Text C. Computer Architecture

In computer engineering, computer architecture is the conceptual design

and fundamental operational structure of a computer system. It is a blueprint

and functional description of requirements and design implementations

for the various parts of a computer, focusing largely on the way by which the

central processing unit (CPU) performs internally and accesses addresses in

memory.

It may also 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 comprises at least three main subcategories:

􀀀 Instruction set architecture, or ISA, is the abstract image of a computing

system that is seen by a machine language (or assembly language) programmer,

including the instruction set, word size, memory address modes,

processor registers, and address and data formats.

􀀀 Microarchitecture, also known as Computer organization is a lower

level, more concrete and detailed, description of the system that involves how

the constituent parts of the system are interconnected and how they interoperate

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.

􀀀 System Design which includes all of the other hardware components

within a computing system such as:

1. system interconnects such as computer buses and switches

2. memory controllers and hierarchies

3. CPU off-load mechanisms such as direct memory access

4. issues like multi-processing.

Once both ISA and microarchitecture have been specified, the actual device

needs to be designed into hardware. This design process is called implementation.

Implementation is usually not considered architectural definition, but rather hardware design engineering.

Implementation can be further broken down into three (not fully distinct)

pieces:

􀀀 Logic Implementation – design of blocks defined in the microarchitecture

at (primarily) the register-transfer and gate levels.

􀀀 Circuit Implementation – transistor-level design of basic elements

(gates, multiplexers, latches etc) as well as of some larger blocks (ALUs, caches

etc) that may be implemented at this level, or even (partly) at the physical level,

for performance reasons.

􀀀 Physical Implementation – physical circuits are drawn out, the different

circuit components are placed in a chip floor-plan or on a board and the

wires connecting them are routed.

For CPUs, the entire implementation process is often called CPU design.

More specific usages of the term include more general wider-scale

hardware architectures, such as cluster computing and Non-Uniform Memory

Access (NUMA) architectures.

Exercise 7. In the text find at least five words that can make compound noun

expressions with the word computer. How many other noun compounds

with computer can you think of?

Exercise 8. Match each of the words in the first column with the word from the second column to make six word partnerships from the article:

1) computer format

2) memory components

3) implementation engineering

4) processor controller

5) data process

6) hardware register

Exercise 9. Answer the questions:

1) What is computer architecture?

2) What three main subcategories does computer architecture comprise?

3) What subcategory describes interconnection of the constituent parts

of the system and their interoperation for implementation the ISA?

4) What hardware components does System Design include?

5) What design process is called implementation?

6) What three pieces can implementation be broken down?

7) How are more general wider-scale hardware architectures called?

8) What is the name of the entire implementation process for CPUs?

Exercise 10. Expand the statements:

1) Computer architecture may be defined as the science and art of selecting

and interconnecting hardware components.

2) Computer architecture is a blueprint and functional description of requirements

and design implementations for the various parts of a

computer.

3) Instruction set architecture is the abstract image of a computing system.

4) System Design includes hardware components within a computing

system such as computer buses and switches.

5) Implementation is usually not considered architectural definition.

6) Circuit Implementation is a transistor-level design of basic elements

(gates, multiplexers, latches etc).

Exercise 11. There is a definition of computer architecture in the article:

Computer architecture is the conceptual design and fundamental

operational structure of a computer system.

Give 2 more definitions.

Exercise 12. Look back at the article. Find the terms which mean:

1) design of blocks defined in the microarchitecture at (primarily) the

register-transfer and gate levels.

2) the abstract image of a computing system that is seen by machine

language (or assembly language) programmer.

3) a lower level, more concrete and detailed, description of the system

that involves how the constituent parts of the system are interconnected

and how they interoperate in order to implement the ISA.

4) transistor-level design of basic elements (gates, multiplexers, latches

etc) as well as of some larger blocks (ALUs, caches etc) that may be

implemented at this level, or even (partly) at the physical level, for

performance reasons.

Date: 2015-01-02; view: 1959