System Architecture Flashcards
What does CPU stand for
Central Processing Unit
What is the CPU?
The brain of the computer system.
What does the CPU do?
Process the data and instructions that make the computer system work.
What does ALU stand for?
The Arithmetic Logic Unit
What does the ALU do?
There is where all the calculations take place.
What register does the ALU contain?
It contains the accumulator
What is the cache?
The cache is very fast memory in the CPU.
What is the function of the program counter (PC)?
To hold the memory address of the instruction for each cycle
What is the function of the accumulator?
To store the immediate results of calculations in the ALU
Which cycle do CPUs follow?
The fetch-decode-execute cycle.
What does the fetch instruction do?
- Copies the memory address from the program counter to the MAR.
- Copies the instruction which is stored in the MAR address to the MDR.
- Increments the program counter to point to the address of the next instruction.
What does the decode instruction do?
The instruction in the MDR is passed to the Instruction Register where it is decoded by the CU and the CU might prep for the next step by loading values into the MDR/MAR etc.
What does the execute instruction do?
The instruction is carried out. If data needs to be saved, it is stored in the accumulator
What is an embedded system?
A smaller device used to perform a specific task within a larger device, eg washing machine.
What is multitasking?
Multitasking is when multiple cores can work on different programs at the same time.
