Back to Section 1
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Overview of 1.1 Components of a computer and their uses

1.1.1 Structure and function of the processor

  1. ​
    • Arithmetic and Logic Unit; ALU
    • Control Unit and Registers:
      • Program Counter; PC
      • Accumulator; ACC
      • Memory Address Register; MAR
      • Memory Data Register; MDR
      • Current Instruction Register; CIR
    • Buses:
      • Data bus
      • Address bus
      • Control bus
      • How these relate to assembly language programs
  2. The Fetch-Decode-Execute Cycle; including its effects on registers
  3. The factors affecting the performance of the CPU:
    • Clock speed
    • Number of cores
    • Cache
  4. The use of pipelining in a processor to improve efficiency
  5. Von Neumann, Harvard, and contemporary processor architecture

1.1.2 Types of processor

  1. The differences between and uses of CISC and RISC processors
  2. GPUs and their uses (including those not related to graphics)
  3. Multicore and Parallel systems

1.1.3 Input, output, and storage

  1. How different input, output, and storage devices can be applied to the solution of different problems
  2. The uses of magnetic, flash, and optical storage devices
  3. RAM and ROM
  4. Virtual storage