Computer science Lesson one

19, October, 2009

Introduction to computers
Basic concepts
Information: new knowledge about something with the objective of extracting another derived knowledge Computer science: automatic treatment of information Computer engineering: the science that studies the design, operation and programming of computers focused on the electronics and digital circuits. Instruction: elemental operation that a computer can perform Program: set of instructions Computer: the machine that executes the program Information computer Processed Information. (input) (output) Computer technology: electronics of the computer. (Transistors: a semiconductor device commonly used to amplify or switch electronic signals) Processor: CPU (central processing units) is the brain of the computer. (CPU ex: Intel core 2, I 7, PowerPC, Sparc, LEON, etc.) Hardware: it is the physical support. All the physical devices in the computer which can be touched. For instance: wires, chips, transistors, etc. Software: it is the logical support (non-physical). It cant be touched. The program. Language: a set of symbols with a meaning used to communicate with the computer. For instance: C, JAVA, Basic, etc. It allows us to make programs. There are two types of languages: low level languages (language closer to the machine or machine code or binary code) and high level languages (closer to the human being) Compiler: Translator from a high level language to binary code (0 and 1). High level language(c++, Java) Translator Binary code name: compiler Operating system: Program that hides the complexity of the hardware allowing us (the human beings) to interact with the computer through the keyboard, mouse, printer, scanner, etc. Examples: Windows, Mac OSX, Linux, Symbian, etc.

Parameters used for comparing equipments

Word length: maximum amount of bits (binary digits) that computer is able to process in parallel Memory capacity: amount of information that the computer is able to store RAM random access memory (main memory)
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Prefixes commonly used in computer science: 1 byte = 8 bits 1K byte = 1024 bytes = 210 bytes 1M byte = 210 K bytes = 220 bytes 1 G byte = 210 M bytes = 230 bytes 1 T bytes = 210 G bytes = 240 bytes Execution rate: there are several approaches. The most relevant one is just to take the time needed to execute your program. However, there are another approaches like the use of MIPS and MFLOPS.

MIPS vs. MFLOPS (higher-> better)

MIPS: millions of instructions per second . = (number of instructions / execution time) X 106 () MFLOPS: millions of floating point operations per second Example: 2.3 x 10-23 = Number of floating operations / (execution time x 106) ()

How to build a processor

Basic computer structure. The Von Neumann architecture

The Von Neumann architecture
It defines the concept of stored program. The programs (and data) reside in main memory, however the unit which executes the program (the CPU) is located in another side of the computer. Then, it is needed to communicate the main memory with the CPU in some way. How? Using buses or wires. This bus is known as system bus or commercially FSB (Front Side Bus). The Von Neumann architecture uses a
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single bus to perform this communication between the CPU and the Main Memory. Besides, the system bus connects the I/O unit with the rest of the elements of the computer (CPU and Main Memory).

CPU
It is the brain of the computer. It takes data as input and converts it to processed information as output. The programs (or input data) reside in main memory. The CPU is structured in two parts: Control Unit (CU) and Arithmetic Logic Unit (ALU). CU is the brain of the brain. It commands the whole computer to execute the instructions of a program. To do this it generates all the needed electronic signals. ALU. It carries out all the arithmetic and logic operations. The four main types of arithmetic operations that the ALU can perform are: addition, subtraction, multiplication, division. The three main logical operations that the ALU can perform are: AND, OR, NOT operations.

BAS: System BAS: Address BASE: Contains addresses, eg. 0 1 2 3 Data BASE: Data eg. 0111100011 Control BASE: Read/Drive Single BASE puts all of above into integration Problems always in RAM memory CPU: Brain. Inside CPU: have registers, dep. on Processors. Main Memory: Storage of Computer

Functional Diagram of a CPU: CPU Architecture and Operation

Computer science Lesson one

19, October, 2009

Memory
The memory of the computer is the place where the information resides. It is structured as a set of cells. Each cell stores a single bit of information. These cells are grouped in words which current size is 64 bits. In order to access to the memory, an address is needed. This address identifies a unique set of cells or words inside the memory. For instance considering a word of size 8 bits and n possible addresses: Address 0 00100000 Address 1 10011101 . . . Address n-1 10010111 The memory can be classified in two types: main memory or primary and secondary memory. Primary memory consists of the computers RAM and the processor cache. This memory is temporary storage, meaning it is erased when you turn off the computer. Secondary memory is permanent. This is made up of hard drives, pen drives,
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external hard disks, etc.

The Input /Output (I/O) Unit

It is the interface (something in the middle) between the computer (the CPU) and the peripheral devices (keyboard, mouse, screen, printer, etc.). It allows us to interact with the computer using peripheral devices. It performs the adaptation of signals between the computer and the external world.

Programs execution - Cycle

In order to execute an instruction of a program, several phases or steps are required by the CPU: 1st Search of the instruction located in main memory 2nd Instruction decoding: to know which instruction is 3rd Search of the operands involved in the instruction 4th Execution of the instruction 5th Storing of the result The above five steps constitute the instruction cycle, and need to be performed for each instruction of a program.

Historical evolution of computers

Main authors
John Napier Blaise Pascal: Triangle Leibnitz: Punching Cards Joseph Jacquard Charles Babbage who established the foundation of nowadays computers Hernan Hollerit: IBM founder

Computer generations
1st Generation (1938-1952): technology of vacuum valves Examples of machines: ENIAC, EDVAC, EDSAC, etc. 2nd Generation (1953-1962): technology of discrete transistors (not integrated into machine). Examples of machines: IBM 7070, PDP 5, TRADIC, etc. 3rd Generation (1963-1971): technology of integrated circuits composed by hundreds of transistors. Examples of machines: IBM 360, PDP 8 and PDP 11 4th Generation (1972-1987): technology of integrated circuits composed by thousands of transistors, the CPU from now in one chip = microprocessor.
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Examples: Cray, Fujitsu M382, etc. 5th Generation (1987-?): technology of integrated circuits composed by millions of transistors. Current machines: PCs, Workstations, CAD/CAM/CIM systems, etc.

Interesting links
1. 2. 3. 4. www.cern.ch Use of the Wikipedia for main authors biographies www.singularityu.org www.isunet.edu