Computer Architecture Lecture PDF

CARC103 – Computer Architecture Kent Institute Australia Pty. Ltd. ABN 49 003 577 302 CRICOS Code: 00161E 1 RTO Code: 90458 TEQSA Provider...

CARC103 – Computer Architecture Kent Institute Australia Pty. Ltd. ABN 49 003 577 302 CRICOS Code: 00161E 1 RTO Code: 90458 TEQSA Provider Number: PRV12051 Chapter 1 Introduction  Objectives Know the difference between computer organization and computer architecture. Understand units of measure common to computer systems. Understand the computer as a layered system. Be able to explain the von Neumann architecture and the function of basic computer components.  Overview Why study computer organization and architecture? – Design better programs, including system software such as compilers, operating systems, and device drivers. – Optimize program behavior. – Evaluate (benchmark) computer system performance. – Understand time, space, and price tradeoffs.  Overview Computer organization – Encompasses all physical aspects of computer systems (e.g., circuit design, control signals, memory types). – How does a computer work? Computer architecture – Logical aspects of system implementation as seen by the programmer (e.g., instruction sets, instruction formats, data types, addressing modes). – How do I design a computer?  Computer Systems There is no clear distinction between matters related to computer organization and matters relevant to computer architecture. Principle of Equivalence of Hardware and Software: – Any task done by software can also be done using hardware, and any operation performed directly by hardware can be done using software.* * Assuming speed is not a concern.  Computer Systems At the most basic level, a computer is a device consisting of three pieces: – A processor to interpret and execute programs – A memory to store both data and programs – A mechanism for transferring data to and from the outside world  An Example System Consider this advertisement:  An Example System Measures of capacity and speed: – Kilo- (K) = 1 thousand = 103 and 210 – Mega- (M) = 1 million = 106 and 220 – Giga- (G) = 1 billion = 109 and 230 – Tera- (T) = 1 trillion = 1012 and 240 – Peta- (P) = 1 quadrillion = 1015 and 250 – Exa- (E) = 1 quintillion = 1018 and 260 – Zetta- (Z) = 1 sextillion = 1021 and 270 – Yotta- (Y) = 1 septillion = 1024 and 280 Whether a metric refers to a power of ten or a power of two typically depends upon what is being measured.  An Example System Hertz = clock cycles per second (frequency) – 1MHz = 1,000,000Hz – Processor speeds are measured in MHz or GHz. Byte = a unit of storage – 1KB = 210 = 1024 Bytes – 1MB = 220 = 1,048,576 Bytes – 1GB = 230 = 1,099,511,627,776 Bytes – Main memory (RAM) is measured in GB. – Disk storage is measured in GB for small systems, TB (240) for large systems.  An Example System Measures of time and space: – Milli- (m) = 1 thousandth = 10-3 – Micro- (µ) = 1 millionth = 10-6 – Nano- (n) = 1 billionth = 10-9 – Pico- (p) = 1 trillionth = 10-12 – Femto- (f) = 1 quadrillionth = 10-15 – Atto- (a) = 1 quintillionth = 10-18 – Zepto- (z) = 1 sextillionth = 10-21 – Yocto- (y) = 1 septillionth = 10-24  An Example System Millisecond = 1 thousandth of a second – Hard disk drive access times are often 10 to 20 milliseconds. Nanosecond = 1 billionth of a second – Main memory access times are often 50 to 70 nanoseconds. Micron (micrometer) = 1 millionth of a meter – Circuits on computer chips are measured in microns.  An Example System We note that cycle time is the reciprocal of clock frequency. A bus operating at 133MHz has a cycle time of 7.52 nanoseconds: 133,000,000 cycles/second = 7.52 ns/cycle  Standards Organizations There are many organizations that set computer hardware standards—to include the interoperability of computer components. Throughout this book, and in your career, you will encounter many of them. Some of the most important standards- setting groups include the following.  Standards Organizations The Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) – Promotes the interests of the worldwide electrical engineering community. – Establishes standards for computer components, data representation, and signaling protocols, among many other things.  Standards Organizations The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) – Concerns itself with the interoperability of telecommunications systems, including data communications and telephony. National groups establish standards within their respective countries: – The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) – The British Standards Institution (BSI)  Standards Organizations The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) – Establishes worldwide standards for everything from screw threads to photographic film. – Is influential in formulating standards for computer hardware and software, including their methods of manufacture. Note: ISO is not an acronym. ISO comes from the Greek, isos, meaning “equal.”  The Computer Level Hierarchy Computers consist of many things besides chips. Before a computer can do anything worthwhile, it must also use software. Writing complex programs requires a “divide and conquer” approach, where each program module solves a smaller problem. Complex computer systems employ a similar technique through a series of virtual machine layers.  The Computer Level Hierarchy Each virtual machine layer is an abstraction of the level below it. The machines at each level execute their own particular instructions, calling upon machines at lower levels to perform tasks as required. Computer circuits ultimately carry out the work.  The Computer Level Hierarchy Level 6: The User Level – Program execution and user interface level – The level with which we are most familiar Level 5: High-Level Language Level – The level with which we interact when we write programs in languages such as C, Pascal, Lisp, and Java.  The Computer Level Hierarchy Level 4: Assembly Language Level – Acts upon assembly language produced from Level 5, as well as instructions programmed directly at this level. Level 3: System Software Level – Controls executing processes on the system. – Protects system resources. – Assembly language instructions often pass through Level 3 without modification.  The Computer Level Hierarchy Level 2: Machine Level – Also known as the Instruction Set Architecture (ISA) Level. – Consists of instructions that are particular to the architecture of the machine. – Programs written in machine language need no compilers, interpreters, or assemblers.  The Computer Level Hierarchy Level 1: Control Level – A control unit decodes and executes instructions and moves data through the system. – Control units can be microprogrammed or hardwired. – A microprogram is a program written in a low- level language that is implemented by the hardware. – Hardwired control units consist of hardware that directly executes machine instructions.  The Computer Level Hierarchy Level 0: Digital Logic Level – This level is where we find digital circuits (the chips). – Digital circuits consist of gates and wires. – These components implement the mathematical logic of all other levels.  Cloud Computing: Computing as a Service The ultimate aim of every computer system is to deliver functionality to its users. Computer users typically do not care about terabytes of storage and gigahertz of processor speed. Many companies outsource their data centers to third-party specialists, who agree to provide computing services for a fee. These arrangements are managed through service-level agreements (SLAs).  Cloud Computing: Computing as a Service Rather than pay a third party to run a company-owned data center, another approach is to buy computing services from someone else’s data center and connect to it via the Internet. This is the idea behind a collection of service models known as Cloud computing. The “Cloud” is a visual metaphor traditionally used for the Internet. It is even more apt for service-defined computing.  Cloud Computing: Computing as a Service Cloud computing relies on the concept of elasticity where resources can be added and removed as needed. You pay for only what you use. Virtualization is an enabler of elasticity. – Instead of having a physical machine, you have a “logical” machine that may span several physical machines, or occupy only part of a single physical machine. Potential issues: Privacy, security, having someone else in control of software and hardware you use  Cloud Computing: Computing as a Service More Cloud computing models: – Software as a Service, or SaaS. The consumer of this service buy application services Well-known examples include Gmail, Dropbox, GoToMeeting, and Netflix. – Platform as a Service, or PaaS. Provides server hardware, operating systems, database services, security components, and backup and recovery services. Well-known PaaS providers include Google App Engine and Microsoft Windows Azure Cloud Services.  Cloud Computing: Computing as a Service More Cloud computing models: – Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) provides only server hardware, secure network access to the servers, and backup and recovery services. The customer is responsible for all system software including the operating system and databases. Well-known IaaS platforms include Amazon EC2, Google Compute Engine, Microsoft Azure Services Platform, Rackspace, and HP Cloud. – Cloud storage is a limited type of IaaS that includes services such as Dropbox, Google Drive, and Amazon.com’s Cloud Drive.  The von Neumann Model On the ENIAC, all programming was done at the digital logic level. Programming the computer involved moving plugs and wires. A different hardware configuration was needed to solve every unique problem type. – Configuring the ENIAC to solve a “simple” problem required many days labor by skilled technicians.  The von Neumann Model Inventors of the ENIAC, John Mauchley and J. Presper Eckert, conceived of a computer that could store instructions in memory. The invention of this idea has since been ascribed to a mathematician, John von Neumann, who was a contemporary of Mauchley and Eckert. Stored-program computers have become known as von Neumann Architecture systems.  The von Neumann Model Today’s stored-program computers have the following characteristics: – Three hardware systems: A central processing unit (CPU) A main memory system An I/O system – The capacity to carry out sequential instruction processing. – A single data path between the CPU and main memory. This single path is known as the von Neumann bottleneck.  The von Neumann Model This is a general depiction of a von Neumann system: These computers employ a fetch-decode- execute cycle to run programs as follows...  The von Neumann Model The control unit fetches the next instruction from memory using the program counter to determine where the instruction is located.  The von Neumann Model The instruction is decoded into a language that the ALU can understand.  The von Neumann Model Any data operands required to execute the instruction are fetched from memory and placed into registers within the CPU.  The von Neumann Model The ALU executes the instruction and places results in registers or memory.  Non–von Neumann Models Conventional stored-program computers have undergone many incremental improvements over the years. These improvements include adding specialized buses, floating-point units, and cache memories, to name only a few. But enormous improvements in computational power require departure from the classic von Neumann architecture. Adding processors is one approach.  Non–von Neumann Models Some of today’s systems have separate buses for data and instructions. – Called a Harvard architecture Other non-von Neumann systems provide special-purpose processors to offload work from the main CPU. More radical departures include dataflow computing, quantum computing, cellular automata, and parallel computing.  Parallel Computing In the late 1960s, high-performance computer systems were equipped with dual processors to increase computational throughput. In the 1970s, supercomputer systems were introduced with 32 processors. Supercomputers with 1,000 processors were built in the 1980s. In 1999, IBM announced its Blue Gene system containing over 1 million processors.  Parallel Computing Parallel processing allows a computer to simultaneously work on subparts of a problem. Multicore processors have two or more processor cores sharing a single die. Each core has its own ALU and set of registers, but all processors share memory and other resources. “Dual core” differs from “dual processor.” – Dual-processor machines, for example, have two processors, but each processor plugs into the motherboard separately.  Parallel Computing Multi-core systems provide the ability to multitask (e.g., browse the Web while burning a CD). Multithreaded applications spread mini- processes, threads, across one or more processors for increased throughput. New programming languages are necessary to fully exploit multiprocessor power.  Conclusion This chapter has given you an overview of the subject of computer architecture. You should now be sufficiently familiar with general system structure to guide your studies throughout the remainder of this course. Subsequent chapters will explore many of these topics in great detail.  kent.edu.au Kent Institute Australia Pty. Ltd. ABN 49 003 577 302 CRICOS Code: 00161E RTO Code: 90458 TEQSA Provider Number: PRV12051 44