2. A Bird's Eye View of System Abstractions Flashcards
1
Q
Data Path
A
- Components that deal directly with data
- Storage units such as CPU Registers and Memory
- Compute elements such as the ALU
- Transfer connections or buses
2
Q
State of Data Path
A
- Consists of the state of all storage in the data path
3
Q
Controller
A
- Logic responsible for the generation of control signals for components of the data path in every clock cycle
4
Q
Data Flow Plane
A
- Concerned with the interconnectivity of various elements in the system
5
Q
Control Flow Plane
A
- Concerned with how the interconnections that exist between entities are used in data transfer
6
Q
Execution of an Instruction
A
- Fetch the instruction stored in memory at the location determined by the PC
- Execute the fetched instruction and adjust the PC to point to the new instruction
7
Q
Interrupt
A
- An input that drives the processor status into a special interrupt handling state
8
Q
Classes of Interrupts
A
- Exceptions
- Software Interrupts
- Hardware interrupts
9
Q
Exceptions
A
- Synchronous and triggered by an unexpected event within the instruction cycle
10
Q
Software Interrupts
A
- Synchronous and generated by a program via a special instruction
11
Q
Hardware Interrupts
A
- Interrupts generated outside of the processor itself
12
Q
Examples of Synchronous Interactions
A
- Exceptions
- Memory faults
- System calls
13
Q
Examples of Asynchronous Interruptions
A
- Timer fired
- I/O event
- Hardware fault
14
Q
Layering
A
- The abstraction of lower layers of a system to hide system complexity
