UNIT 1 - Basic Structure
of Computers
Functional Units
Functional Units
Arithmetic
Input and
logic
Memory
Output Control
I/O Processor
Figure 1.1. Basic functional units of a computer.
Information Handled by a
Computer
Instructions/machine instructions
Govern the transfer of information within a computer as
well as between the computer and its I/O devices
Specify the arithmetic and logic operations to be
performed
Program
Data
Used as operands by the instructions
Source program
Encoded in binary code – 0 and 1
Memory Unit
Store programs and data
Two classes of storage
Primary storage
Fast
Programs must be stored in memory while they are being executed
Large number of semiconductor storage cells
Processed in words
Address
RAM and memory access time
Memory hierarchy – cache, main memory
Secondary storage – larger and cheaper
Arithmetic and Logic Unit
(ALU)
Most computer operations are executed in
ALU of the processor.
Load the operands into memory – bring them
to the processor – perform operation in ALU –
store the result back to memory or retain in
the processor.
Registers
Fast control of ALU
Control Unit
All computer operations are controlled by the control
unit.
The timing signals that govern the I/O transfers are
also generated by the control unit.
Control unit is usually distributed throughout the
machine instead of standing alone.
Operations of a computer:
Accept information in the form of programs and data through an
input unit and store it in the memory
Fetch the information stored in the memory, under program control,
into an ALU, where the information is processed
Output the processed information through an output unit
Control all activities inside the machine through a control unit
The processor : Data Path and
Control
Data
PC Address Register #
Register A
Instructions Bank L Address
U
Register #
Instruction Data Memory
Memory
Register #
Data
Two types of functional units:
elements that operate on data values (combinational)
elements that contain state (state elements)
Five Execution Steps
Step name Action for R-type Action for Memory- Action for Action for
instructions reference Instructions branches jumps
Instruction fetch IR = MEM[PC]
PC = PC + 4
Instruction decode/ register A = Reg[IR[25-21]]
fetch B = Reg[IR[20-16]]
ALUOut = PC + (sign extend (IR[15-0])<<2)
Execution, address ALUOut = A op B ALUOut = A+sign IF(A==B) Then PC=PC[31-
computation, branch/jump extend(IR[15-0]) PC=ALUOut 28]||(IR[25-
completion 0]<<2)
Memory access or R-type Reg[IR[15-11]] = Load:MDR =Mem[ALUOut]
completion ALUOut or
Store:Mem[ALUOut] = B
Memory read completion Load: Reg[IR[20-16]] =
MDR
Basic Operational
Concepts
Review
Activity in a computer is governed by instructions.
To perform a task, an appropriate program
consisting of a list of instructions is stored in the
memory.
Individual instructions are brought from the memory
into the processor, which executes the specified
operations.
Data to be used as operands are also stored in the
memory.
A Typical Instruction
Add LOCA, R0
Add the operand at memory location LOCA to the
operand in a register R0 in the processor.
Place the sum into register R0.
The original contents of LOCA are preserved.
The original contents of R0 is overwritten.
Instruction is fetched from the memory into the
processor – the operand at LOCA is fetched and
added to the contents of R0 – the resulting sum is
stored in register R0.
Separate Memory Access and
ALU Operation
Load LOCA, R1
Add R1, R0
Whose contents will be overwritten?
Connection Between the
Processor and the Memory
Memory
MAR MDR
Control
PC R0
R1
Processor
IR
ALU
Rn - 1
n general purpose
registers
Figure 1.2. Connections between the processor and the memory.
Registers
Instruction register (IR)
Program counter (PC)
General-purpose register (R0 – Rn-1)
Memory address register (MAR)
Memory data register (MDR)
Typical Operating Steps
Programs reside in the memory through input
devices
PC is set to point to the first instruction
The contents of PC are transferred to MAR
A Read signal is sent to the memory
The first instruction is read out and loaded
into MDR
The contents of MDR are transferred to IR
Decode and execute the instruction
Typical Operating Steps
(Cont’)
Get operands for ALU
General-purpose register
Memory (address to MAR – Read – MDR to ALU)
Perform operation in ALU
Store the result back
To general-purpose register
To memory (address to MAR, result to MDR – Write)
During the execution, PC is
incremented to the next instruction
Interrupt
Normal execution of programs may be preempted if
some device requires urgent servicing.
The normal execution of the current program must
be interrupted – the device raises an interrupt
signal.
Interrupt-service routine
Current system information backup and restore (PC,
general-purpose registers, control information,
specific information)
Bus Structures
There are many ways to connect different
parts inside a computer together.
A group of lines that serves as a connecting
path for several devices is called a bus.
Address/data/control
Bus Structure
Single-bus
Input Output Memory Processor
Figure 1.3. Single-bus structure.
Speed Issue
Different devices have different
transfer/operate speed.
If the speed of bus is bounded by the slowest
device connected to it, the efficiency will be
very low.
How to solve this?
A common approach – use buffers.
Performance
Performance
The most important measure of a computer is
how quickly it can execute programs.
Three factors affect performance:
Hardware design
Instruction set
Compiler
Performance
Processor time to execute a program depends on the hardware
involved in the execution of individual machine instructions.
Main Cache
memory memory Processor
Bus
Figure 1.5. The processor cache.
Performance
The processor and a relatively small cache
memory can be fabricated on a single
integrated circuit chip.
Speed
Cost
Memory management
Processor Clock
Clock, clock cycle, and clock rate
The execution of each instruction is divided
into several steps, each of which completes
in one clock cycle.
Hertz – cycles per second
Basic Performance Equation
T – processor time required to execute a program that has been
prepared in high-level language
N – number of actual machine language instructions needed to
complete the execution (note: loop)
S – average number of basic steps needed to execute one
machine instruction. Each step completes in one clock cycle
R – clock rate
Note: these are not independent to each other
N S
T
R
How to improve T?
Pipeline and Superscalar
Operation
Instructions are not necessarily executed one after
another.
The value of S doesn’t have to be the number of
clock cycles to execute one instruction.
Pipelining – overlapping the execution of successive
instructions.
Add R1, R2, R3
Superscalar operation – multiple instruction
pipelines are implemented in the processor.
Goal – reduce S (could become <1!)
Clock Rate
Increase clock rate
Improve the integrated-circuit (IC) technology to make
the circuits faster
Reduce the amount of processing done in one basic step
(however, this may increase the number of basic steps
needed)
Increases in R that are entirely caused by
improvements in IC technology affect all
aspects of the processor’s operation equally
except the time to access the main memory.
CISC and RISC
Tradeoff between N and S
A key consideration is the use of pipelining
S is close to 1 even though the number of basic steps
per instruction may be considerably larger
It is much easier to implement efficient pipelining in
processor with simple instruction sets
Reduced Instruction Set Computers (RISC)
Complex Instruction Set Computers (CISC)
Compiler
A compiler translates a high-level language program
into a sequence of machine instructions.
To reduce N, we need a suitable machine instruction
set and a compiler that makes good use of it.
Goal – reduce N×S
A compiler may not be designed for a specific
processor; however, a high-quality compiler is
usually designed for, and with, a specific processor.
Performance Measurement
T is difficult to compute.
Measure computer performance using benchmark programs.
System Performance Evaluation Corporation (SPEC) selects and
publishes representative application programs for different application
domains, together with test results for many commercially available
computers.
Compile and run (no simulation)
Reference computer
Running time on the reference computer
SPEC rating
Running time on the computer under test
n 1
SPEC rating ( SPECi ) n
i 1
Machine Instructions
and Programs
Objectives
Machine instructions and program execution,
including branching and subroutine call and return
operations.
Number representation and addition/subtraction in
the 2’s-complement system.
Addressing methods for accessing register and
memory operands.
Assembly language for representing machine
instructions, data, and programs.
Program-controlled Input/Output operations.
Memory Locations,
Addresses, and
Operations
Memory Location, Addresses,
and Operation
n bits
first word
Memory consists
second word
of many millions of
storage cells,
each of which can •
store 1 bit. •
•
Data is usually i th word
accessed in n-bit
groups. n is called
word length. •
•
•
last word
Figure 2.5. Memory words.
Memory Location, Addresses,
and Operation
32-bit word length example
32 bits
b 31 b 30 b1 b0
•
•
•
Sign bit: b 31= 0 for positive numbers
b 31= 1 for negative numbers
(a) A signed integer
8 bits 8 bits 8 bits 8 bits
ASCII ASCII ASCII ASCII
character character character character
(b) Four characters
Memory Location, Addresses,
and Operation
To retrieve information from memory, either for one
word or one byte (8-bit), addresses for each location
are needed.
A k-bit address memory has 2k memory locations,
namely 0 – 2k-1, called memory space.
24-bit memory: 224 = 16,777,216 = 16M (1M=220)
32-bit memory: 232 = 4G (1G=230)
1K(kilo)=210
1T(tera)=240
Memory Location, Addresses,
and Operation
It is impractical to assign distinct addresses
to individual bit locations in the memory.
The most practical assignment is to have
successive addresses refer to successive
byte locations in the memory – byte-
addressable memory.
Byte locations have addresses 0, 1, 2, … If
word length is 32 bits, they successive words
are located at addresses 0, 4, 8,…
Big-Endian and Little-Endian
Assignments
Big-Endian: lower byte addresses are used for the most significant bytes of the word
Little-Endian: opposite ordering. lower byte addresses are used for the less significant
bytes of the word
Word
address Byte address Byte address
0 0 1 2 3 0 3 2 1 0
4 4 5 6 7 4 7 6 5 4
• •
• •
• •
k k k k k k k k k k
2 -4 2 -4 2 -3 2- 2 2 - 1 2 - 4 2- 1 2 - 2 2 -3 2 -4
(a) Big-endian assignment (b) Little-endian assignment
Figure 2.7. Byte and word addressing.
Memory Location, Addresses,
and Operation
Address ordering of bytes
Word alignment
Words are said to be aligned in memory if they
begin at a byte addr. that is a multiple of the num
of bytes in a word.
16-bit word: word addresses: 0, 2, 4,….
32-bit word: word addresses: 0, 4, 8,….
64-bit word: word addresses: 0, 8,16,….
Access numbers, characters, and character
strings
Memory Operation
Load (or Read or Fetch)
Copy the content. The memory content doesn’t change.
Address – Load
Registers can be used
Store (or Write)
Overwrite the content in memory
Address and Data – Store
Registers can be used
Instruction and
Instruction Sequencing
“Must-Perform” Operations
Data transfers between the memory and the
processor registers
Arithmetic and logic operations on data
Program sequencing and control
I/O transfers
Register Transfer Notation
Identify a location by a symbolic name
standing for its hardware binary address
(LOC, R0,…)
Contents of a location are denoted by placing
square brackets around the name of the
location (R1←[LOC], R3 ←[R1]+[R2])
Register Transfer Notation (RTN)
Assembly Language Notation
Represent machine instructions and
programs.
Move LOC, R1 = R1←[LOC]
Add R1, R2, R3 = R3 ←[R1]+[R2]
CPU Organization
Single Accumulator
Result usually goes to the Accumulator
Accumulator has to be saved to memory quite often
General Register
Registers hold operands thus reduce memory traffic
Register bookkeeping
Stack
Operands and result are always in the stack
Instruction Formats
Three-Address Instructions
ADD R1, R2, R3 R1 ← R2 + R3
Two-Address Instructions
ADD R1, R2 R1 ← R1 + R2
One-Address Instructions
ADD M AC ← AC + M[AR]
Zero-Address Instructions
ADD TOS ← TOS + (TOS – 1)
RISC Instructions
Lots of registers. Memory is restricted to Load & Store
Opcode Operand(s) or Address(es)
Instruction Formats
Example: Evaluate (A+B) (C+D)
Three-Address
1. ADD R1, A, B ; R1 ← M[A] + M[B]
2. ADD R2, C, D ; R2 ← M[C] + M[D]
3. MUL X, R1, R2 ; M[X] ← R1 R2
Instruction Formats
Example: Evaluate (A+B) (C+D)
Two-Address
1. MOV R1, A ; R1 ← M[A]
2. ADD R1, B ; R1 ← R1 + M[B]
3. MOV R2, C ; R2 ← M[C]
4. ADD R2, D ; R2 ← R2 + M[D]
5. MUL R1, R2 ; R1 ← R1 R2
6. MOV X, R1 ; M[X] ← R1
Instruction Formats
Example: Evaluate (A+B) (C+D)
One-Address
1. LOAD A ; AC ← M[A]
2. ADD B ; AC ← AC + M[B]
3. STORET ; M[T] ← AC
4. LOAD C ; AC ← M[C]
5. ADD D ; AC ← AC + M[D]
6. MUL T ; AC ← AC M[T]
7. STOREX ; M[X] ← AC
Instruction Formats
Example: Evaluate (A+B) (C+D)
Zero-Address
1. PUSH A ; TOS ← A
2. PUSH B ; TOS ← B
3. ADD ; TOS ← (A + B)
4. PUSH C ; TOS ← C
5. PUSH D ; TOS ← D
6. ADD ; TOS ← (C + D)
7. MUL ; TOS ←
(C+D)(A+B)
8. POP X ; M[X] ← TOS
Instruction Formats
Example: Evaluate (A+B) (C+D)
RISC
1. LOAD R1, A ; R1 ← M[A]
2. LOAD R2, B ; R2 ← M[B]
3. LOAD R3, C ; R3 ← M[C]
4. LOAD R4, D ; R4 ← M[D]
5. ADD R1, R1, R2 ; R1 ← R1 + R2
6. ADD R3, R3, R4 ; R3 ← R3 + R4
7. MUL R1, R1, R3 ; R1 ← R1 R3
8. STOREX, R1 ; M[X] ← R1
Using Registers
Registers are faster
Shorter instructions
The number of registers is smaller (e.g. 32
registers need 5 bits)
Potential speedup
Minimize the frequency with which data is
moved back and forth between the memory
and processor registers.
Instruction Execution and
Straight-Line Sequencing
Address Contents
i
Assumptions:
Begin execution here Move A,R0
i +4
3-instruction
program
- One memory operand
Add B,R0
i +8
segment per instruction
Move R0,C
- 32-bit word length
- Memory is byte
addressable
A - Full memory address
can be directly specified
in a single-word instruction
B Data for
the program
Two-phase procedure
-Instruction fetch
-Instruction execute
C
Page 43
Figure 2.8. A program for C +
i Move NUM1,R0
i+4 Add NUM2,R0
Branching i+8 Add NUM3,R0
•
•
•
i + 4n - 4 Add NUMn,R0
i + 4n Move R0,SUM
•
•
•
SUM
NUM1
NUM2
•
•
•
NUMn
Figure 2.9. A straight-line program for adding n numbers.
Move N,R1
Clear R0
Branching LOOP
Determine address of
"Next" number and add
Program "Next" number to R0
loop
Decrement R1
Branch>0 LOOP
Branch target
Move R0,SUM
Conditional branch
•
•
•
SUM
N n
NUM1
Figure 2.10. Using a loop to add n numbers. NUM2
•
•
NUMn
•
Condition Codes
Condition code flags
Condition code register / status register
N (negative)
Z (zero)
V (overflow)
C (carry)
Different instructions affect different flags
Conditional Branch
Instructions
Example: A: 11110000
A: 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 +(−B): 1 1 1 0 1 1 0 0
B: 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 11011100
C=1 Z=0
S=1
V=0
Status Bits
Cn-1
A B
Cn ALU
F
V Z S C
Fn-1
Zero Check
Addressing Modes
Generating Memory Addresses
How to specify the address of branch target?
Can we give the memory operand address
directly in a single Add instruction in the
loop?
Use a register to hold the address of NUM1;
then increment by 4 on each pass through
the loop.
Addressing Modes
Opcode Mode ...
Implied
AC is implied in “ADD M[AR]” in “One-Address”
instr.
TOS is implied in “ADD” in “Zero-Address” instr.
Immediate
The use of a constant in “MOV R1, 5”, i.e. R1 ←
5
Register
Indicate which register holds the operand
Addressing Modes
Register Indirect
Indicate the register that holds the number of the
register that holds the operand R1
MOV R1, (R2)
R2 = 3
Autoincrement / Autodecrement
Access & update in 1 instr. R3 = 5
Direct Address
Use the given address to access a memory
location
Addressing Modes
Indirect Address
Indicate the memory location that holds the
address of the memory location that holds the
data
AR = 101
100
101 0 1 0 4
102
103
104 1 1 0 A
Addressing Modes
Relative Address
0
EA = PC + Relative Addr 1
PC = 2 2
100
AR = 100
101
102 1 1 0 A
Could be Positive 103
or Negative 104
(2’s Complement)
Addressing Modes
Indexed
EA = Index Register + Relative Addr
Useful with XR = 2
“Autoincrement” or
“Autodecrement”
+
100
AR = 100
101
Could be Positive
or Negative 102 1 1 0 A
(2’s Complement) 103
104
Addressing Modes
Base Register
EA = Base Register + Relative Addr
Could be Positive AR = 2
or Negative
(2’s Complement)
+
100 0 0 0 5
BR = 100
101 0 0 1 2
102 0 0 0 A
Usually points 103 0 1 0 7
to the beginning 104 0 0 5 9
of an array
Addressing Modes
Name Assem bler syn tax Addressing function
The different
ways in which Immediate #Value Op erand = Value
the location of
an operand is Register Ri EA = Ri
specified in Absolute (Direct) LOC EA = LOC
an instruction
are referred to Indirect (Ri ) EA = [Ri ]
as addressing (LOC) EA = [LOC]
modes.
Index X(R i) EA = [Ri ] + X
Base with index (Ri ,Rj ) EA = [Ri ] + [Rj ]
Base with index X(R i,Rj ) EA = [Ri ] + [Rj ] + X
and offset
Relative X(PC) EA = [PC] + X
Autoincremen t (Ri )+ EA = [Ri ] ;
Incremen t Ri
Autodecrement (Ri ) Decremen t R i ;
EA = [Ri]
Indexing and Arrays
Index mode – the effective address of the operand
is generated by adding a constant value to the
contents of a register.
Index register
X(Ri): EA = X + [Ri]
The constant X may be given either as an explicit
number or as a symbolic name representing a
numerical value.
If X is shorter than a word, sign-extension is
needed.
Indexing and Arrays
In general, the Index mode facilitates access
to an operand whose location is defined
relative to a reference point within the data
structure in which the operand appears.
Several variations:
(Ri, Rj): EA = [Ri] + [Rj]
X(Ri, Rj): EA = X + [Ri] + [Rj]
Relative Addressing
Relative mode – the effective address is determined
by the Index mode using the program counter in
place of the general-purpose register.
X(PC) – note that X is a signed number
Branch>0 LOOP
This location is computed by specifying it as an
offset from the current value of PC.
Branch target may be either before or after the
branch instruction, the offset is given as a singed
num.
Additional Modes
Autoincrement mode – the effective address of the operand is the
contents of a register specified in the instruction. After accessing
the operand, the contents of this register are automatically
incremented to point to the next item in a list.
(Ri)+. The increment is 1 for byte-sized operands, 2 for 16-bit
operands, and 4 for 32-bit operands.
Autodecrement mode: -(Ri) – decrement first
Move N,R1
Move #NUM1,R2 Initialization
Clear R0
LOOP Add (R2)+,R0
Decrement R1
Branch>0 LOOP
Move R0,SUM
Figure 2.16. The Autoincrement addressing mode used in the program of Figure 2.12.
Assembly Language
Types of Instructions
Data Transfer Instructions
Name Mnemonic Data value is
Load LD not modified
Store ST
Move MOV
Exchange XCH
Input IN
Output OUT
Push PUSH
Pop POP
Data Transfer Instructions
Mode Assembly Register Transfer
Direct address LD ADR AC ← M[ADR]
Indirect address LD @ADR AC ← M[M[ADR]]
Relative address LD $ADR AC ← M[PC+ADR]
Immediate operand LD #NBR AC ← NBR
Index addressing LD ADR(X) AC ← M[ADR+XR]
Register LD R1 AC ← R1
Register indirect LD (R1) AC ← M[R1]
Autoincrement LD (R1)+ AC ← M[R1], R1 ← R1+1
Data Manipulation Instructions
Arithmetic Name Mnemonic
Increment INC
Logical & Bit Manipulation Decrement DEC
Add ADD
Shift Subtract SUB
Multiply MUL
Divide DIV
Name Mnemonic Add with carry ADDC
Clear CLR Subtract with borrow SUBB
Complement COM Name Negate MnemonicNEG
AND AND Logical shift right SHR
OR OR Logical shift left SHL
Exclusive-OR XOR Arithmetic shift right SHRA
Clear carry CLRC Arithmetic shift left SHLA
Set carry SETC Rotate right ROR
Complement Rotate left ROL
COMC
carry Rotate right through
Enable interrupt EI RORC
carry
Program Control Instructions
Name Mnemonic
Branch BR
Jump JMP
Skip SKP
Subtract A – B but
Call CALL don’t store the result
Return RET
Compare
CMP
(Subtract) 10110001
Test (AND) TST
00001000
Mask
00000000
Conditional Branch
Instructions
Mnemonic Branch Condition Tested Condition
BZ Branch if zero Z=1
BNZ Branch if not zero Z=0
BC Branch if carry C=1
BNC Branch if no carry C=0
BP Branch if plus S=0
BM Branch if minus S=1
BV Branch if overflow V=1
Branch if no
BNV V=0
overflow
Basic Input/Output
Operations
I/O
The data on which the instructions operate
are not necessarily already stored in memory.
Data need to be transferred between
processor and outside world (disk, keyboard,
etc.)
I/O operations are essential, the way they are
performed can have a significant effect on the
performance of the computer.
Program-Controlled I/O
Example
Read in character input from a keyboard and
produce character output on a display screen.
Rate of data transfer (keyboard, display, processor)
Difference in speed between processor and I/O device
creates the need for mechanisms to synchronize the
transfer of data.
A solution: on output, the processor sends the first
character and then waits for a signal from the display that
the character has been received. It then sends the second
character. Input is sent from the keyboard in a similar way.
Program-Controlled I/O
Example
Bus
Processor
DATAIN DATAOUT
SIN SOUT
- Registers
- Flags Keyboard Display
- Device interface
Figure 2.19 Bus connection for processor, keyboard, and display.
Program-Controlled I/O
Example
Machine instructions that can check the state
of the status flags and transfer data:
READWAIT Branch to READWAIT if SIN = 0
Input from DATAIN to R1
WRITEWAIT Branch to WRITEWAIT if SOUT = 0
Output from R1 to DATAOUT
Program-Controlled I/O
Example
Memory-Mapped I/O – some memory
address values are used to refer to peripheral
device buffer registers. No special
instructions are needed. Also use device
status registers.
READWAIT Testbit #3, INSTATUS
Branch=0 READWAIT
MoveByte DATAIN, R1
Program-Controlled I/O
Example
Assumption – the initial state of SIN is 0 and the
initial state of SOUT is 1.
Any drawback of this mechanism in terms of
efficiency?
Two wait loopsprocessor execution time is wasted
Alternate solution?
Interrupt
Stacks
Stack Organization
Current
Top of Stack
LIFO TOS 0
Last In First Out 1
2
3
4
5
SP 6 0 1 2 3
7 0 0 5 5
FULL EMPTY 8 0 0 0 8
9 0 0 2 5
Stack Bottom 10 0 0 1 5
Stack
Stack Organization
Current 1 6 9 0
Top of Stack
PUSH TOS 0
SP ← SP – 1 1
M[SP] ← DR 2
3
If (SP = 0) then (FULL ← 1) 4
EMPTY ← 0 5 1 6 9 0
SP 6 0 1 2 3
7 0 0 5 5
FULL EMPTY 8 0 0 0 8
9 0 0 2 5
Stack Bottom 10 0 0 1 5
Stack
Stack Organization
Current
Top of Stack
POP TOS 0
DR ← M[SP] 1
SP ← SP + 1 2
3
If (SP = 11) then (EMPTY ← 1) 4
FULL ← 0 5 1 6 9 0
SP 6 0 1 2 3
7 0 0 5 5
FULL EMPTY 8 0 0 0 8
9 0 0 2 5
Stack Bottom 10 0 0 1 5
Stack
Stack Organization
Memory Stack
PUSH PC 0
1
SP ← SP – 1 2
M[SP] ← DR
POP AR 100
101
DR ← M[SP]
102
SP ← SP + 1
200
SP 201
202