Computer Organization homework one

ANSI is the acronym used by which organization?

American National Standards Institute.

Level 4

Assembly Language Level - level where higher level language is converted to assembly language and then using a 1 to 1 relationship, translated to 0's and 1's

What is the full name of the organization that uses the initials ISO? Is ISO an acronym?

The full name is the International Organization for Standardization. ISO is NOT an acronym. It comes from the Greek word "isos" which means equal.

What is the underlying premise of Amdahl's Law?

The improvements in a system's performance are limited by its slowest parts. Even if multiple processors are used, algorithms have a sequential part that causes a bottleneck and ultimately limits the achievable speedup

In the von Neumann model, explain the purpose of the: b) program counter

The program counter works with the CU (part of the processing unit) during fetch. It holds the address of where the next instruction to be executed is located. The CU uses this information to go out to memory to fetch the next instruction

What was it about the von Neumann architecture that distinguished it from its predecessors?

The von Neumann architecture stored programs which

Computer Level Hierarchy. How does this arrangement help us to understand computer systems?

This arrangement helps us to understand computer systems because the hierarchy of levels allows us to divide a larger problem into smaller ones, follow a process through each level, and see how everything works together for the system to accomplish its task.

Level 1

Control Level - location where control unit ensures that instructions are decoded, executed, and data is moved to where it needs to be. These control units are either implemented as microprograms or hard-wired.

Level 0

Digital Logic Level - physical location of gates and wires.

Name the characteristics present in von Neumann architecture

First, it has 3 hardware systems which include a CPU (control unit, ALU, registers, program counter) and both a main memory and I/O systems. Second, it can perform sequential instruction processing. Third, it contains a single path between the main memory system and the control unit that is often called the von Neumann bottleneck.

Level 5

High-Level-Language - consists of high-level languages that are translated to machine language.

Level 2

Instruction Set Architecture or Machine Level - machine language is recognized by certain architectures within the system.

What is the name of the Swiss organization that devotes itself to matters concerning telephony, telecommunications, and data communications?

International Telecommunications Union

What is the mission of the IEEE?

It is dedicated to the advancement of electrical and computer engineering communities. It does this by publishing technical literature and setting standards for a variety of components, protocols, and data representation.

How is Rock's Law related to Moore's Law?

Rock's Law is the corollary or consequence to Moore's Law. It states that "The cost of capital equipment to build semiconductors will double every four years". This means that as chips get smaller and smaller, their cost will become prohibitive. In other words, for Moore's Law to continue, Rock's Law must fail.

Level 3

System Software Level - operating system functions are carried out here which include multiprogramming, protecting memory, and synchronizing processes.

In the von Neumann model, explain the purpose of the: a) processing unit

The processing unit consists of the ALU, control unit, program counter, and registers. Its purpose is to perform the fetch-decode-execute cycle resulting in program instructions being executed.

Level 6

User Lever - composed of the applications that the user interfaces with.

State Moore's Law

Originally stated in 1965, "The density of transistors in an integrated circuit will double every year". Later revised to "the density of silicon chips doubles every 18 months".

What circumstances helped the IBM PC become so successful?

IBM's short timeline to produce a PC required it to use "off the shelf" computer parts instead of proprietary components. This allowed the price of IBM compatible microcomputers to be within range of small businesses and ultimately within reach of the average person for home use.

What is meant by open architecture?

In order to speed up development/production schedules of computers, as many "off-the-shelf" components as possible are used instead of all proprietary parts

What are the limitations of Moore's Law? Why can't this law hold forever? Explain?

Moore's law is limited by two factors: physical and financial. Since Moore's Law tells us that "the density of silicon chips doubles every 18 months" and Rock's Law says that "the cost of capital equipment to build semiconductors will double every four years", there will be a point where we will reach a limit on how small the transistors can be or how expensive they become. Unless there is a shift to new technology, according to Null and Lobar, cost is more likely to be the limiting factor. Null and Lobar further state that at our current rate, by 2035, the cost to construct a single chip would be the wealth of the world and its size would be smaller than an atom.