Vocab Flashcards
abstraction
Hiding details when they are not important.
Abstraction Level: Physics
Electrons
Abstraction Level: Devices
Transistors
Diodes
Abstraction Level: Analog Circuits
Amplifiers
Filters
Abstraction Level: Digital Circuits
AND Gates
NOT Gates
Abstraction Level: Logic
Adders
Memories
Abstraction Level: Micro-architecture
Datapaths
Controllers
Abstraction Level: Architecture
Instructions
Registers
Abstraction Level: Operating Systems
Device Drivers
Abstraction Level: Application Software
Programs
Discipline
The act of intentionally restricting your design choices so that you can work more productively at a higher level of abstraction.
The Three “-y’s”
Hierarchy
Modularity
Regularity
Hierarchy
Involves dividing a system into modules, then further subdividing each of these modules until the pieces are easy to understand.
Modularity
States that the modules have well-defined functions and interfaces, so that they connect together easily without unanticipated side effects.
Regularity
Seeks uniformity among the modules. Common modules are reused many times, reducing the number of distinct modules that must be designed.
byte
A group of eight bits. It represents one of 28= 256 possibilities.
nibble
A group of four bits, or half a byte. Represents 24 = 16 possibilities.
microprocessor
A processor built on a single chip.
architecture of a computer
The programer’s view of a computer. It is defined by the instruction set (language) and operand locations (registers and memory).
instructions
The words in a computer’s language.
Commands that the processors understand.
instruction set
computer vocabulary
microarchitecture
The specific arrangement of registers, memories, ALUs, and other building blocks to form a microprocessor.
Four MIPS architecture principles
- simplicity favors regularity
- make the common case fast
- smaller is faster
- good design demands good compromises
stored program concept
The idea that programs written in machine language are a series of 32-bit (or 64-bit) numbers representing instructions that are stored in memory before execution.
MIPS memory - byte-addressable
32-bit (4-byte) instruction addresses that advance by 4 bytes.