Week 1

Question 1

What is a stored-program computer?

Answer 1

“von Neumann Architecture” system

Stores program instructions in memory

Question 2

What are the three main components of the von Neumann Architecture?

Answer 2

CPU, Memory and I/O interfaces

Question 3

Describe the two components of the CPU?

Answer 3

1. ) Control Unit: Determines order of instruction execution and controls retrieval of proper operands.
2. ) Arithmetic and Logic Unit: The union of circuits for performing arithmetic and logical operations (e.g. +,

Question 4

What are registers?

Answer 4

Small, temporary storage elements located very close to the ALU.
Allow for minimal read/writes to main memory.

Question 5

What does the Memory Management Unit do?

Answer 5

During read/store operations, the CPU generates memory addresses.
The MMU reads/writes from this memory location.

Question 6

Describe the difference between Little Endian and Big Endian representation?

Answer 6

Little-Endian: Most significant bit is stored in highest address.
Big-Endian: Most significant bit is stored in lowest address.