CHAP 1

• Computer Architecture


  The attributes of a system visible to a programmer (i.e. attributes that have a direct impact on the logical execution of a program)
• Computer Organization


  The operational units and their interconnections that realize the architectural specifications (the instruction set, the number of bits used to represent various data types (e.g., numbers, characters), I/O mechanisms, and techniques for addressing memory)

  
• Architectural design issue


  Whether to have a multiply instruction?
• Organizational issue


  How to implement multiply (by a special multiply unit or by a mechanism that makes repeated use of the add unit of the system)?
• Organizational decisions


  • Based on the need, the speed, the cost and physical size etc.
• Computer


  • A complex system with a hierarchical nature
• Functions of a computer

  1. Data processing

  2. Data storage

  3. Data movement

  4. Control
• A Turing machine is a hypothetical machine ideated by the mathematician Alan Turing in 1936
• Turing machine


  • Has an infinitely-long tape (memory)
  • Can process the symbols 0 and 1 and " " (blank)
  • Has a head positioned over one of the squares on the tape and can perform three basic operations: read, edit, and move the tape
• EDVAC was designed


  1944
• The idea of stored program is attributed to the mathematician John von Neumann
• Alan Turing developed the idea of stored program at about the same time
• The first publication of the idea was in a 1945 proposal by von Neumann for a new computer, the EDVAC (Electronic Discrete Variable Computer)
• The first major change in the second generation of computers is the replacement of the vacuum tube by the transistor
• In the third generation of computers, components such as transistors, resistors, and conductors can be fabricated from a semiconductor such as silicon in integrated circuits

  
• Consequences of integration


  • Cost of computer logic and memory fall dramatically
  • Logic and memory elements are placed closer together, increasing operating speed
  • The computer becomes smaller
  • Power requirements are reduced
  • Interconnections on the integrated circuit are much more reliable than solder connections
• As of 2022, the largest transistor count in a commercially available microprocessor is 114 billion transistors, in Apple's M1 chip

  
• The highest transistor count GPU is Nvidia's H100, totalling 80 billion MOSFETs
• Moore's law


  The number of transistors that could be put on a single chip is doubling every year
• Later generations of integrated circuits

  • Large-Scale integration (LSI)
  • Very-large-scale integration (VLSI)
  • Ultra-large-scale integration (ULSI)
• Intel processor development


  • 4004 (1971)
  • 8080 (1974)
  • 8086/8088 (1978)
  • 80386 (1985)
  • Pentium (1993)
  • Pentium 4 (2000)
  • Pentium-9 12th generation (2022)

  
• Embedded Systems


  Systems that use electronics and software within a product, as opposed to a general-purpose computer, such as a laptop or desktop system
• Internet of Things (IoT)


  An extension of embedded systems, referring to interconnection of smart devices
• rs


  3.1 million
• Circuit line width


  0.8 micron
• Pentium 4


  Introduced in 2000
• Pentium 4


  • Initial clock speed: 1.5 GHz
  • Number of transistors: 42 million
• Circuit line width


  0.18 micron
• Pentium-9 12th generation processors

  • Introduced in 2022
  • Clock speed: 5 GHz
  • Feature size: 10nm
  • Processor Cores: 8 P-cores + 8 E-cores
  • Cache memory: 30MB

  
• Embedded Systems


  • Interact (sense, manipulate, and communicate) with external world through sensors and actuators
• Embedded Systems


  • cell phones, digital cameras, washing machines
• Internet of Things (IoT)


  An extension of embedded systems, refers to interconnection of smart devices, ranging from appliances to tiny sensors
• Internet of Things (IoT) applications


  • Smart cities, Retail, manufacturing, healthcare, transportation, logistic
• Microcontroller


  A single chip that contains the CPU, non-volatile memory for the program (ROM), volatile memory for input and output (RAM) and I/O unit, also called "computer on a chip"

  
• Microcontroller


  • Smaller and less complex than microprocessors, consume less energy, typically used in embedded systems
• Digital signal processors


  Processors designed for digital signal processing (DSP) algorithms, apply large number of mathematical operations repeatedly on a series of data samples, used for analog to digital conversion and manipulation
• Digital signal processors


  • Have constraints on latency, DSP operation must be completed within some fixed time
• ARM Architecture


  A family of RISC-based microprocessors and microcontrollers designed by ARM Holdings, Cambridge, England
• ARM Architecture


  • ARM Holdings licenses their architecture design, they also produce Cortex family of microprocessors
• ARM Cortex Architectures


  • Cortex-A
  • Cortex-R
  • Cortex-M