Computer architecture

Computer architecture is a set of rules and methods that describe the functionality, organization, and implementation of computer systems. Some definitions of architecture define it as describing the capabilities and programming model of a computer but not a particular implementation. In other descriptions, computer architecture involves instruction set architecture design, microarchitecture design, logic design, and implementation.

Overview

The discipline of computer architecture has three main subcategories:

• Instruction Set Architecture, or ISA. The ISA defines the machine code that a processor reads and acts upon as well as the word size, memory address modes, processor registers, and data type.
• Microarchitecture, or computer organization describes how a particular processor will implement the ISA.
• System Design includes all of the other hardware components within a computing system such as:
  • System interconnects
  • Memory system (RAM, ROM, etc.)
  • I/O system

History

The first documented computer architecture was in the correspondence between Charles Babbage and Ada Lovelace, describing the analytical engine. When building the computer Z1 in 1936, Konrad Zuse described in two patent applications for his future projects that machine instructions could be stored in the same storage used for data, i.e., the stored-program concept. This concept has been central to the design of computers ever since.

See also

• Computer hardware
• Computer engineering
• Computer science
• Information technology

References

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