Computer Systems Architecture

G51CSA

Computer Systems Architecture

The study of Computer Architecture is the
study of the organization and
interconnection of components of
computer systems.
Computer Architects construct computers
from basic building blocks such as
memories, arithmetic units and buses.
From those building blocks the Computer
Architect can construct any number of
different types of computers.

Lecture 1

Computer Systems
Layers of Abstraction
Computer Systems Hierarchy
History of Computers
John Von Neumanns machine
IC Technology

Computer
A computer is a device that executes a program.
A program is composed of a set of operations
or instructions that the computer can carry out.
A computer can respond to its input (i.e., data). This
action is called conditional behavior and it allows
the computer to test data and then, depending on
the result or outcome of the test, to choose between
two or more possible actions. Without this ability, a
computer would be a mere calculator.
The modern computer is said to be a stored
program machine because the program and the
data are stored in the same memory system. This
facility allows a computer to operate on its own
program.

Computer System: Motherboard Level

The Motherboard
A system board or main board
It connects all system components and
allows input and output devices to
communicate with the system unit
It contains chips and many other
electronic components
Each IC (Integrated Circuits) chips can
contain millions of transistors
Chips are packaged, so that they can be
attached to a circuit board such as a
motherboard, memory module or card

Parallel Port Connector

Serial Port Connector
USB Port

Expansion Slots and Cards

RAM

Disk drive connector

Computer Components: Interconnection

I/O

CPU
MEMORY

CPU Organization
CPU

Registers

ALU

CU

Memory

address
F1DDFFFF

content
0101010101001010

Input/Output

CPU

I/O Module

I/O Devices

Computer System Hierarchy

Electronic Signal
Machine Code
Assembly Language

High Level Language

User
Application
Software

Operating System

Layers of abstraction
Applications Software
Systems Software
Hardware

Layers of Abstraction

Hardware Software Interface

From Electrons & Holes to a Multiplayer

Video Game

Computer Evolution and Performance

(History)
History is important because it teaches us how the world
develops and enables us to understand the forces that control
events.

Zeroth Generation 1791 1871

- Mechanical parts
First generation 1945 - 1955
vacuum tubes, plug boards
Second generation 1955 - 1965
transistors, batch systems
Third generation 1965 1980
ICs and multiprogramming
Fourth generation 1980 present
personal computers

Electro-Mechanical Devices
There are three types of computing machine: mechanical,
electronic, and electro-mechanical. A mechanical device, as its
name suggests, is constructed from machine parts such as
rods, gears, shafts, and cogs. The old pre-electronic analog
watch was mechanical and the automobile engine is
mechanical (although its control system is now electronic).
Mechanical systems are complicated, cant be miniaturized, and
are very slow. They are also very unreliable.
Electronic devices use circuits and active elements that amplify
signals (e.g., vacuum tubes and transistors). Electronic devices
have no moving parts, are fast, can be miniaturized, are cheap,
and are very reliable.
The electro-mechanical device is, essentially, mechanical but is
electrically actuated. The relay is an electro-mechanical binary
switch (on or off) that is operated electrically. By passing a
current through a coil of wire (i.e., a solenoid) surrounding an
iron bar, the iron can be magnetized and made to attract the
moving part of a switch.

Zeroth Generation
1791-1871 Charles Babbage, an
English mathematician, designed the
first machine (analytical engine) that
incorporated memory.
It had a mechanical design where
wheels, gears, etc were used.
Slow and unreliable
Not very popular.
Lady Ada Lovelace (daughter of
Lord Byron) wrote the instruction for
the machine- unfortunately it was
never built

Pascals calculator: the Pascaline 1694

First Generation Computers (19451955)

Computer were built with vacuum tubes electronic valves
which
control the flow of electricity. Electronic tubes were made of glass
tubes with circuit inside - the size of light bulbs. Each computer
contained a large number of valves. Input was written in punch
card. The memory was made of magnetic ring. The language used
for programming was machine code consists of 0s and 1s
(machine language). No Operating System for these machines.
Disadvantages:
Overheating and burnt out after a while
Need to replace the components frequently.
Cumbersome, difficult to use and maintain
Extremely expensive

A (Very) Brief History of Computers

Vacuum Tubes

ENIAC

1946 ENIAC - background

The first electronic general-purpose digital computer was John W.
Mauchlys ENIAC, Electronic Numerical Integrator and
Calculator, completed in 1945 at the Moore School of
Engineering, University of Pennsylvania. ENIAC was intended for
use at the Army Ordnance Department to create firing tables (i.e.,
tables that relate the range of a field gun to its angle of elevation,
wind conditions, shell, and charge parameters, etc.).
The ENIAC used 17,480 vacuum tubes and weighed about 30 tons.
ENICA was a decimal machine capable of storing twenty 10-digit
decimal numbers. Digits were stored in ring counters that
operated rather like the cogwheels of mechanical calculators. A
ring counter uses the following encoding scheme.
IBM card readers and punches implemented input and output
operations. Many of the fundamental elements of digital design
(e.g., timing circuits, logic circuits, and control circuits) that are
now so commonplace were first implemented with the
construction of ENIAC. Because ENIAC had 20 independent adding
circuits, all running in parallel, the ENIAC could also be called a
parallel processor.

Second Generation Computers (1955

1965)
Computers built with transistors - Much smaller and more

powerful computers
Could handle interpreters such as FORTRAN or COBOL
English like commands.
Still relied on punched cards for input and printouts for output.
Size of computer still large and expensive.
Communication was slow.
1958 - Philco introduces TRANSAC S-2000
First transistorized commercial machine
TX-0 (Transistorised eXperimental computer 0), first
transistor
based computer, build at MIT Lincoln Labs.
DEC PDP-1, First affordable microcomputer.
PDP-8, Cheap, the first to use single bus structure.

Third Generation Computers (1965 1980)

Computer manufacturers begin replacing

transistors with integrated circuit (IC)

Computers became accessible to a mass

audience because they were smaller and
cheaper than their predecessors.
Example:
IBM 360 series mainframe
DEC PDP 8 Mini Computer (1965)

Fourth Generation Computers (1980

Present)
Microprocessor possible to produce a
complete processor on one silicon chip.
Microcomputers were introduced can linked
together to form networks which eventually
led to the development of the Internet
Also saw the development of GUIs, mouse and
handheld devices.
Example :
The 1st Supercomputer was announced - Cray-1

Von Neumann Machine

In 1945, John Von Neumann designed the EDVAC (Electronic
Discrete Variable Automatic Computer).
Before von Neumann, computer programs were stored either
mechanically (on cards or even by wires that connected a
matrix of points together in a special pattern like ENIAC) or in
separate memories from the data used by the program. Von
Neumann introduced the concept of the stored program, an
idea so commonplace today that we take it for granted. In a
stored program or von Neumann machine, both the program
that specifies what operations are to be carried out and the
data used by the program are stored in the same memory. You
could say that the stored program computer consists of a
memory containing both data and instructions in binary form.
The control part of the computer reads an instruction from
memory, carries it out, and then reads the next instruction,
and so on. When each instruction is read from memory, it is
able to access memory itself to access any data required by
the instruction.

Characteristics:
Stored Program concept
Main memory stores Instructions and data
ALU operating on binary data. ( Arithmetic
and Logic operations on data ).
The Control unit fetches and interprets the
instructions in memory and causes them to
execute.
Input and output equipment operated by
control unit

Structure of von Neumann

machine

IC Technology

Small scale integration - 1965 on

Up to 100 devices on a chip

Medium scale integration - to 1971

100-3,000 devices on a chip

Large scale integration - 1971-1977

3,000 - 100,000 devices on a chip

Very large scale integration - 1978 to date

100,000 - 100,000,000 devices on a chip

Ultra large scale integration

Over 100,000,000 devices on a chip