introduction

Question 1

Computer architecture

Answer 1

It refers to the design, structure and functioning of a computer system

Question 2

levels of computer architecture

Answer 2

1. Digital Logic Level
2. Microarchitecture Level
3. Instruction Set Architecture (ISA) Level
4. Operating System (OS) Level
5. Assembly Language Level

Question 3

Digital Logic Level

Answer 3

This level focuses on the design and implementation of electronic circuits by using digital logic components

Question 4

Microarchitecture Level

Answer 4

is the layout of a computer’s major internal components and their interconnections.

Question 5

3. Instruction Set Architecture (ISA) Level

Answer 5

is the interface between the hardware components and the software programs

Question 5

Operating System (OS) Level

Answer 5

The Operating System Level refers to the abstraction of hardware components from software applications

Question 6

Assembly Language Level

Answer 6

It is a low-level programming language that employs human-readable mnemonics to represent machine code instructions

Question 7

Differences between Computer Architecture and Computer Organisation

Answer 7

COMPUTER ARCHITECTURE COMPUTER ORGANISATION
Computer Architecture is concerned Computer organisation is concerned
with the functional behaviour of the with the structural relationships computer system. between parts of the computer system.
Architecture is decided first. Organisation is decided after the architecture.
It involves logical components such as It involves physical units such as Instruction Set, addressing modes etc. circuit design, adders, signals, peripherals etc.
Computer architecture deals with high- Computer Organisation deals with lowlevel design issues. level design issues.
It is visible to the software It is transparent to the software programmer. programmer.
Explains what the computer is designed Describes how the computer works to do

Question 7

Computer Organization

Answer 7

Refers to the operational units and how they are interconnected or linked to realize the architectural specifications.

Question 9

basic units/components of Von Neuman

Answer 9

1. The Central Processing Unit (CPU)
2. The Main Memory Unit
3. The Input/Output Device

Question 9

Von-Neumann Architecture

Answer 9

same buses are used to fetch instructions and data. This means the CPU cannot do both things together (read the instruction and read/write data). The main advantage of having separate buses for instruction and data is that the CPU can access instructions and read/write data at the same time.

Question 10

CPU comprises

Answer 10

Control Unit, Arithmetic Logic Unit, Registers and Cache memory

Question 11

Computer Buses

Answer 11

A bus is an electronic path along which data, instructions and addresses are transmitted from one component of a computer to another

Question 12

Types of buses

Answer 12

Data Bus: It carries data among the memory unit, the I/O devices, and the processor.
Address Bus: It carries data address from CPU to memory and peripherals.
Control Bus: It carries control commands from the CPU in order to control and coordinate all the activities within the computer.

Question 13

The Von Neumann bottleneck

Answer 13

we cannot get away from the fact that instructions can only be executed one at a time and can only be carried out sequentially. Both of these factors hold back the competence of the CPU. This is commonly referred to as the ‘Von Neumann bottleneck’

Question 14

access time

Answer 14

the time required to access one word