PRESIDENCY UNIVERISTY, BENGALURU, School of Engineering Computer:

➢It is fast electronic device that accepts digitized input

information, processes it according to a list of internally stored
instructions and produces the resulting output information.
Computer Organization and Architecture
Computer program:
CSE 2009 The list of instructions that performs the task is called a
computer program.

Module-1: Basic Structure of Computers

Types of Computers Microcomputer

• The most common computer is
microcomputer.
Computers are classified based on size, cost and
e.g. Desktop computer.
computational power.
• Microcomputers are designed to be
used by individuals, whether in the form
of PCs, workstations, or notebook
• Microcomputers computers.
• A Microcomputer contains a CPU on a
• Mainframes microchip (the microprocessor).

• Minicomputers • Desktop computers have processing and

storage units, display and audio output
• Servers units, and keyboard that can all be
located easily on a desk.
• Super computers • The storage media includes hard-disks,
CD-ROMs.

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Laptop Computer Workstation

• Powerful desktop computer designed for specialized tasks.
• Portable notebook
computers are a • It has more computational power than personal computers.
compact version of the • Workstations are often used in engineering applications.
personal computer.. • Workstations generally come with a large high-resolution
graphics screen.
• All components
(keyboard, mouse, etc.) • Most workstations also have mass storage devices such as disk
drive, but a special type of workstation, called diskless
are in one compact unit. workstation, comes without a disk drive.
• Usually more expensive • Like personal computers, most workstations are single-user
than a comparable computers.
desktop.
• Sometimes called a
Notebook.

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Mainframe Minicomputer
• A very large and expensive
computer capable of • A midsized computer, in size and power, minicomputers
supporting hundreds or even lie between workstations and mainframes.
thousands of users
simultaneously.
• Mainframes are mainly Used • A multi-user computer capable of supporting from 10 to
to store, manage, and process hundreds of users simultaneously.
large amounts of data.
• Mainframes are used in
medium to large corporations • In recent years, the minicomputer has evolved into the
that require more computing
power and storage capacity
“mid-range servers”
than workstations can provide.

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Server Supercomputer
• A Super computers is typically used for scientific and
• Purpose is to engineering applications that must handle very large databases
“serve.” or do a great amount of computation.
• A computer that • It is used for large- Scale numerical calculations required in
has the purpose applications such as weather forecasting and aircraft design.
of supplying its • super computers are fastest, costliest and most powerful
users with data; computers.
usually through • It can execute million instructions per second.
the use of a LAN • Most super computers are really multiple computers that
(local area perform parallel processing.
network).

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 Functional Units Of Computer
Arithmetic
A computer consists of five functionally independent main parts. Input and
logic

Memory
• Input unit
• Output unit Output Control

• Memory unit
• Arithmetic and logic unit I/O Processor

• Control unit
Basic functional units of a computer

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How information is handled by

computer?
• It is convenient to categorize this information as either • Computer is completely controlled by the stored
instructions or data. program
• Instructions or Machine instructions, are explicit • Data are numbers and encoded characters that
commands that are used as operands by the instructions.
• govern the transfer of information within a computer as well as
between the computer and its I/O devices.
• Specify the arithmetic & logic operations to be performed.
• Usually programs (set of instructions) is stored in the
memory. Processor then fetches the instructions that
make up the program from the memory, one after the
another, and performs the desired operations.

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Input Devices Keyboard

• The input unit accepts coded information from users
• The information received is either stored in the
computer’s memory or immediately executed by the
ALU.
• The most well-known input device is the key-board.
• Whenever key is pressed, the corresponding letter or
digit is automatically translated into its
corresponding binary code and transmitted over a
• An arrangement of letters, numbers, and special
cable to either the memory or the processor.
function keys that act as the primary input device
to the computer.

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Mouse Output Devices

• An input device that allows the user to manipulate • the output unit is the counterpart of the
objects on the screen by moving the device along input unit.
the surface of a desk.
• Its function is to send processed results to
the outside world.

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Speakers Printer

• Output devices that receive signals from the • Output device that produces text or graphical
computer’s sound card to play music, narration, or images on paper.
sound effects.

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 Storage Devices Memory Unit
• Used to keep data when the power to the computer is turned • The function of memory unit is to store the
off. programs and data.
• Different forms • There are two classes of storage
• Hard disk
1) Primary Storage
• Floppy or zip disks
• CD-Writer 2) Secondary storage
Primary Storage:
• It is a fast memory that operates at electronic
speeds.
• Programs must be stored in the memory while they
are being executed.

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• The memory contains a large number of semiconductor cells,

each capable of storing in one bit of information. Word Length:
• Because a single bit represents a very small amount of • The number of bits in each word is called as the word
information, bits are not handled individually. length of the computer.
• The memory is organized so that the contents of one word, • Typical word lengths range from 16-64 bits.
containing ‘n’ bits can be stored or retrieved in one basic Memory Access Time:
operation.
• The time required to access one word is called the
• To provide easy access to any word in the memory, a distinct memory access time.
address is associated in with each word location.
• This time is fixed, independent of the location of
• Addresses are numbers that identify successive locations the word being accessed.
• A word address can be used to access the word. • It typically ranges from a few nanoseconds (ns) to
about 100 ns.
• The primary memory is also called as main memory.

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• Primary memories are small in capacities and Arithmetic And Logic Unit
expensive.
• Thus additional, cheaper secondary storage is • It performs the arithmetic operations such as addition,
subtraction, multiplication, division and logic operations
used when large amounts of data and many such as AND, OR, Not.
programs have to be stored. • Suppose two numbers located in the memory are to be
added, they are brought into the processor, and addition is
carried out by the ALU .
Secondary storage devices: • The SUM may then be stored in the memory.
• Magnetic disks • When the operands are brought into the processor, they
• Magnetic tapes are stored in high-speed storage elements called
registers.
• CD-ROMs • Each register can store one word of data.

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Control Unit The operation of a computer can be summarized as

• The memory unit, arithmetic and logic and input and output units follows
store and process information and perform input and output
operations. • The computer accepts information in the form of
programs and data through an input unit and stores it
• The operation of these units must be coordinated in some way. in the memory.
• Control unit coordinates and controls the activities among the
functional units.
• Information stored in the memory is fetched, under
program control, into an arithmetic and logic unit,
• It sends the control signals to other units and senses their states. where it is processed.
• Data transfers between processor & memory are also controlled • Processed information leaves the computer through an
by CU through timing signals. output unit.
• Timing signals are signals that determine when a given action is to
take place. • All activities inside the machine are directed by
control unit.

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• This instruction requires the performance of several steps

Basic Operational Concepts 1) the instruction is fetched from the memory into the
processor.
• Activity in a computer is governed by instructions. 2) the operand at LOCA is fetched and added to the contents of
• To perform a task, an appropriate program consisting of a list R0.
of instructions is stored in the memory. 3) Finally, the sum is placed in register R0.
• Individual instructions are brought from the memory into the
processor, which executes the specified operations.
• The same task can be performed using two instructions
• Data to be used as operands are also stored in the memory.
Load R1, LOCA==load LOCA, R1
e.g. Consider the addition of two operands
Add R0, R1== Add R1,R0
Add LOCA, R0
the first instruction transfers the contents of memory location
this instruction adds the operand at memory location LOCA LOCA into the register R1.
to the operand in a register in the processor, and places the
sum into register R0. Second instruction adds the contents of registers R1 and R0 and
places the Sum into R0.

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 Connection Between the Processor and the memory

• Figure shows how the memory and the processor can be connected.
• Processor contains number of registers used for several purposes.

• Instruction register (IR)

-Holds the instruction that is currently being executed
• Program counter (PC)
-Keep tracks of the execution of program
-Contains the memory address of the next instruction to be
fetched and executed
• General-purpose register (R0 – Rn-1)

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Operating steps:
MAR & MDR: • Execution of program starts when the PC is set to point to the first
instruction of the program.
These two registers provide communication with the memory. • The contents of the PC are transferred to the MAR and a read control
Memory address Register: (MAR) signal is sent to the memory.
It holds the address of the location to be accessed. • After some time, the addressed word is read out of the memory and loaded
into the MDR.
Memory Data Register: • Next, the contents of the MDR are transferred to the IR.
It contains the data to be written into or read out of the addressed
location. • Decode and execute the instruction

• If the instruction involves an operation to be performed by the ALU, it is

necessary to obtain the required operands.

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• If operand resides in the memory it has to be fetched by sending Bus Structures

its address to the MAR and initiates read cycle.
• Get operands for ALU • So far we have discussed the functions of individual parts of a
➢Operand in general-purpose register computer.
➢Operand resides in Memory (Send its address to MAR – Read • To form an operational system. These parts must be connected
cycle – transfer from MDR to ALU) in some organized way.
• Perform desired operation in ALU • A group of lines that serves as a connecting path for several
• Store the result back to memory devices is called a BUS.
➢To general-purpose register • Bus contains three sets of lines
➢To memory (address to MAR, result to MDR – Write cycle)
Data lines ( Data Bus)
• At some point during the execution of the current instruction , the
contents of the PC are incremented so that PC points to the next Address lines (Address Bus )
instruction to be executed. control lines. (Control Bus)

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Bus Structure Bus Structure

• All units are connected to this bus.
• Because bus can be used for only one transfer at a time, only two
units can actively use the bus at any given time.
• The advantage of the single bus-structure is its low cost and its
flexibility for attaching peripheral devices.
• multiple buses can be used to interconnect large number of
devices.
• The devices connected to bus vary widely in their speed of
operation, some devices such as keyboards and printers are
The simplest way to interconnect functional units is to use a single bus as relatively slow.
shown in the above figure

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Bus Structure Performance of a computer

• Memory and processor operate at high speeds.
• The most important measure of a computer is how quickly it
• To synchronize the speeds of these devices. can execute the programs.
• A common approach is to include buffer registers with the • The speed with which a computer executes the program is
devices to hold the information during transfers. affected by the design of its hardware and its machine
language instructions.
• Performance of a computer is also affected by the compiler.
• For the best performance, it is necessary to design the
compiler, the machine instruction set, and the hardware in a
coordinated way.

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• So, the total time required to execute the program is Performance of a computer
affected by
• Speed of the processor
• Compiler speed Main
memory
Cache
memory Processor
• Disk used
• Speed of output device
• The time needed to execute a instruction is called as
processor time. Bus
• Processor time depends on the hardware involved in the
execution of individual machine instructions.
The processor cache.
• This hardware comprises the processor & the memory
which are usually connected by the bus. (diagram in next
slide)

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Processor clock
• Each & every electronic embedded systems should have processor circuit.
• A program will be executed faster if the movement of • These Processor circuits are controlled by a timing signal called clock.
instructions and data between the main memory is • The clock defines regular time intervals, called clock cycles.
minimized.
• Each & every machine instruction is having one or more actions. For ex,
• For example, suppose a number of instructions are add R0,R1
executed repeatedly over short period of time, as • To execute a machine instruction, the processor divides the action to be
happens in the program loop. performed into sequence of basic steps, such as each step to be completed in
one clock cycle.
• If these instructions are available in the cache memory, • So clock cycle is an important parameter that affects processor performance.
they can be fetched quickly during the period of
• The ‘p’ be the length of one clock cycle.
repeated use.
• clock rate is given by R=1/ P, which is measured in cycles per second.
• Generally, processor speed is mentioned in terms of clock rates & it is in
some Giga hertz (G Hz)

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Basic Performance Equation

N S
T =
R

• T –time taken by the processor to execute the program written in high-level

language
• N – number of actual machine language instructions in the program (needed to
complete the execution (note: loop)
• S – average number of basic steps needed to execute one machine
instruction. Each step completes in one clock cycle
• R – clock rate
• Note: these are not independent to each other

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Basic Performance Equation Possibilities for increasing the clock rate

• How to improve the performance parameter T?
• Solution: To achieve high performance. The computer designer must [Link] the integrating –circuit (IC) technology makes
logic circuits faster, which reduces the time needed to
reduce the value of T, which means reducing N, & S and increasing R complete a basic step. this allows the clock period ‘p’ to be
• The value of ‘N’ is reduced if the source program is compiled into reduced and the clock rate ’R’ to be increased.
fewer machine instructions.
• The value of ‘S’ is reduced if instructions have a smaller number of 2. Reducing the amount of processing done in one basic step
basic steps to perform. also makes it possible to reduce the clock period.
• Using higher- frequency clock increases the value of ‘R’. which
means that the time required to complete a basic execution step is
reduced.
N  S 
T=
R

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• We obviously need to represent both positive and negative

Number Representation numbers.
• Computers are built using logic circuits that operate on • Three systems are used for representing such numbers.
information represented by two valued electrical signals. We 1. Sign- and –magnitude.
label the two values as 0 and 1. 2. 1’ s Complement.
3. 2’s Complement.
• The most natural way to represent a number in a computer
system is by string of bits, called binary number.
• In all three systems, the left most bit is 0 for positive numbers
and 1 for negative numbers.
• A text character can also be represented by a string of bits
called character code.
• Positive values have identical representations in all three
systems, but negative values have different representations.

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Sign- and - magnitude: 2’ s complement :
• In sign and magnitude system, negative values are represented • In 2’s complement, negative values are obtained by adding 1 to
by changing the most significant bit from 0 to 1 in the b vector of the 1’s complement of that number.
the corresponding positive value. • 2’s complement is the most efficient way to carry out addition
For example +5 is represented by 0101, and -5 is and subtraction operations.
represented by 1101. • It is one most often used in computers.
1’s complement:
• In 1’s complement representation, negative values are obtained
by complementing each bit of the corresponding positive value.
Thus, the representation for -3 is obtained by complementing
each bit in the vector 0011 to get 1100.

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Addition and subtraction of signed numbers

Addition:
• To add two signed numbers , add their n- bit representations ,
ignoring the carry-out signal from the most significant bit
(MSB) position.
• The sum will be algebraically correct value in the 2’s
complement representation as long as the answer is in the
range -2n-1 through +2n-1 -1.

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Subtraction of signed numbers: Examples:

• To subtract two numbers X and Y, that is to perform X-Y, form
the 2’s complement of Y and then add it to X, the result will be
the algebraically correct value in the 2’s complement
representation system if the answer is in the range
-2n-1 through +2n-1-1.

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• A simple way to detect overflow is to examine the signs of the

Overflow in integer arithmetic two summands X and Y and the sign of the result. When both
operands X and Y have the same sign, an overflow occurs when
the sign of S is not the same as the signs of X and Y.
• In the 2’s complement number representation system, n bits can represent
values in the range -2n-1 through +2n-1-1. for example, using four bits, the Characters :
range of numbers that can represented is -8 through +7.
• When the result of an arithmetic operation is outside regrettable range, an • In addition to numbers computers must be able to handle
overflow has occurred. nonnumeric text information consisting of characters.
For example, when using 4- bit signed numbers, if we try to add the numbers
Characters can be letters of the alphabet, punctuation marks,
+7 and +4, the output sum vector , S, is 1011. which is code for -5, an and so on.
incorrect result. • They are represented by codes that usually eight bits long.
Similarly, if we try to ad -4 and -6, we get S= 0110= +6, another incorrect result • One of the most widely used codes is the American Standards
• Thus , overflow may occur if both summands have the same sign. Code for Information Interchange (ASCII).

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Memory Locations and Addresses

Memory Locations and Addresses • 32-bit word length example
nbits
32 bits
first word b 31 b 30 b1 b0
•
•
•

• How the memory is second word

organized? Sign bit: b 31= 0 for positive numbers
• Memory consists of many • b 31= 1 for negative numbers
•
millions of storage cells, • (a) A signed integer
each of which can store 1 bit. i th word
• Data is usually accessed in n- 8 bits 8 bits 8 bits 8 bits
bit groups. n is called word •
•
length. •
ASCII ASCII ASCII ASCII
character character character character
last word

Memory words.

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 Memory Locations and Addresses Memory Locations and Addresses
• To retrieve information from memory, either for one word Byte Addressability
or one byte (8-bit), addresses for each location are needed. • It is impractical to assign distinct addresses to
• A k-bit address memory has 2k memory locations using individual bit locations in the memory.
numbers from 0 – 2k-1 as the addresses of successive
locations in the memory. • The most practical assignment is to have successive
addresses refer to successive byte locations in the
• 2k addresses constitute the address space of the computer. memory – byte-addressable memory.
• 24-bit memory: 224 = 16,777,216 = 16M (1M=220) • Byte locations have addresses 0, 1, 2, … If the word
• 32-bit memory: 232 = 4G (1G=230) length is 32 bits, successive words are located at
• 1K(kilo)=210 1T(tera)=240 addresses 0, 4, 8,…

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Big-Endian and Little-Endian Assignments

Big-Endian: Lower byte addresses are used for the most significant bytes of the word Big-Endian and Little-Endian Assignments
Little-Endian: Lower byte addresses are used for the less significant bytes of the word
Word
address Byte address Byte address

0 0 1 2 3 0 3 2 1 0

4 4 5 6 7 4 7 6 5 4

• •
• •
• •

k k k k k k k k k k
2 -4 2 -4 2 -3 2 - 2 2 - 1 2 - 4 2 - 1 2 - 2 2 -3 2 -4

(a) Big-endian assignment (b) Little-endian assignment

Byte and word addressing.

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Memory Operation
Memory Locations and Addresses • Load (or Read or Fetch)
➢ Transfers a copy of the contents of a specific memory location to the
Word Alignment processor.
• Words are said to be aligned in memory if they ➢ The memory content doesn’t change.
begin at a byte address. that is a multiple of the num ➢ Processor send the address of the desired location to the memory and
request its contents to be read.
of bytes in a word.
➢ The memory reads the data and send them to the processor.
• 16-bit word: word addresses: 0, 2, 4,….
• 32-bit word: word addresses: 0, 4, 8,…. • Store (or Write)
• 64-bit word: word addresses: 0, 8,16,…. ➢ Transfers an item of information from the processor to a specific memory
• Access numbers, characters, and character strings location.
➢ The former contents of that location is overwritten.
➢ The processor sends the address of the desired location to the memory
along with the data to be written.

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Instruction and Instruction Sequencing

• We know that, program is nothing but an collection of Instruction and Instruction Sequencing
instructions.
• These instructions may be addition of 2 numbers(some
arithmetic operations), testing for a particular • Every computer must have some instruction set so
condition(logical operation), reading a character/data that can perform 4 types of operations
from the input device, sending a character to be ➢Data transfers between the memory and the
displayed on the output device. processor registers
• So the small steps may be one of these ➢Arithmetic and logic operations on data
➢Program sequencing and control
➢I/O transfers

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Register Transfer Notation Register Transfer Notation

• It is nothing but transfer of data from one part of (location) the • Identify a location by a symbolic name standing for its
computer to other part(location)
hardware binary address
• The possible locations used while transferring data are Ex: For memory location: LOC,PLACE,A,VAR2
• Memory locations
For processor registers: R0,R1
• Processor registers
• Registers in I/O sub-systems For I/O registers: DATAIN, OUTSTATUS

• While writing the programs, generally we store the values in a • Contents of a location are denoted by placing square brackets
variables. These variables are nothing but the name given to some around the name of the location
memory location. It is also known that, every memory location is
having an unique address. Ex: R1←[LOC]
• Most of the time, we identify a location by some name associated with R3 ←[R1]+[R2]
hardware binary address. • This type of notation is known as Register Transfer Notation
(RTN)

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 Assembly Language Notation
RISC and CISC Instruction Sets
• Assembly language notation is another type of notation used CISC versus RISC
to represent machine instructions & programs CISC- Complex Instruction Set Computer
RISC- Reduced Instruction Set Computer
CISC RISC
• Ex: Move LOC, R1 ;R1←[LOC] Instructions can take several
Single cycle instructions
clock cycles
Add R1, R2, R3 ;R3 ←[R1]+[R2] Complex and variable length Simple standardized
instructions instructions

Small number of fixed length

Large number of instructions
instructions

Many addressing modes Limited addressing modes

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Basic Instruction Types

• Three-Address Instructions
ADD R1, R2, R3 ;R3 ← R1 + R2
Here, we need 3 words, each for one operand. So, we say it is a 3 address
instruction & it is too large to fit in one word. • In all these instructions, we need to specify the address of
• Two-Address Instructions the operands in the instruction.
ADD R1, R2 ;R2 ← R1 + R2
It requires 2 words & still large to fit in one word. But our intension is to store • But, it is also possible to use instructions in which the
the result in R3, that we couldn’t do locations of all operands are defined implicitly.
• One-Address Instructions
ADD A ;AC ← AC + M[A] • Such instructions are found in machines that store
In this type, whatever the operation we are performing, we do with respect to operands in a structure called pushdown stack.
processor register, “Accumulator”
• Such type of instructions are called zero address
• Zero-Address Instructions instructions.
ADD ;TOS ← TOS + (TOS – 1)
Instruction • ADD ;TOS ← TOS + (TOS – 1)
Opcode Operand(s) or Address(es)

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Basic Instruction Types

Basic Instruction Types Example: Evaluate E=(A+B)  (C+D)
Example: Evaluate C=A+B • Three-Address
ADD A, B, R1 ; R1 ← M[A] + M[B]
• Three-Address ADD A, B, C
ADD C, D, R2 ; R2 ← M[C] + M[D]
• Two-Address ADD A,B [OR] MOVE A,R1 MUL R1, R2, E ; M[E] ← R1  R2
MOVE B,C ADD B,R1 3 addresses
MOVE R1,C Opcode Operand 1, Operand 2, Result
a = b + c;
• One-Address LOAD A
Disadvantage:-
ADD B Format are Not common
STORE C Needs very long words to hold everything

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Basic Instruction Types Basic Instruction Types

Example: Evaluate E=(A+B)  (C+D) Example: Evaluate E=(A+B)  (C+D)
• Two-Address • One-Address
MOV A, R1 ; R1 ← M[A] LOAD A ; AC ← M[A]
ADD B, R1 ; R1 ← R1 + M[B] ADD B ; AC ← AC + M[B]
MOV C, R2 ; R2 ← M[C] STORE R1 ; R1 ← AC
ADD D, R2 ; R2 ← R2 + M[D] LOAD C ; AC ← M[C]
MUL R1, R2 ; R2 ← R1  R2 ADD D ; AC ← AC + M[D]
MOV R2,E ; M[E] ← R2 MUL R1 ; AC ← AC  R1
Advantage:- STORE E ; M[E] ← AC
Reduces length of instruction Advantage
Requires some extra work 1. More primitive
Temporary storage to hold some results 2. Require less complex processor
MOVE operation required 3. Shorter Instruction length

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Generations of computers
First Generation (1945-1955):

• The key concept of a stored program was introduced by

John von Neumann.
• Programs and their data were located in the same
memory , as they are today.
• Assembly language was used to prepare programs and
was translated into machine language for execution.
• Basic arithmetic operations were performed in a few
milliseconds using vacuum tube technology.
• Magnetic core memories and magnetic tape storage
devices were also developed.

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Second generation(1955 – 1965):
• The invention of Transistors marked the start of the second
generation.
• Magnetic core memories and magnetic drum storage devices
were more widely used in the second generation.
• High level languages, such as Fortran were developed, making
preparation of programs much easier.
• System programs called compilers were developed to
translate these high level language programs into
corresponding assembly language program.
• Separate I/O processors were developed that could operate
in parallel with the central processor.
• IBM became a major computer manufacturer during this
time.

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Third generation(1965-1975): Fourth generation(1975 to the present):

• Third Generation Computers were based on integrated circuit

(IC) technology. • Fourth generation computers are based on VLSI technology.
• Fabricating tens of thousands of transistor on a single silicon
chip is called VLSI.
Integrated circuit technology:
• VLSI technology allowed a complete processor to be fabricated
The ability to fabricate many transistors on a single silicon on a single chip. This became known as a microprocessor.
chip.
• Portable notebook computers , desktop computers
• Integrated –circuit memories began to replace magnetic
core memories. and workstations, interconnected by local area networks.
• Other developments included the introduction of
microprogramming, parallelism, and pipelining.
• Cache and virtual memories were developed.

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End of Module 1

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