COMPUTER DATA CONVERSION
Data conversion is the conversion of computer data from one format to another. Throughout a computer
environment, data is encoded in a variety of ways. For example, computer hardware is built on the basis of certain
standards, which requires that data contains, for example, parity bit checks. Similarly, the operating system is
predicated on certain standards for data and file handling. Data conversions may as simple as the conversion of a
text file from one character encoding system to another; or more complex, such as the conversion of office file
formats, or the conversion of image and audio file formats.
There are many ways in which data is converted within the computer environment. This may be seamless, as in the
case of upgrading to a newer version of a computer program.
Register:
This is defined as a high-speed storage location in the Central Processing Unit (CPU), which is used to hold data
and addresses to be processed by the computer. A register may hold a computer instruction, a storage address or
any kind of data. A register must be large enough to hold an instruction. For example, in a 32-bit instruction
computer, the register must be 32-bit wide.
Address:
An address is a name, label or number that identifies a location where data or information is stored within the
computer memory. It is a particular location holding a word or a byte. Computer memory is an array of storage
boxes; each of these storage boxes is one byte in length. Each box has an address (a unique number) to it.
Bus:
In digital computing, a bus is a set of physical connections (cables, printed circuits etc.), which can be shared by
multiple hardware components in order to communicate with one another. It is a transmission path on which
signals are dropped off or picked up at every device attached to the line.
The purpose of buses is to reduce the number of PATHWAYS needed for communication between the components
by carrying out all communication over a single data channel.
Types of buses:
I. Internal (System) bus: it enables communication between internal components such as the memory and
the video card. It connects the CPU to the main memory. It is also called Front Side Bus (FSB) or memory
bus.
II. External/expansion bus: this bus is capable of communicating with the external components or peripheral
devices. These devices connect to the internal bus via a bridge implemented in the processor chipset. It is
also called input/output bus.
The lines or pins of a bus are of three types:
a. Address - the components pass memory addresses to one another over the address bus.
b. Control- used to send out signals to coordinate and manage the activities of the motherboard components.
c. Data- transferred between peripherals, memory and the CPU. Obviously, the data bus can be a very busy
pathway.
Types of registers and their functions
1. Memory Data Register (MDR)
This is the register that contains the data to be stored in the computer memory or the data fetched from memory
and ready to be processed by the CPU. It acts like a buffer and holds anything that is copied from the memory
ready for the processor to use it.
2. Current Instruction Register (CIR)
This is part of the CPU's control unit that stores the instruction currently being executed or decoded.
3. Memory Address Register (MAR)
This is the CPU register that either stores the memory address from which data will be fetched to the CPU or the
address to which data will be sent and stored. In other words, MAR holds the memory location of the data that
need to be accessed. When reading from memory, data addressed by MAR are fed into the MDR and then used by
the CPU. When writing to memory, the CPU writes data from MDR to the memory location whose address is stored
in MAR.
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN REGISTER AND MAIN MEMORY
S/N REGISTER MAIN MEMORY
1. Registers are located inside the CPU. Memory or RAM is located external to the CPU.
2. Register holds small amount of data. Memory stores the large amount of data than
register.
3. Data storage capacity of register ranges between Data storage capacity of memory ranges between
32-bits to 64-bits. Gigabyte (GB) to Terabyte (TB).
4. CPU can operate on the register at a very much CPU accesses memory at the slower rate than
faster rate when compared to memory (the rate is registers.
more than one operation in one clock).
5. Registers hold the operands or instruction that Memory holds the instructions and the data that the
CPU is currently processing. currently executing program in CPU requires.
STEPS IN “DATA-FETCH-EXECUTE” CYCLE
The cycle contains 3 main parts.
1. Fetch next instruction
2. Decode instruction
3. Run instruction
1. The Fetch Cycle:
i. The Program Counter (PC) holds the address of the next instruction.
ii. This address is sent to the Memory Address Register (MAR).
iii. The instruction at that address is retrieved from memory and placed into the Memory Data Register (MDR).
iv. The instruction is then copied into the Instruction Register (IR).
v. The PC is incremented to point to the next instruction.
2. The Decode Cycle:
i. The Control Unit (CU) interprets the instruction stored in the IR.
ii. It breaks down the instruction into its components (operation code and operands).
iii. The CU prepares the necessary signals to route data and control the CPU’s components.
3. The Execute Cycle:
i. The CPU carries out the instruction:
a. If it’s an arithmetic/logic operation, the Arithmetic Logic Unit (ALU) performs it.
b. If it’s a data transfer, the CPU moves data between registers and memory.
c. If it’s a control instruction, the PC may be updated to jump to a new location.
ii. The result is stored in the appropriate register or memory location. The cycle continues endlessly, billions
of times per second, until the computer is shutdown.
Factors Affecting Speed of Data Transfer
The bus refers to the paths between the components of a computer. The data bus and the address bus are two
main buses in a computer which are located on the motherboard.
The performance of computer buses was measured by the number of bits they could transfer at one time. Hence,
the newest 64-bit buses are typically considered the fastest available.
The factors are:
1. Bus speed: The term "bus speed" refers to how quickly the system bus can move data from one computer
component to the other. The faster the bus, the more data it can move within a given amount of time. It is
measured in Hertz.
2. Bus width: The size of a bus, known as its width, is important because it determines how much data can be
transmitted at one time. For example, a 16-bit bus can transmit 16 bits of data, whereas a 32-bit bus can
transmit 32 bits of data.