CSC 222: Computer Organization

& Assembly Language

1 – An Introduction

Instructor: Ms. Sadia Waheed

Outline
 About this Course
 Basic Structure of Computer
 What is Computer Organization?
 About Assembly Language

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What is this course about?
Course Objectives
 To understand organization of a computer system
 To gain an insight knowledge about the internal
architecture and working of microprocessors.
 To understand working of memory devices, interrupt
controllers and I/O devices.
 To learn Assembly Language
 To understand how low level logic is employed for
problem solving by using assembly language as a tool.

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Course Contents
 Basic Structure & Components of a Computer System
 Difference in Computer Organization & Computer
Architecture
 Computer Evolution
 Microprocessor & Microcontrollers
 Interconnection Structures
 Memory Organization
 Data Representation
 Instruction Set
 Processor Structure & Function
 Interrupts
 Processor Registers & FLAGS
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Course Contents Contd..
 Assembly Language
 Syntax
 Basic Instructions
 Flow Control Instructions
 High Level Language Structures
 Logic, Shift and Rotate Instructions
 The Stack
 Multiplication & Division Instructions
 Array & Addressing Modes
 String Instructions
 Procedures & Macros
 Translation of high level language into assembly
language.
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Basic Structure & Function –
Computer System
Structure

 Structure is the way in which components

relate to each other

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Difference in Peripherals &
Communication Lines
 When data is received from or delivered by a
device that is directly connected to the computer,
process is called Input-Output (I/O).
 When data are moved over longer distance, to or
from a remote device, the process is known as
Data Communication.

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 Structure - Top Level

Peripherals Computer

Central Main
Processing Memory
Unit

Computer
Systems
Interconnection

Input
Output
Communication
lines

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Structure – Top Level Contd..
 Four main structural components:

 CPU: controls the operation of the computer and

performs its data processing functions; often referred
as processor.
 Main Memory: stores data
 I/O: moves data between the computer and its
external environment.
 System Interconnections: Mechanism for
communication among CPU, memory, and I/O.

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 Structure - The CPU

CPU

Computer Arithmetic
Registers and
I/O Login Unit
System CPU
Bus
Internal CPU
Memory Interconnection

Control
Unit

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Structure – The CPU
 Control Unit: controls the operation of CPU and
hence the computer.
 Arithmetic and logic unit: performs the
computer’s data processing functions.
 Registers: provides storage internal to CPU.
 CPU interconnection: Mechanism that provides
for communication among the control unit, ALU,
and registers.

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 Structure - The Control Unit

Control Unit

CPU
Sequencing
ALU Logic
Control
Internal
Unit
Bus
Control Unit
Registers Registers and
Decoders

Control
Memory

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 Function
 Function is the operation of individual
components as part of the structure.
 Main functions performed by a computer system
are:
 Process Data
 Store Data
 Move Data
 Control the above three functions

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What is Computer Organization?
Computer Architecture
 Computer Architecture refers to those attributes of
a system visible to a programmer
 Those attributes that have direct impact on logical
execution of a program.
 Architectural attributes include:
 the instruction set,
 no. of bits used to represent various data types
(numbers, characters etc),
 I/O mechanisms and technology for addressing memory.

 Example: Architectural design issue whether a

computer will have multiply instruction or not.

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What is Computer Organization?
 Organization is how features are implemented.
How does a Computer Work?
 For Example: Is there a special hardware multiply unit
for multiplication operation or is it done by repeated
addition?
 Computer Organization refers to the operational
units and their interconnections that realize the
architectural specifications.
 Organizational attributes:
 hardware details transparent to the programmer such as
control signals,
 interfaces between peripherals and the computer,
 the memory technology used.
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Computer Organization vs.
Architecture
 Architecture:
 Logical aspects of computer hardware that are
visible to the programmer
 What instruction a computer understands!
 Organization:
 Physical aspects of computer hardware that are
invisible to the programmer
 How does the computer hardware carries out
instructions!

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Computer Organization vs. Architecture
Contd..
 Computer Organization must be designed to
implement a particular architectural
specifications.

 It is possible to have same architecture but

different organizations.
 All computers in the Intel Pentium series have the same
architecture.
 Each version of the Pentium has a different organization
or implementation.

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Computer Organization vs. Architecture
Contd..
 Architectural Issues:
 Reduced Instruction Set Computing (RISC)
 Complex Instruction Set Computing (CISC)
 Pipeline (multiple instructions are overlapped
during execution) etc

 Organizational Issues:
 I/O, control unit, memory etc

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Why Study Computer Organization?
 Understand how computer works!
 Computer functional components, their characteristics,
their performance, and their interactions.
 How to select a system?
 Understand tradeoff among various components, such
as memory size, CPU clock speed etc.

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Assembly Language
Computer Level Hierarchy

Figure Reference:
24 http://users.dickinson.edu/~braught/courses/cs251f09/topics/slides/
Programming Languages

 High-Level Languages (HLL)

 Assembly Language
 Machine Language

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High-Level Language
 Allow programmers to write programs that look
more like natural language.
 Examples: C++, Java, C#.NET etc
 A program called Compiler is needed to translate
a high-level language program into machine code.
 Each statement usually translates into multiple
machine language instructions.

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Machine Language
 The "native" language of the computer
 Numeric instructions and operands that can be
stored in memory and are directly executed by
computer system.
 Each ML instruction contains an op code (operation
code) and zero or more operands.
 Examples:

Opcode Operand Meaning

-------------------------------------------------
40 increment the AX register
05 0005 add 0005 to AX

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Assembly Language
 Use instruction mnemonics that have one-to-one
correspondence with machine language.
 An instruction is a symbolic representation of a single
machine instruction
 Consists of:
 label always optional
 mnemonic always required
 operand(s) required by some instructions
 comment always optional

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C++ and Java Relate to Assembly
Language
int Y;
int X = (Y + 4) * 3;
 Following is the equivalent translation to assembly
language. The translation requires multiple
statements because assembly language works at a
detailed level:
mov eax, Y ; move Y to the EAX register
add eax, 4 ; add 4 to the EAX register
mov ebx, 3 ; move 3 to the EBX register
imul ebx ; multiply EAX by EBX
mov X, eax ; move EAX to X

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 Sample Program

1. mov ax, 5 ax 05 Memory

011C
2. add ax, 10 ax 15 011E
35 0120
3. add ax, 20 ax 35 0122
0124
4. mov [0120], ax ax 35 0126

5. int 20

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Essential Tools
 Assembler is a program that converts source-code programs
into a machine language (object file).
 Linker joins together two or more object files and produces a
single executable file.
 Debugger loads an executable program, displays the source
code, and lets the programmer step through the program one
instruction at a time, and display and modify memory.
 Emulator allows you to load and run assembly language
programs rather than machine code, examine and change
contents of registers. Example: EMU8086

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Why Learn Assembly Language?
 Learn how a processor works
 Explore the internal representation of data and
instructions
 How to structure a program so it runs more efficiently.

 Compilers/Device Drivers/ OS codes

 Games/Embedded System

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First Glance at Assembly Language
 Low-level language
 Each instruction performs a much lower-level task

compared to a high-level language instruction

 Most high-level language instructions need more than

one assembly instruction

 One-to-many correspondence between
assembly
language and machine language instructions
 For most assembly language instructions, there is a
machine language equivalent
 Directly influenced by the instruction set and

architecture of the processor (CPU)

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Comparisons with High-level
Languages
 Advantages of Assembly Languages
• Space-efficiency,(e.g. hand-held device
softwares, etc)
• Time-efficiency,(e.g. Real-time applications, etc )
• Accessibility to system hardwares,(e.g., Network
interfaces, device drivers, video games, etc)
 Advantages of High-level Languages
• Development
• Maintenance (Readability)
• Portability (compiler, virtual machine)

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Comparisons

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Virtual Machine Concepts
 How a computer’s hardware and software are
related is called the virtual machine concept
 Programming Language analogy:
• Each computer has a native machine
language (language L0) that runs directly on
its hardware
• A more human-friendly language is usually
constructed above machine language, called
Language L1

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Virtual Machine Concepts(Cont)
 Programs written in L1 can run two different ways:
 Interpretation:
 L0 program interprets and executes L1
instructions one by one. As the L1 program is
running, each of its instructions could be decoded
and executed by a program written in language
L0.

 Translation:
 L1 program is completely translated into an L0
program, which then runs on the computer
hardware

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Virtual Machine
 The virtual machine VM1, can execute
commands written in language L1
 The virtual machine VM0 can execute
commands written in language L0

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Translating Languages

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Specific Machine Levels
 Level 05-level 0

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High-Level Language (Level 5):
 Application-oriented languages such as C++,
Java, Pascal, Visual Basic.
 Programs in these languages contain
powerful statements that translate into
multiple instructions at assembly language
(Level 4)

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Assembly Language (Level 4):
 Instruction mnemonics such as ADD, SUB,
and MOV, which are easily translated to
machine language (Level 2). Instruction
mnemonics that have a one-to-one
correspondence to machine language.
 Calls functions written at the operating
system level (Level 3)
 Programs are translated into machine
language (Level 2) before execution

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Operating System (Level 3):
 Provides services to Level 4 programs
 Translated and run at the instruction set
architecture level (Level 2)
 Operating System understands interactive
commands by users to load and execute
programs, display directories, and so forth.

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Instruction Set Architecture (Level 2):
 Also known as conventional machine language
 Executed by microarchitecture (Level 1)
program
 Computer chip manufactures design into the
processor an instruction set to carry out basic
operations, such as move, and, or multiply.
Each machine-language instruction is
executed by several microinstructions.

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Microarchitecture (Level 1):
 Integrated circuit consist of micro chips
 Interprets conventional machine instructions
(Level 2)
 Executed by digital hardware (Level 0)
 The specific microarchitecture commands are
often a proprietary secret.

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Digital Logic (Level 0):
 CPU, Memory: Constructed from digital logic
gates

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