Definition of terms Flashcards
A ____ IC
includes memory, timing
circuits, power control circuits,
and input / output
connections.
microcontroller
A group of binary digits that can a occupy a memory location.
Word
One of the most important characteristics of any microprocessor
is the ___ it can handle
word length
defines the size of many components of the
microprocessor.
word length
is a group of bits handled as a single unit
Byte
performs
arithmetic operations (i.e.
addition, subtraction,
multiplication, and division).
Arithmetic Section
performs logic
operations (i.e. comparing,
selecting, matching, and
merging of data).
Logic Section
The inputs to an ALU are: the
data to be operated on, called
operands and status flags
The ALU’s output is the result
of the performed operation as
dictated by the
control unit
and status outputs
- are used to
quickly accept, store, and
transfer data and instructions
that are being used
immediately by the CPU
Registers
May hold an instruction, a
storage address, or any kind
of data (such as a bit
sequence or individual
characters).
Registers
Two types of register:
Accessible and internal
register.
- is the most
frequently used register that
holds the initial data
(operand) and the result after
executing the operation.
Accumulator
serves
as a temporary storage
location for data going to and
coming from the data bus.
Data register or memory
data register (MDR)
holds the addresses and are
used by instructions that
indirectly access primary
memory.
Address register or memory
address register (MAR)
is a collection of status
flag bits for a processor.
- Status register, flag register,
or condition code register
(CCR)
used to store the
address of the next instruction
to be fetched for execution.
Program Counter (PC) also
known as Instruction Pointer
Register
this register always holds the
address of next instruction
to be fetched.
Program Counter
Controls the transfer of data
and instructions among other
units of the CPU.
Control Unit
takes the data in the data
register and decodes the
operation to be performed.
instruction decoder
- produces a variety of control
signals to carry out the
instruction
controller-sequencer
- Stores instructions, data, and
intermediate results
Memory
Also known as internal
storage unit or the primary
storage or Random Access
Memory (RAM)
Memory
Also known as internal
storage unit or the primary
storage or Random Access
Memory (RAM)
DRAM
Primary Memory (volatile)
HDD,
SSD, external drives, etc.
(non-volatile)
Secondary Memory
SRAM
(volatile
Cache Memory
- A very high speed semiconductor memory which can speed
up the CPU.
Cache Memory
Acts as a buffer between the CPU and the main memory
Cache Memory
Used to hold those parts of data and program which are most
frequently used by the CPU. Are expensive and have limited capacity
Cache Memory
or primary cache, is
extremely fast but relatively
small, and is usually embedded
in the processor chip as CPU
cache. (up to 64KB)
L1 cache
or secondary cache,
is often more spacious but
slower than L1. (256KB – 1MB)
L2 cache
is specialized memory
developed to improve the
performance of L1 and L2. (2MB
– 20MB)
L3 cache
The microprocessor follows a ___
cycle.
fetch-decode-execute
During ___ phase, an
instruction is taken from the
memory then decoded by the
MPUs control unit.
fetch
- Once the instruction is
decoded, the MPU proceeds
to __ phase and
performs the operations
dictated by the instruction.
execute
refers to the method by which the instruction
addresses its operand.
Addressing mode
Single-word instructions that have no operand
Inherent Addressing
- A two-word instruction in
which the opcode is
immediately followed by the
operand.
Immediate Addressing
Immediate and Inherent
addressing have two
advantages: they both
require less memory and
less CPU cycle.
A two-word instruction in
which the opcode is followed
by the address of the
operand.
Direct Addressing
is useful
when an operand is a variable
operated by many
instructions.
Direct addressing
Load the contents of the
memory location whose
address is given by the next
byte in the accumulator
Load Accumulator, LDA
Add the content of the memory
location whose address is
given by the next byte to the
present content of the
accumulator. Place the sum in
the accumulator.
Add
Stop all operation
Halt
- A computer architecture where instructions are simple and
designed to get executed quickly is called
RISC, Reduced Instruction
Set Computer
Instructions get completed in one clock cycle because of the
optimization of the instructions and pipelining.
RISC makes use of __ to avoid large
interactions with memory
multiple registers
Uses Simple instruction set
* Larger program
* Consists of large number of registers
* Simple processor circuitry (small number of transistors)
* More RAM usage
* Fixed length instructions
* Simple addressing modes
* Usually fixed number of clock cycles for executing one
instruction
RISC
Designed to minimize the number of instructions per
program, ignoring the number of cycles per instruction
CISC
Has multiple addressing nodes within single instruction
CISC
Makes use of very few registers.
CISC
Complex instruction set
* Smaller program
* Less number of registers
* Complex processor circuitry (more number of transistors)
* Little RAM usage per instruction
* Variable length instructions
* Variety of addressing modes
* Variable number of clock cycles for each instructions
CISC
is a specially designed microprocessor, which
can handle its particular function many times faster than the
ordinary microprocessor (ex. Math Coprocessor)
coprocessor
is a specialized
microprocessor designed and optimized for digital signal
processing.
Digital Signal Processor (DSP)
take real-world signals like voice,
audio, video, temperature, pressure, or position that have been
digitized and then mathematically manipulate them.
Digital Signal Processors
The process of taking an algorithm and encoding it into a
programming language, so that it can be executed by a
computer
Programming
- is a vocabulary or set of
grammatical rules for instructing a computer to perform a
specific task.
programming language
(machine language)
1GL
- (Assembly Language)
2GL
(High-level language: C++, Java, BASIC, Pascal)
3GL
(Procedural language: LabVIEW, MATLAB)
4GL
(AI Research)
5GL
- is the only
language a computer can understand and is made up of a
stream binary data.
Machine language, object code or machine code
For easier reading, programmers write the code in
octal,
decimal or hexadecimal.
Assembly languages have the
same structure and set of
commands as machine
languages, but they enable a
programmer to use ____
instead of numbers.
names
Assembly language programs are
translated into executable
machine code using an
assembler
are written in a form
that is close to our human
language.
High level programming
language
enables a
programmer to write programs
that are independent of a
particular CPU architecture.
high-level language
focuses more on the programming logic
rather than the hardware components such as memory
addressing and register utilization.
high-level language
A high-level language program can be executed in two ways:
interpreted or compiled.
- takes an entire program
and converts it into machine code
which is typically stored in an
executable file before running.
compiler
Once a program is compiled, its
___ is not needed to run
the code.
source code
creates machine code
that runs on a processor with a
specific Instruction Set
Architecture (ex. x86, x64, MIPS,
ARM).
compiler
The interpreter translates the program
one statement at a
time.
For interpreted programs, the __ is needed to run
the program every time.
source code
is much slower to execute than the same
program that’s been completely compiled.
interpreter
A program written in __ is not dependent on
ISA which makes it more portable.
interpreted language
is the term used to describe two or more
CPUs or cores working together on the same chip.
Multi-core technology
designs require much less printed circuit
board (PCB) space than do multi-chip SMP designs.
Multi-core CPU
uses slightly less power than two
coupled single-core processors.
dual-core processor
allow higher performance at lower energy.
Multi-core chips
have a mix of core
types that often run different
operating systems and
include graphics processing
units.
Heterogeneous multicore
processors
- is an implementation technique where multiple
instructions are overlapped in execution.
Pipelining
attempts to keep every part of the processor busy
with some instruction by dividing incoming instructions into a
series of sequential steps
Pipelining
A CPU that implements instruction-level parallelism within a
single processor core.
Superscalar Processor
- combines the required electronic circuits of various
computer components onto a single, integrated chip (IC).
System on Chip (SOC)
Its components usually include a graphical processing unit
(GPU), a central processing unit (CPU) that may be multi-core,
system memory (RAM) and secondary storage.
System on Chip (SOC)
Most system-on-chips are found inside mobile devices like
smartphones and tablets.
System on Chip (SOC)
In microprocessor technology, the number of data that is operated upon is called
Operand
The part of the instructrion that tells the microprocessor what operation to perform is called the
Opcode
an 8-bit byte in memory can represent an
During the fetch phase
in what register is the result of an arithmetic operation normally placed
During the phase and execute phases of the load accumulator instruction, the information on the data bus will be
this concept refers to the technique of storing the instruction to be performed in the memory section along with the data that is to be operated upon
stored program
