Computer Architecture

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If you think computer architecture is about using computers to design buildings, then you have it all wrong. It is actually “the structure and organization of a computer’s hardware or software” (WordNet Search – 3.1). The combination of hardware and software are needed to make the computer functional. Operating systems, microprocessors, circuits and system programs cover the basis of computer architecture.

Von Neumann Architecture

If you were to discuss about computer architecture and how computer systems are organized, designed and implemented, you would most likely reference the “Von Neumann architecture”. This is true since every electronic computer ever built use this architecture as a baseline. The Von Neumann architecture describes of containing a processing unit with an arithmetic logic unit and registers, memory to store data and instructions, and a control unit which could understand an instruction retrieved from the memory and select the best course of action.

System Bus

The basis of bus can be described as how data is sent and received in a computer system. The “Von Neumann architecture involves using a system bus to get information from memory to the processor and back and to carry information to and from I/O devices” (Anderson, Ferro, Hilton, 2010, Pg. 117). The system bus also called the central bus is connected to the CPU (central processing unit and RAM (random access memory). I/O bus connects the CPU with other devices.

Boolean Operation

The CPU in a computer contains the logic circuitry that carries out the instructions of a computer’s program. The CPU performs arithmetical operations in the computer’s memory which is called RAM. “These circuits allow the computer to perform Boolean algebra. Boolean algebra is concerned with the logic of Boolean operators AND, OR and NOT” (Anderson, Ferro, Hilton, 2010, Pg. 104). Since computers operate calculations in binary, computer logic...