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Chap1 Intro

This chapter discusses the evolution of computers from large mainframes to today's ubiquitous personal devices. It describes different classes of computers from personal computers to supercomputers to embedded systems. It also introduces the concept of post-PC era devices like smartphones, tablets, and cloud computing. The chapter outlines the levels below a high-level program from the programming language to machine language. It describes the typical components of a computer system including the processor, memory, I/O, and how abstractions help manage complexity.

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Amanda Judy Andrade
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37 views

Chap1 Intro

This chapter discusses the evolution of computers from large mainframes to today's ubiquitous personal devices. It describes different classes of computers from personal computers to supercomputers to embedded systems. It also introduces the concept of post-PC era devices like smartphones, tablets, and cloud computing. The chapter outlines the levels below a high-level program from the programming language to machine language. It describes the typical components of a computer system including the processor, memory, I/O, and how abstractions help manage complexity.

Uploaded by

Amanda Judy Andrade
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 21

COMPUTER ORGANIZATION AND DESIGN RISC-V

2nd ed.
The Hardware/Software Interface

Chapter 1
Computer Abstractions
and Technology
§1.1 Introduction
The Computer Revolution
◼ Progress in computer technology
◼ Underpinned by domain-specific accelerators
◼ Makes novel applications feasible
◼ Computers in automobiles
◼ Cell phones
◼ Human genome project
◼ World Wide Web
◼ Search Engines
◼ Computers are pervasive

Chapter 1 — Computer Abstractions and Technology — 2


Classes of Computers
◼ Personal computers
◼ General purpose, variety of software
◼ Subject to cost/performance tradeoff

◼ Server computers
◼ Network based
◼ High capacity, performance, reliability
◼ Range from small servers to building sized

Chapter 1 — Computer Abstractions and Technology — 3


Classes of Computers
◼ Supercomputers
◼ Type of server
◼ High-end scientific and engineering
calculations
◼ Highest capability but represent a small
fraction of the overall computer market

◼ Embedded computers
◼ Hidden as components of systems
◼ Stringent power/performance/cost constraints

Chapter 1 — Computer Abstractions and Technology — 4


The PostPC Era

Chapter 1 — Computer Abstractions and Technology — 5


The PostPC Era
◼ Personal Mobile Device (PMD)
◼ Battery operated
◼ Connects to the Internet
◼ Hundreds of dollars
◼ Smart phones, tablets, electronic glasses
◼ Cloud computing
◼ Warehouse Scale Computers (WSC)
◼ Software as a Service (SaaS)
◼ Portion of software run on a PMD and a
portion run in the Cloud
◼ Amazon and Google
Chapter 1 — Computer Abstractions and Technology — 6
What You Will Learn
◼ How programs are translated into the
machine language
◼ And how the hardware executes them
◼ The hardware/software interface
◼ What determines program performance
◼ And how it can be improved
◼ How hardware designers improve
performance
◼ What is parallel processing
Chapter 1 — Computer Abstractions and Technology — 7
Understanding Performance
◼ Algorithm
◼ Determines number of operations executed
◼ Programming language, compiler, architecture
◼ Determine number of machine instructions executed
per operation
◼ Processor and memory system
◼ Determine how fast instructions are executed
◼ I/O system (including OS)
◼ Determines how fast I/O operations are executed

Chapter 1 — Computer Abstractions and Technology — 8


§1.2 Seven Great Ideas in Computer Architecture
Seven Great Ideas
◼ Use abstraction to simplify design

◼ Make the common case fast

◼ Performance via parallelism

◼ Performance via pipelining

◼ Performance via prediction

◼ Hierarchy of memories

◼ Dependability via redundancy

Chapter 1 — Computer Abstractions and Technology — 9


§1.3 Below Your Program
Below Your Program
◼ Application software
◼ Written in high-level language
◼ System software
◼ Compiler: translates HLL code to
machine code
◼ Operating System: service code
◼ Handling input/output
◼ Managing memory and storage
◼ Scheduling tasks & sharing resources
◼ Hardware
◼ Processor, memory, I/O controllers

Chapter 1 — Computer Abstractions and Technology — 10


Levels of Program Code
◼ High-level language
◼ Level of abstraction closer
to problem domain Compile
◼ Provides for productivity
and portability
◼ Assembly language
◼ Textual representation of
instructions
◼ Hardware representation
◼ Binary digits (bits)
◼ Encoded instructions and
data

Chapter 1 — Computer Abstractions and Technology — 11


§1.4 Under the Covers
Components of a Computer
The BIG Picture ◼ Same components for
all kinds of computer
◼ Desktop, server,
embedded
◼ Input/output includes
◼ User-interface devices
◼ Display, keyboard, mouse
◼ Storage devices
◼ Hard disk, CD/DVD, flash
◼ Network adapters
◼ For communicating with
other computers

Chapter 1 — Computer Abstractions and Technology — 12


Touchscreen
◼ PostPC device
◼ Supersedes keyboard
and mouse
◼ Resistive and
Capacitive types
◼ Most tablets, smart
phones use capacitive
◼ Capacitive allows
multiple touches
simultaneously

Chapter 1 — Computer Abstractions and Technology — 13


Through the Looking Glass
◼ LCD screen: picture elements (pixels)
◼ Mirrors content of frame buffer memory

Chapter 1 — Computer Abstractions and Technology — 14


Opening the Box

Chapter 1 — Computer Abstractions and Technology — 15


Inside the Processor (CPU)
◼ Datapath: performs operations on data
◼ Control: sequences datapath, memory, ...
◼ Cache memory
◼ Small fast SRAM memory for immediate
access to data

Chapter 1 — Computer Abstractions and Technology — 16


Inside the Processor
◼ A12 processor

Chapter 1 — Computer Abstractions and Technology — 17


Abstractions
The BIG Picture

◼ Abstraction helps us deal with complexity


◼ Hide lower-level detail
◼ Instruction set architecture (ISA)
◼ The hardware/software interface
◼ Application binary interface
◼ The ISA plus system software interface
◼ Implementation
◼ The details underlying and interface
Chapter 1 — Computer Abstractions and Technology — 18
A Safe Place for Data
◼ Volatile main memory
◼ Loses instructions and data when power off
◼ Non-volatile secondary memory
◼ Magnetic disk
◼ Flash memory
◼ Optical disk (CDROM, DVD)

Chapter 1 — Computer Abstractions and Technology — 19


Networks
◼ Communication, resource sharing,
nonlocal access
◼ Local area network (LAN): Ethernet
◼ Wide area network (WAN): the Internet
◼ Wireless network: WiFi, Bluetooth

Chapter 1 — Computer Abstractions and Technology — 20


§1.5 Technologies for Building Processors and Memory
Technology Trends
◼ Electronics
technology
continues to evolve
◼ Increased capacity
and performance
◼ Reduced cost
DRAM capacity

Year Technology Relative performance/cost


1951 Vacuum tube 1
1965 Transistor 35
1975 Integrated circuit (IC) 900
1995 Very large scale IC (VLSI) 2,400,000
2013 Ultra large scale IC 250,000,000,000

Chapter 1 — Computer Abstractions and Technology — 21

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