ABSTRACT
Computer architecture is the design of computer systems, including all of their major subsystems including the CPU and the memory and I/O systems. All of these parts play a major r ole in the operation and performance of the overall system, so we will spend some time studying each. CPU design starts with the design of the instr uction set that the pr ocessor will execute and includes the design of the arithmetic and logic har dware that performs computations, the r egister set that holds operands for computations, the control unit that carries out the execution of instr uctions (using the other
components to do the work), and the internal buses, or connections, that allow these components to communicate with each other . Memory system design uses a variety of components with dif fering characteristics to form an overall system (including main, or primary, memory and secondary memory) that is af fordable while having suf ficient storage capacity for the intended application and being fast enough to keep up with the CPU’s demand for instructions and data.
