In this article, we are going to perform the computer architecture tutorial which will help the computer science student and also help those students who are preparing for GATE(CS/IT) and UGC Net (CS) exam.
I have prepared a tutorial on some important topics of computer organization and architecture. These tutorials are linked here in this main computer organization tutorial page.
Each computer architecture tutorial linked in this main page is well explained with an example. Practice sets for computer architecture gate questions are prepared and linked here at the end of this computer organization tutorial.
Previous year computer architecture questions with explanation are also discussed in a separate post of this computer organization tutorial.
Computer organization and architecture is the core subject of computer science branch. This is an important subject and provides the knowledge about specification and organization of a hardware component of a computer system and these hardware components work.
About 8 to 10 marks questions are asked from computer organization and architecture every year in GATE Exam.
Let me first introduce to computer architecture and computer organization
Table of Contents
What is Computer Architecture?
Computer Architecture is a specification. This specification describes how the hardware and software technology interact and communicate to form a computer system.
Computer architecture makes it easy to understand how a computer system is designed. Computer architecture also deals with hardware features and it’s compatibility.
Computer architecture describes the design of different functional units of a computer system. These units are Control Unit, ALU, Memory, Input/output.
Computer architecture also specifies the Instruction Set Architecture. Instruction Set Architecture works as embedded programming used by CPU. This defines the functions and capabilities of the CPU.
Some important terms and concepts used in Instruction Set Architecture are addressing modes, word size, processor register types and data formats.
What is Computer Organization?
Computer organization is different from computer architecture. Computer architecture deals with the way how hardware components are connected together.
Computer organization is concerned with the structure and behaviour of a computer system.
Computer organization is the realization of computer architecture.
Course Description
Computer Organization and Architecture subject provide knowledge about computer architecture. This subject is concerned with the structure and behaviour of the various functional modules of the computer and how they interact to provide the processing needs of the user.
Computer architecture is concerned with the way the hardware components are connected together to form a computer system.
Computer organization and architecture concepts have been covered here in these computer organization tutorial listed here in this post.
Computer Architecture Tutorial Objectives
By the end of this computer organization tutorial student should able to know about the different important concepts of computer architecture. Some objectives of the tutorial are as follow
- To provide an understanding of the basic structure and operation of a digital computer system.
- The student should be able to the analysis of the design of the arithmetic logic unit and floating-point numbers.
- To provide understanding about the implementation of control unit techniques.
- To make the student aware with memory concepts like cache memory, virtual memory and hard disk.
- To give knowledge about the input/output system and pipelining concepts
Pre-Requisite
Students should have basic knowledge of the fundamental of computers and digital logic design.
Students should have the knowledge of logic gate, combinational circuits like adder subtractor encoder and decoder.
Students must also have basic knowledge of sequential circuits like a flip flop, register and counter and how they work.
Note – Students can study here combinational and sequential circuits.
Audience
These computer organization and architecture tutorial will assist in computer science graduate in understanding the subject concepts.
Syllabus
Computer Organization and Architecture subject can be divided into five different units. Each unit has some specific concepts of the subject for study. Syllabus of computer architecture tutorial is as follow-
Unit-1
Fundamentals of digital logic and Introduction
- Boolean algebra and logic gates
- Boolean Expression minimization
- Binary Number System
- Number conversion
- Binary Number System arithmetic
- Basics of the combinational circuit.
- Basics of a sequential circuit.
- Functional Units of a computer.
- BUS and BUS Architecture
- Types of Bus
- Bus Arbitration
- Register and Memory Transfer
- Register organization
- Stack Organization
- Processor Organization.
UNIT-2
Arithmetic and Logic Unit
- Booth Multiplication Algorithm
- Array Multiplier
- IEEE Floating Point Representation
- Floating-Point Arithmetic
- Division Algorithm
- ALU Design.
UNIT-3
Instructions and Instruction SET
- Instruction Life Cycle.
- Types of Instruction.
- Representation of Instructions:
- Instruction formats.
- Instruction sets.
- Instruction set architectures – CISC and RISC architectures.
- Micro programmed Instructions.
- Horizontal and Vertical Microinstruction.
UNIT-4
Memory Concepts
- Basic Memory Hierarchy
- Semiconductor Memory
- 2D Memory Organization
- ROM Memories
- Cache Memories
- Design and Performance Issues of cache memory.
- Cache mapping techniques
- Magnetic Disk
- Optical Disk
- Virtual Memory
UNIT- 5
Input/Output System and Pipelining
- Peripheral Devices
- Input/Out Interface
- Input-Output Port
- Interrupt and types of Interrupt
- Programmed Input/Output
- Interrupt Driven Input /Output
- Direct Memory Access
- I/O Channel
- I/O Processor
- Synchronous communication
- Serial and Parallel communication.
- Pipelining
- Feng’s classification
- FLYNN’s Classification
- Speed UP Law
Important Topics for GATE Exam
Some important topics from computer organization and architecture for GATE Exam are as follows:
- Addressing modes.
- Cache Mapping Techniques.
- Postfix expression evaluation using stack.
- Memory Related problems
- Hard Disk related problem
- Address format
- Instruction Pipelining
Tutorials
1. Cache Mapping Techniques
2.Types of addressing mode in computer architecture
3. Cache memory introduction, types and performance issues
4. Mips registers and Mips Instruction Set
6. Types of Registers in Computer System
COA Questions for GATE Exam
1. Computer Organization MCQ for GATE Exam Practice Set1
2.Computer Organization MCQ for GATE Exam – Practice Set 2
3.Computer Organization Gate Questions
3. Machine Instructions, Address Modes, ALU and Data Path-Based questions for GATE Exam
4. Cache Memory based questions for GATE Exam ( Practice Set)
5.Instruction, Memory, Address Modes, Instruction Address Format and Memory Based questions
Conclusion and Summary
In this tutorial, we have discussed the following important points.
- The objective of this computer architecture tutorial.
- Introduction of computer architecture.
- Introduction of computer organization.
- Course Description
- Pre-requisite
- Syllabus of computer architecture.
- Computer architecture tutorials
- Computer architecture GATE exam Questions and Practice Set.
