Chapter 1
Introduction
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• Consider this advertisement:
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• Measures of capacity and speed:
– Kilo- (K) = 1 thousand = 103 and 210
– Mega- (M) = 1 million = 106 and 220
– Giga- (G) = 1 billion = 109 and 230
– Tera- (T) = 1 trillion = 1012 and 240
– Peta- (P) = 1 quadrillion = 1015 and 250
– Exa- (E) = 1 quintillion = 1018 and 260
– Zetta- (Z) = 1 sextillion = 1021 and 270
– Yotta- (Y) = 1 septillion = 1024 and 280
• Whether a metric refers to a power of ten or a
power of two typically depends upon what is being
measured.
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• Hertz = clock cycles per second (frequency)
– 1MHz = 1,000,000Hz
– Processor speeds are measured in MHz or GHz.
• Byte = a unit of storage
– 1KB = 210 = 1024 Bytes
– 1MB = 220 = 1,048,576 Bytes
– 1GB = 230 = 1,099,511,627,776 Bytes
– Main memory (RAM) is measured in GB.
– Disk storage is measured in GB for small systems,
TB (240) for large systems.
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• Measures of time and space:
– Milli- (m) = 1 thousandth = 10-3
– Micro- ( ) = 1 millionth = 10-6
– Nano- (n) = 1 billionth = 10-9
– Pico- (p) = 1 trillionth = 10-12
– Femto- (f) = 1 quadrillionth = 10-15
– Atto- (a) = 1 quintillionth = 10-18
– Zepto- (z) = 1 sextillionth = 10-21
– Yocto- (y) = 1 septillionth = 10-24
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• Millisecond = 1 thousandth of a second
– Hard disk drive access times are often 10 to 20
milliseconds.
• Nanosecond = 1 billionth of a second
– Main memory access times are often 50 to 70
nanoseconds.
• Micron (micrometer) = 1 millionth of a meter
– Circuits on computer chips are measured in
microns.
1.3 An Example System (6 of 19)
• We note that cycle time is the reciprocal of
clock frequency.
• A bus operating at 133MHz has a cycle time
of 7.52 nanoseconds:
• 1/(133,000,000 cycles/second) = 7.52
ns/cycle
Now back to the advertisement ...
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• Computers with large main memory capacity
can run larger programs with greater speed
than computers having small memories.
• RAM is an acronym for random access
memory. Random access means that memory
contents can be accessed directly if you know
its location.
• Cache is a type of temporary memory that can
be accessed faster than RAM.
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• Serial ports send data as a series of pulses
along one or two data lines.
• Parallel ports send data as a single pulse
along at least eight data lines.
• USB, Universal Serial Bus, is an intelligent
serial interface that is self-configuring. (It
supports “plug and play.”)
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• Throughout the remainder of the book you
will see how these components work and how
they interact with software to make complete
computer systems.
• This statement raises two important
questions:
– What assurance do we have that computer
components will operate as we expect?
– What assurance do we have that computer
components will operate together?