 0

1: sbn temp, temp, 2 // temp = 0

2: sbn temp, index, 3 // temp = -1 * index
3: sbn sum, temp, 4 // sum += index
4: sbn index, one, exit // index -= 1
5: sbn temp, temp, 6 // temp = 0
6: sbn temp, one, 1 // (0 - 1 < 0), hence goto 1

exit

38
 Multiple Instruction ISA
 Arithmetic Instructions
 add, subtract, multiply, divide

 Logical Instructions
 or, and, not

 Move instructions
 Transfer values between memory locations

 Branch instructions
 Move to a new program location, based on the values of some
memory locations

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 Outline
 Language of Instructions
 Instruction Set Architecture
 Features of an ISA – Complete, Concise, Generic, Simple

 Completeness of an ISA
 Turing Machines
 Universal Machines
 Single Instruction/Multi-Instruction ISA

 Design of Practical Machines

 Harvard/ Von Neumann Machines
 Registers

 Road Ahead
40
 Designing Practical Machines

CPU
ALU

Instruction
Data
memory Control memory

I/O devices

Harvard Architecture

41
 Von-Neumann Architecture

CPU
ALU

Memory Control I/O devices

42
Problems with Harvard/ Von-Neumann
Architectures
 The memory is assumed to be one large array of
bytes
 It is very very slow

General Rule: Larger is a structure, slower it is

 Solution:
 Have a small array of named locations (registers) that can
be used by instructions
 This small array is very fast

Insight: Accesses exhibit locality (tend to use the same

variables frequently in the same window of time)

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 Uses of Registers

 A CPU (Processor) contains set of registers (16-64)

 These are named storage locations.
 Typically values are loaded from memory to registers.
 Arithmetic/logical instructions use registers as input
operands
 Finally, data is stored back into their memory locations.

44
Example of a Program in Machine
Language with Registers

1: r1 = mem[b] // load b
2: r2 = mem[c] // load c
3: r3 = r1 + r2 // add b and c
4: mem[a] = r3 // save the result

 r1, r2, and r3, are registers

 mem → array of bytes representing memory

45
 Machine with Registers

CPU
Registers
ALU

Memory Control I/O devices

46
 Outline
 Language of Instructions
 Instruction Set Architecture
 Features of an ISA – Complete, Concise, Generic, Simple

 Completeness of an ISA
 Turing Machines
 Universal Machines
 Single Instruction/Multi-Instruction ISA

 Design of Practical Machines

 Harvard/ Von Neumann Machines
 Registers

 Road Ahead
47
 Where are we ...
 We have derived the structure of a computer from
theoretical fundamentals.
 It has a CPU with a program counter & registers,
memory, and peripherals.
 The Instruction Set Architecture (ISA) is the link
between hardware and software.

Instruction
Set
Architecture

48
 Instruction Set Architecture

 Interface between software and hardware

 A compiler converts a program into machine instructions in the given
ISA
 The processor executes the instructions in the ISA

 We shall first look at the software aspect of the ISA (assembly

programs)
 Then look at implementing the ISA by designing the processor
 Then, we shall make the computer more efficient by
designing fast memory/ storage systems
 At the end, we will look at multiprocessors

49
 Roadmap of the Course

System design
Software interface Processor Design 10

Instruction set architecture

Design of a simple processor

8 9 Memory
4
ARM assembly Processor system
Pipelining
2 design 11
3
Language Assembly 6 Multiprocessors
7
of bits Building blocks: Computer
language
gates, registers, arithmetic 12
5 and memories I/O and storage
x86 assembly

Software Hardware Hardware

engineer designer designer

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THE END

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