The Basic Cc~mputer

UNIT 1 THE BASIC COMPUTER

Structure Page Nos.
1.0 Introduction 5
1.1 Objectives 5
1.2 The von Neumann Architecture 5
1.3 Instruction Execution: An Example 9
1.4 Instruction Cycle 12
1.4.1 Interrupts
1.4.2 Interrupts and Instruction Cycle
1.5 Computers: Then and Now
1.5.1 The Beginning
1.5.2 First Generation Computers
1.5.3 Second Generation Computers
1.5.4 Third Generation Computers
1.5.5 Later Generations

1.7 Solutions/Answers

1.0 INTRODUCTION
The use of Information Technology (IT) is well recognised. IT has become a must for I
the survival of all business houses with the growing information technology trends.
Computer is the main component of an Information Technology network. Today,
computer technology has permeated every sphere of existence of modem man. From
railway reservations to medical diagnosis, from TV programmes to satellite launching,
from matchmaking to criminal catching - everywhere we witness the elegance,
sophistication and efficiency possible only with the help of computers.

In this unit, you will be introduced to one of the important computer system .
structures: the von Neumann Architecture. In addition, you will be introduced to the
concepts of a simple model of Instruction execution. ?his model will be enhanced in
the later blocks of this course. More details on these terms can be obtained from I
further reading. We have also discussed about the main developments during the
various periods of computer history. Finally, we will discuss about the basic
I
components of microprocessors and their uses.

1.1 OBJECTIVES
After going through this unit you will be able to:
define the logical structure of the computer;
define the instruction cycle;
define the concept or Interrupt;
discuss the basic features of computers; and
define the various components of a modern computer and their usage.
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1.2 THE VON NEUMANN ARCHITECTURE
The von Neumann architecture was the first major proposed structure for a general-
purpose computer. However, before describing the main components of von Neumann
Introduction to Digital
architecture, let us first define the term 'computer' as this will help us in discussing
Circuits
about von Neumann architecture in logical detail.
Computer is defined in the Oxford dictionary as "An automatic electronic apparatus
for making calculations or controlling operations that are expressible in numerical or
logical terms". I
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The definition clearly categorises computer as an electronic apparatus although the
first computers were mechanical and electro-mechanical apparatuses. The definition
also points towards the two major areas of computer applications viz., data
processing's and computer assisted controlsloperations. Another important aspect of
the definition is the fact that the computer can perform only those operations1
calculations, which can be expressed in Logical or Numerical terms.
Some of the basic questions that arise from above definition are:
How are the data processing and control operations performed by an electronic device
like the computer?
I
Well, electronic components are used for creating 5asic logic circuits that are used to
perform calculations. These components are further discussed in the later units.
However, for the present discussion, it would be sufficient to say that there must be a
certain unit that will perform the task of data processing and control.
What is the basic function performed by a computer? The basic function performed by
a computer is the execution of the program. A program is a sequence of instructions,
which operates on data, to perform certain tasks such as finding a prime number. The
computer controls the execution of the program.
What is data in computers? In modem digital computers data is represented in binary
form by using two symbols 0 and 1. These are called binary digits or bits. But the data
which we deal with consists of numeric data and characters such as decimal digits 0 to
9, alphabets A to Z, arithmetic operators (e.g. +,-, etc.), relations operators (e.g. =.> ,
etc.), and many other special characters (e.g.;,@,{,], etc.). Therefore, there has to be a
mechanism for data representation. Old computers use eight bits to represent a
character. This allows up to 7,' = 256 different items to be represented uniquely. This
collection of eight bits is called a byte. Thus, one byte is used to represent one
character internally. Most computers use two bytes or four bytes to represent numbers
(positive and negative) internally. The data also includes the operational data such as
integer, decimal number etc. We will discuss more about data representation in the
next unit.
Thus, the prime task of a computer is to perform instruction execution. The key
questions, which can be asked in this respect, are: (a) how are the instructions
supplied to the computer? and (b) how are the instructions interpreted and executed?
Let us answer the second question first. All computers have a Unit that performs the
arithmetic and logical functions. This Unit is referred to as the Arithmetic Logic Unit
(ALU). But how will the computer determine what operation is to be performed by
ALU or in other words who will interpret the operation that is to be performed by
ALU?
This interpretation is done by the Control Unit of the computer. The control unit
accepts the binary form of instruction and interprets the instruction to generate control
signals. 'These control signals then direct the ALU to perform a specified arithmetic or
logic function on the data. Therefore, by changing the control signal the desired
function can be performed on data. Or conversely, the operations that need to be
performed on the data can be obtained by providing a set of control signals. Thus, for
a new operation one only needs to change the set of control signals.
The unit that interprets a code (a machine instruction) to generate respective control
signals is termed as Control Unit (CU). A program now consists of a sequence of
codes. Each code is, in effect, an instruction, for the computer. The hardware
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interprets each of these instructions and generates respective control signals such that I
The B:~sicComputer,
the desired operation is performed on the data.
The Arithmetic Logic Unit (ALU) and the Control Unit (CU) together are termed as
the Central Processing Unit (CPU). The CPU is the most important component of a
computer's hardware.
All these arithmetic and logical Operations are performed in the CPU in special
storage areas called registers. The size of the register is one of the important
considerations in determining the processing capabilities of the CPU. Register size
refers to the amount of information that can be held in a register at a time for
processing. The larger the register size, the faster may be the speed of processing.
But, how can the instructions and data be put into the computers? The instructions and
data to a computer are supplied by external environment; it implies that input devices
are needed in the computer. The main responsibility of input devices will be to put the
data in the form of signals that can be recognised by the system. Similarly, we need
another component, which will report the results in proper format. This component is
called output device. These components together are referred to as inputloutput (110)
devices.
t
In addition, to transfer the information, the computer system internally needs the
system interconnections. At present we will not discuss about InputlOutput devices
I and system interconnections in details, except the information that most common
input'output devices are keyboard, monitor and printer, and the most common
interconnection structure is the Bus structure. These concepts are detailed in the later
blocks.
Input devices can bring instructions or data only sequentially, however, a program
may not be executed sequentially as jump, looping, decision-making instructions are
normally encountered in programming. In addition, more than one data element may
be required at a time. Therefore, a temporary storage area is needed in a computer to
store temporarily the instructions and the data This component is referred to as
memory.
The memory unit stores all the information in a group of memory cells such as a
group of 8 binary digits (that is a byte) or 16 bits or 32 bits etc. These groups of
I memory cells or bits are called memory locations. Each memory location has a unique
1 address and can be addressed independently. The contents of the desired memory
I locations are provided to the CPU by referring to the address of the memory location.
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The amount of information that can be held in the main memory is known as memory
capacity. The capacity of the main memory is measured in Mega Bytes (MB) or Giga
Bytes (GB). One-kilo byte stands for 2" bytes, which are 1024 bytes (or
I
approximately 1000 bytes). A Mega byte stands for 220bytes, which is approximately
a little over one million bytes, a giga byte is 230bytes.
Let us now define the key features of von Neumann Architecture:
The most basic function performed by a computer is the execution of a
program, which involves:
the execution of an instruction, which supplies the information about an
operation, and
o the data on which the operation is to be performed.

The control unit (CU) interprets each of these instructions and generates respective
control signals.
The Arithmetic Logic Unit (ALU) performs the arithmetic and logical
Operations in special storage areas called registers as per the instructions of
control unit. The size of the register is one of the important considerations in
Introduction to Digital
amount of information that can be held in a register at a time for processing.
Circuits
The larger the register size, the faster may be the speed of processing.
An Input/ Output system involving 1/0 devices allows data input and reporting
of the results in proper form and format. For transfer of information a computer
system internally needs the system interconnections, One such interconnection
structure is BUS interconnection.
Main Memory is needed in a computer to store instructions and the data at the
time of Program execution. Memory to CPU is an important data transfer path.
The amount of information, which can be transferred between CPU and
memory, depends on the size of BUS connecting the two.
It was pointed out by von-Neumann that the same memory can be used for
Storing data and instructions. In such a case the data can be treated as data on
which processing can be performed, while instructions can be treated as data,
which can be used for the generation of control signals.
The von Neumann machine uses stored program concept, i.e., the program
and data are stored in the same memory unit for execution. The computers prior
to this idea used to store programs and data on separate memories. Entering and
modifying these programs was very difficult as they were entered manually by
setting switches, plugging, and unplugging.
Execution of instructions in von Neumann machine is carried out in a sequential
fashion (unless explicitly altered by the program itself) from one instruction to
the next.
Figure 1 shows the basic structure of a conventional von Neumann machine

Main
Memory
Adclrcss
Inlerconncction

Central Processing Unit (CPU)

Registers rithmcti
and Logic

I l-J
unit
C o ~trol
i

interconnection
Inpul/Output

Figure 1: Structure of a Computer

A von Neumann machine has only a single path between the main memory and
control unit (CU). This featurdconstraint is referred to as von Neumann bottleneck.
Several other architectures have been suggested for modem computers. You can know
about non von Neumann architectures in hrther readings.
Check Your Progress 1
1) State True or False
a) A byte is equal to 8 bits and can represent a character internally.

b) von Neumann architecture specifies different memory for data and

instructions. The memory, which stores data, is called data memory and
the memory, which stores instructions, is called instruction memory.

c) In von Neumann architecture each bit of memory can be accessed

independently.

d) A program is a sequence of instructions designed for achieving a t a s k ~ ~ o a l .

 The Basic Computer 1
e) One MB is equal to 1024KB.
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f) von Neumann machine has one path between memory and control unit.
This is the bottleneck of von Neumann machines.
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2) What is von Neumann Architecture?
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3) Why is memory needed in a computer?

1.3 INSTRUCTION EXECUTION: AN EXAMPLE

After discussing about the basic structure of the computer, let us now try to answer the
basic question: "How does the Computer execute a Program?'Let us explain this with
the help of an example from higher level language domain.
1
Problem: Write a program to add two numbers.
I
t A sample C program (Assuming two fixed values of numbers as a = 5 and b = 2)
I

2. main ()

! 3. {
4. int a =5, b=2, c;
i / 5. c= a-tb;
I
6. printf ("hThe added value is: % d", c);

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The program at line 4 declares variables that will be equivalent to 3 memory locations
namely a, b and c. At line 5 these variables are added and at line 6 the value of c is
printed.

But, how will these instructions be executed by CPU?

First you need to compile this program to convert it to machine language. But how
will the machine instructions look like?
Let us assume a hypothetical instruction set of a machines of a size of 16 binary digits
(bits) instructions and data. Each instruction of the machine consists of two
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components: (a) Operation code that specifies the operation that is to be performed by
the instruction, and (b) Address of the operand in memory on which the given
operation is to be performed.
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Let us further assume that the sizc >f operation code is assumed to be of six bits;
therefore, rest 10 bits are for the address of the operand. Also the memory word size
is assumed to be of 16 bits. Figure 2 shows the instruction and data formats for this
machine. However, to simplify our discussion, let us present the operation code using
Pnemonics like LOAD, ADD, STORE and decimal values of operand addresses and
signed decimal values for data.
9
introduction to Digital
Circuits

t+ Sign and Magnitude of jl

the number

(a) Instruction format (b) Data format

Figure 2: Instruction and data format of an assumed machine

The instruction execution is performed in the CPU registers. But before we define the
process of instruction execution let us first give details on Registers, the temporary
storage location in CPU for program execution. Let us define the minimum set of
registers required for von Neumann machines:
Accumulator Register (AC): This register is used to store data temporarily for
computation by ALU. AC is considered to contain one of the operands. The result of
computation by ALU is also stored back to AC. It implies that the operand value is
over-written by the result.
Memory Address Register (MAR): It specifies the address of memory location from
which data or instruction is to be accessed (read operation) or to which the data is to
be stored (write operation). Refer to figure 3.
Memory Buffer Register (MBR): It is a register, which contains the data to be written
in the memory (write operation) or it receives the data from the memory (read
operation).
Program Counter (PC): It keeps track of the instruction that is to be executed next,
that is, after the execution of an on-going instruction.
Instruction Register (IR): Here the instructions are loaded prior to execution.
Comments on figure 3 are as follows:
All representation are in decimals. (In actual machines the representations are in
Binary).
The Number of Memory Locations = 16
Size of each memory location = 16 bits = 2 Bytes (Compare with contemporary
machines word size of 16,32, 64 bits)
Thus, size of this sample memory = 16 words (Compare it with actual memory)
size, which is 128 MB, 256 MB, 5 12 MB, or more).
In the diagram MAR is pointing to location 10.
The last operation performed was "read memory location 10" which is 65 in
this. Thus, the contents of MBR is also 65.
Location Address

Figure 3: CPU registers and their functions

The role of PC and IR will be explained later. That Basic Computer

Now let us define several operation codes required for this machine, so that we can
translate the High level language instructions to assembly/machine instructions.
Operation Definitionloperation (please note that the address part in
the Instruction format specifies the Location of the
Operand on whom operation is to be performed
LOAD as "Load the accumulator with the content of memory"
STORE as "Store the current value of Accumulator in the
memory"
as "Add the value from memory to the Accumulator"
A sample machine instructions for the assumed system for line 5 that is c = a + b in
the program would be:
LOAD A ; Load the contents of memory location A to Accumulator
register
ADD B ; Add the contents of B to contents of Accumulator
and store result in Accumulator.
STORE C ; Store the content into location C
Please note that a simple one line statement in 'C' program has been translated to
three machine instructions as above. Please also note that these translated instructions
are machine dependent.
Now, how will these instructions execute?
Let us assume that the above machine instructions are stored in three consecutive
memory locations 1 , 2 and 3 and the PC contains a value (I), which in turn is address
of first of these instructions. (Please refer to figure 4 (a)).

AmMAR 14

(c) After execution of all

(a) After Step 1 (b) After executing Step 2
three instructiclns
Figure 4: Memory and Registers Coptent on execution or the three grven Consecutive
Instructions (All notations in Decimals)
Then the execution of the instructions will be as follows:
Fetch First Instruction into CPU:
Step 1: Find or calculate the address of the first instruction in memory: In this
machine example, the next instruction address is contained in PC register. It
contains 1, which is the address of first instruction to be executed. (figure 4

Step 2: Bring the binary ins~ructionto IR register. This step requires:

Passing the content of PC t s Memory Address Registers so that the instruction
pointed to by PC is fetched. That is location 1's content is fetched.
CPU issues "Memory read" operation, thus, brings contents of location pointed
by MAR (1 in this case) to the MBR register.
Content of MBR is transferred to IR. In addition PC is incremented to point to
next instruction in sequence (2 in this case).
Introduction to Digital Execute the Instruction
Circuits
Step 3: The IR has the instruction LOAD A, which is decoded as "Load the content
of address A in the accumulator register".
Step 4: The address of operand that is 13, that is A, is transferred to MAR register.
Step 5: The content of memory location (specified by MAR that is location 13)
is transferred to MBR.
Step 6: The content of MBR is transferred to Accumulator Register.
Thus, the accumulator register is loaded with the content of location A, which is 5.
Now the instruction 1 execution is complete, and the next instruction that is 2
(indicated by PC) is fetched and PC is incremented to 3. This instruction is ADD B,
which instruct CPU to add the contents of memory location B to the accumulator. On
execution of this instruction the accumulator will contain the sum of its earlier value
that is A and the value stored in memory location B.
On execution of the instruction at memory location 3, PC becomes 4; the accumulator
results are stored in location C, that is 15, and IR still contains the third instruction.
This state is shown in figure 4 (C).
Please note that the execution of the instructions in the above example is quite simple
and requires only data transfer and data processing operations in each instruction.
Also these instructions require one memory reference during its execution.
Some of the problems/limitations of the example shown above are?
1. The size of memory shown in 16 words, whereas, the instruction is capable of
addressing 2" =1 K words of Memory. But why 2'' , because 10 bits are
reserved for address in the machine instruction format.
2. The instructions shown are sequential in nature, however, a machine instruction
can also be a branch instruction that causes change in the sequence of
instruction execution.
3. When does the CPU stop executing a program? A program execution is
normally completed at the end of a program or it can be terminated due to an
error in program execution or sometimes all running programs will be
terminated due to catastrophic failures such as power failure.

1.4 INSTRUCTION CYCLE

We have discussed the instruction execution in the previous section, now let us
discuss more about various types of instruction execution.
What are the various types of operations that may be required by computer for
execution of instruction? The following are the possible steps:
I
Step to be
S'No' How is it done Who does it
performed
Calculate the address The Program Counter (PC Control Unit (CU).
of next instruction to register stores the address
be executed of next instruction.
Get the instruction in The memory is accessed Memory Read
the CPU register and the desired operation is done. Size
instruction is brought to of instruction is
register (IR) in CPU important. In addition,
PC is incremented to
point to next
instruction in sequence.
The control Unit issues CU.
I instruction necessary control signals
 I
The Basic Computer
4. Evaluate the operand CPU evaluates the CPU under the control
address based on the of CU
addressing mode
specified.
5. Fetch the operand The memory is accessed Memory Read
and the desired operands
brought into the CPU

6. Perform the operation The ALU does evaluation ALUICU

as decoded in steps3. of arithmetic or logic,
instruction or the transfer
of control operations.
Store the results in The value is written to Memory write
desired memory location

esslng steps at CPU

Figure 5: Instruction Cycle

Introduction to Digital
Circuits
Thus, in general, the execution cycle for a particular instruction may involve more
than one stage and memory references. In addition, an instruction may ask for an I10
operation. Considering the steps above, let us work out a more detailed view of
instruction cycle. Figure 5 gives a diagram of an instruction cycle.
Please note that in the preceding diagram some steps may be bypassed while some
may be visited more than once. The instruction cycle shown in figure 5 consists of
following stateslstages:

First the address of the next instruction is calculated, based on the size of
instruction and memory organisation. For example, if in a computer an
instruction is of 16 bits and if memory is organized as 16-bits words, then the
address of the next instruction is evaluated by adding one in the address of
the current instruction. In case, the memory is organized as bytes, which can
be addressed individually, then we need to add two in the current instruction
address to get the address of the next instruction to be executed in sequence.

Now, the next instruction is fetched from a memory location to the CPU
registers such as Instruction register.

The next state decodes the instruction to determine the type of operation
desired and the operands to be used.

In case the operands need to be fetched from memory or via Input devices, then
the address of the memory location or Input device is calculated.

Next, the operand is fetched (or operands are fetched one by one) from the
memory or read from the Input devices.

Now, the operation, asked by the instruction is performed.

Finally, the results are written back to memory or Output devices, wherever
desired by first calculating the address of the operand and then transferring the
values to desired destination.

Please note that multiple operands and multiple results are allowed in many
computers. An example of such a case may be an instruction ADD A, B. This
instruction requires operand A and B to be fetched.
In certain machines a single instruction can trigger an operation to be performed on an
array of numbers or a string of characters. Such an operation involves repeated fetch
for the operands without fetching the instruction again, that is, the instruction cycle
loops at operand fetch.
Thus, a Program is executed as per the instruction cycle of figure 5. But what happens
when you want the program to terminate in between? At what point of time is an
interruption to a program execution allowed? To answer these questions, let us discuss
the process used in computer that is called interrupt handling.

1.4.1 Interrupts
The term interrupt is an exceptional event that causes CPU to temporarily transfer its
control from currently executing program to a different program which provides
service to the exceptional event. It is like you asking a question in a class. When you
ask a question in a class by raising hands, the teacher who is explaining some point
may respond to your request only after completion of hislher point. Similarly, an
interrupt is acknowledged by the CPU when it has completed the currently executing
instruction. An interrupt may be generated by a number of sources, which may be
either internal or external to the CPU.
 The Basic Computer
Some of the basic issues of interrupt are:
What are the different kinds of interrupts?
What are the advantages of having an interruption mechanism?
How is the CPU informed about the occurrence of an interrupt?
What does the CPU do on occurrence of an interrupt?

Figure 6 Gives the list of some common interrupts and events that cause the
occurrence of those interrupts.

Interrupt Condition Occurrence of Event

Interrupt are generated by executing Division by Zero

program itself (also called traps) o The number exceeds the maximum
allowed
Attempt of executing an
illegallprivileged instruction.
o Trying to reference memory
location other than allowed for that
program.
Interrupt generated by clock in the Generally used on expiry of time
allocated for a program, in
multiprogramming operating systems.

Intenvpts generated by 110 devices and o Request of starting an Input/Output

their interfaces operation.
o Normal completion of an
Input/Output operation.
Occurrence of an error in
Input/Output operation.
Interrupts on Hardware failure o Power failure
o Memory parity error.

Figure 6: Various classes of Interrupts

.
Interrupts are a useful mechanism. They are useful in improving the efficiency of
processing. How? This is to the fact that almost all the external devices are slower
than the processor, therefore, in a typical system, a processor has to continually test
whether an input value has arrived or a printout has been completed, in turn wasting a
lot of'CPU time. With the interrupt facility CPU is freed from the task of testing status
of Input/Output devices and can do useful processing during this time, thus increasing
the processing efficiency.
How does the CPU know that an interrupt has occurred?

There needs to be a line or a register or status word in CPU that can be raised on
occurrence of interrupt condition.
Once a CPU knows that an interrupt has occurred then what?
First the condition is to be checked as to why the interrupt has occurred. That includes
not only the device but also why that device has raised the interrupt. Once the
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Introduction to Digital
interrupt condition is determined the necessary program called IS& (Interrupt
Circuits
servicing routines) must be executed such that the CPU can resume further operations.
For example, assume that the interrupt occurs due to an attempt by an executing
program for execution of an illegal or privileged instruction, then ISR for such
interrupt may terminate the execution of the program that has caused this condition.
Thus, on occurrence of an Interrupt the related ISR is executed by the CPU. The ISRs
are pre-defined programs written for specific interrupt conditions.
Considering these requirements let us work out the steps, which CPU must perform on
the occurrence of an interrupt.

The CPU must find out the source of the interrupt, as this will determine which
interrupt service routine is to be executed.

The CPU then acquires the address of the interrupt service routine, which are
stored in the memory (in general).

What happens to the program the CPU was executing before the interrupt? This
program needs to be interrupted till the CPU executes the Interrupt service
program. Do we need to do something for this program? Well the context of this
program is to be saved. We will discuss this a bit later.
Finally, the CPU executes the interrupt service routine till the completion of the
routine. A KETURN statement marks the end of this routine. After that, the
control is passed back to the'intermpted program.

Let us analyse some of the points above in greater detail.

Let us first discuss saving the context of a program. The execution of a program in the
CPU is done using certain set of registers and their respective circuitry. As the CPU
registers are also used for execution of the interrupt service routine, it is highly likely
that these routines alter the content of several registers. Therefore, it is the
responsibility of the operating system that before an interrupt service routine is
executed the previous content of the CPU registers should be stored, such that the
execution of interrupted program can be restarted without any change from the point
of interruption. Therefore, at the beginning of interrupt processing the essential
context of the processor is saved either into a special save area in main memory or
into a stack. This context is restored when the interrupt service routine is finished,
thus, the interrupted program execution can be restarted from the point of interruption.

1.4.2 Interrupts and Instruction Cycle

Let us summarise the interrupt process, on the occurrence of an interrupt, an interrupt
request (in the form of a signal) is issued to the CPU. The CPU on receipt of interrupt
request suspends the operation of the currently executing program, saves the context
of the currently executing program and starts executing the program which services
that interrupt request. This program is also known as interrupt handler. AAer the
interrupting condition1 device has been serviced the execution of original program is
resumed.

Thus, an interrupt can be considered as the interruption of the execution of an ongoing

user program. The execution of user program resumes as soon as the interrupt
processing is completed. Therefore, the user program does not contain any code for
interrupt handling. This job is to be performed by the processor and the operating
system, which in turn are also responsible for suspending the execution of the user
program, and later after interrupt handling, resumes the user program from the point
of interruption.

16
Br troduction to Digital interruption would be when it has completed the previous instruction and is about to
start a new instruction. Figure 7 shows instruction execution cycle with interrupt
cycle, where the interrupt condition is acknowledged. Please note that even interrupt
service routine is also a program and after acknowledging interrupt the next
instruction executed through instruction cycle is the first instruction of interrupt
servicing routine.
In the interrupt cycle, the responsibility of the CPUProcessor is to check whether any
interrupts have occurred checking the presence of the interrupt signal. In case no
interrupt needs service, the processor proceeds to the next instruction of the current
program. In case an interrupt needs servicing then the interrupt is processed as per the
following.
Suspend the execution of current program and save its context.
Set the Program counter to the starting address of the interrupt service routine of
the interrupt acknowledged.
The processor then executes the instructions in the interrupt-servicing program.
The interrupt servicing programs are normally part of the operating system.
After completing the interrupt servicing program the CPU can resume the .
prcgram it has suspended in step 1 above.
Check Your Progress 2
I) State True or False

ifthe memory word is of one byte and an instruction is 16 bits long.

ii) MAR and MBR both are needed to fetch the data /instruction from the
memory.

iii) A clock may generate an interrupt.

iv) Context switching is not desired before interrupt processing.

v) In case multiple interrupts occur at the same time, then only one of
the interrupt will be acknowtedged and rest will be lost.

2) What is an interrupt?
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3) What happens on the occurrence of an interrupt?

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1.5 COMPUTERS: THEN AND NOW

Let us now discuss the history of computers because this will give the basic
irlformation about the technological development trends in computer in the past and
its projections for the future. If we want to know about computers completely, then we
 The Basic Computer 1
must look at the history of computers and look into the details of various I
technological and intellectual breakthroughs. These are essential to give us the feel of
how much work and effort has been done in the past to bring the computer to this
shape. Our effort in this section will be to describe the conceptual breakthroughs in

The ancestors of modern age computer were the mechanical and electromechanical
devices. This ancestry can be traced as far back as the 17th Century, when the first
machine capable of performing four mathematical operations, viz. addition,
subtraction, division and multiplication, appeared. In the subsequent subsection we
present a very brief account of Mechanical Computers.
1.5.1 The Beginning
:
Blaise Pascal made the very first attempt towards automatic computing. He invented a
device, which consisted of lots of gears and chains which used to perform repeated
additions and subtractions. This device was called Pascaline. Later many attempts I
were made in this direction.

Charles Babbage, the grandfather of the modem computer, had designed two
computers:
The Difference Engine: It was based on the mathematical principle of finite
differences and was used to solve calculations on large numbers using a formula. It
was also used for solving the polynomial and trigonometric functions.
The Analytical Engine by Babbage: It was a general purpose-computing device,
which could be used for performing any mathematical operation automatically. The I
basic features of this analytical engine were:
It was a general-purpose programmable machine.
It had the provision of automatic sequence control, thus, enabling programs to
alter its sequence of operations.
;
The provision of sign checking of result existed.
A mechanism for advancing or reversing of control card was permitted thus
enabling execution of any desired instruction. In other words, Babbage had
I
tievised the conditional and branching instructions. The Babbage's machine was
fundamentally the same as the modem computer. Unfortunately, Babbage work
could not be completed. But as a tribute to Charles Babbage his Analytical
Engine was completed in the last decade of the 2 0 century
~ and is now on
display at the Science Museum at London.

The next notable attempts towards computers were electromechanical. Zuse used
electromechanical relays that could be either opened or closed automatically. Thus,
the use of binary digits, rather than decimal numbers started, in computers. i
- I
Haward Mark-I and the Bug
The next significant effort towards devising an electromechanical computer was made
at the Harvard University, jointly sponsored by IBM and the Department of UN Navy,
I
Howard Aiken of Harvard University developed a system called Mark I in 1944. Mark
I was a decimal machine, that is, the computations were performed using decimal

Some of you must have heard a term called "bug". It is mainly used to indicate errors
in conlputer programs. This term ..;coined
a when one day, a program in Mark-I did
not run properly due to a moth short-circuiting the computer. Since then, the moth or
the bug has been linked with errors or problems in computer programming. Thus, the
process of eliminating error in a program is known as 'debugging'.
Introduction to Digital The basic drawbacks of these mechanical and electromechanical computers were:
Circuits
Frictionlinertia of moving components limited the speed.
The data movement using gears and liners was quite difficult and unreliable.
The change was to have a switching and storing mechanism with no moving
parts. The electronic switching device "triode" vacuum tubes were used and
hence the first electronic computer was born.

1.5.2 First Generation Computers

It is indeed ironic that scientific inventions of great significance have often been
linked with supporting a very sad and undesirable aspect of civilization, that is,
fighting wars. Nuclear energy would not have been developed as fast, if colossal
efforts were not spent towards devising nuclear bombs. Similarly, the origin of the
first truly general-purpose computer was also designed to meet the requirement of
World War 11. The ENIAC (the Electronic Numerical Integrator And Calculator) was
designed in 1945 at the University of Pennsylvania to calculate figures for thousands
of gunnery tables required by the US army for accuracy in artillery fire. The ENIAC
ushered in the era of what is known as first generation computers. It could perform
5000 additions or 500 multiplications per minute. It was, however, a monstrous
installation. It used thousands of vacuum tubes (1 8000), weighed 30 tons, occupied a
number of rooms, needed a great amount of electricity and emitted excessive heat.
The main features of ENIAC can be summarised as:
ENIAC was a general purpose-computing machine in which vacuum tube
technology was used.
ENIAC was based on decimal arithmetic rather than binary arithmetic.
ENIAC needed to be programmed manually by setting switches and plugging or
unplugging. Thus, to pass a set of instructions to the computer was difficult and
time-consuming. This was considered to be the major deficiency of ENIAC.

The trends, which were encountered during the era of first generation computers were:

Centralised control in a single CPU; all the operations required a direct

intervention of the CPU.
Use of ferrite-core main memory was started during this time.
Concepts such as use of virtual memory and index register (you will know more
about these terms later) started.
Punched cards were used as input device.
Magnetic tapes and magnetic drums were used as secondary memory.
Binary code or machine language was used for programming.
Towards the end, due to difficulties encountered in use of machine language as
programming language, the use of symbolic language that is now called
assembly language started.
Assembler, a program that translates assembly language programs to machine
language, was made.
Computer was accessible to only one programmer at a time (single user
environment).
Advent of von-Neurnann architecture.

1.5.3 Second Generation Computers

Silicon brought the advent of the second generation computers. A two state device
called a transistor was made from silicon. Transistor was cheaper, smaller and
dissipated less heat than vacuum tube, but could be utilised in a similar way to
vacuum tubes. A transistor is called a solid state device as it is not created from wires,
metal glass capsule and vacuum which was used in vacuum tubes. The transistors
were invented in 1947 and launched the electronic revolution in 1950.

20
But how do we characterise the future generation of computers? 'I'hc Dasic c:'omputer

The generations of computers are basically differentiated by the fundamental

hardware technology. The advancement in technology led to greater speed, large
memory capacity and smaller size in various generations. Thus, second generation
computers were more advanced in terms of arithmetic and logic unit and control unit
than their counterparts of the first generation and thus, computationally more
powerfill. On the software front at the same time use of high level languages started
and the developments were made for creating better Operating System and other
system software.
One of the main computer series during this time was the IBM 700 series. Each
successful member of this series showed increased performance arid capacity and
reduced cost. In these series two main concepts, I10 channels - an independent
processor for InputlOutput, and Multiplexer - a useful routing device, were used.
These two concepts are defined in the later units.

1.5.4 Third Generation Computers

The third generation has the basic hardware techr >logy: the Integrated Circuits (ICs).
But what are integrated circuits? Let us first define a term called discrete components.
A single self-contained transistor is called discrete component. The discrete
components such as transistors, capacitors, resistors were manufactured separately and
were soldered on circuit boards, to create electronic components or computer cards.
All these cardslcomponents then were put together to make a computer. Since a
computer can contain around 10,000 of these transistors, therefore, the entire
mechanism was cumbersome. The basic idea of integrated circuit was to create
electronic components and later the whole CPU on a single Integrated chip. This was
made possible by the era of microelectronics (small electronics) with the invention of
Integrated Circuits (ICs).
In an integrated circuit technology the components such as transistors, resistors and
conductors are fabricated on a semiconductor material such as silicon. Thus, a desired
circuit can be fabricated in a tiny piece of silicon. Since, the size of these components
is very small in silicon, thus, hundreds or even thousands of transistors could be
fabricated on a single wafer of silicon. These fabricated transistors are connected with
a process of metalisation, thus, creating logic circuits on the chip.
Introduction to Digital An integrated circuit is constructed on a thin wafer of silicon, which is divided into a
Circuits
matrix of small areas (size of the order of a few millimeter squares). An identical
circuit pattern is fabricated in a dust free environment on each of these areas and the
wafer is converted into chips. (Refer figure 8). A chip consists of several gates, which
are made using transistors. A chip also has a number of input and output connection
points. A chip then is packaged separately in a housing to protect it. This housing
provides a number of pins for connecting this chip with other devices or circuits. For
example, if you see a microprocessor, what you are looking and touching is its
housing and huge number of pins.

Different circuits can be constructed on different wafers. All these packaged circuit
chips then can be interconnected on a Printed-circuit board (for example, a
motherboard of computer) to produce several complex electronic circuits such as in a
computer.
The Integration Levels:
Init~ally,only a few gates were integrated reliably on a chip. This initial integration
was referred to as small-scale integration (SSI).
With the advances in microelectronics technologies the SSI gave way to Medium
Scale Integration where 100's of gates were fabricated on a chip.
Next stage was Large Scale Integration ( I ,000 gates) and very large integration (VLSI
1000,000 gates on a single chip). Presently, we are in the era of Ultra Large Scale
Integration (ULSI) where 100,000,000 or even more components may be fabricated
on a single chip.

What are the advantages of having densely packed Integrated Circuits? These are:
Reliability: The integrated circuit interconnections are much more reliable than
soldered connections. In addition, densely packed integrated circuits enable
fewer inter-chip connections. Thus, the computers are more reliable. In fact, the
two unreliable extremes are when the chips are in low-level integration or
extremely high level of integration almost closer to maximum limits of
integration.
Low cost: The cost of a chip has remained almost constant while the chip
density (number of gates per chip) is everincreasing. It implies that the cost of
computer logic and memory circuitry has been reducing rapidly.
Greater Operating Speed: The more is the density, the closer are the logic or
memory elements, which implies shorter electrical paths and hence higher
operating speed.
Smaller computers provide better portability
Reduction in power and cooling requirements.

The third generation computers mainly used SSI chips. One of the key concept which
was brought forward during this time was the concept of the family of compatible
computers. IBM mainly started this concept with its system/360 family.
A family of computers consists of several models. Each model is assigned a model
number, for example, the IBM system/360 family have, Model 30,40, 50.65 and ?5.
The memory capacity, processing speed and cost increases as we go up the Isdder.
However. a lower model is compatible to higher model, that is, program written on a
lower model can be executed on a higher model without any change. Only the time of
execution is reduced as we go towards higher model and also a higher model has more

22
 The Basit: Computer
number of instructions. The biggest advantage of this family system was the flexibility
in selection of model.
For example, if you had a limited budget and processing requirements you could
possibly start with a relatively moderate model. As your business grows and your I
processing requirements increase, you can upgrade your computer with subsequent
models depending on your need. However, please note that as you have gone for the
computer of the same family, you will not be sacrificing investment on the already
I
I
developed software as they can still be used on newer machines also.
Let us summarise the main characteristics of a computer family. These are:

I
member is a subset of higher end member. A
program written on lower end member can

added in the operating system for the higher

Figure 9: Characteristics of computer families

But how was the family concept implemented? Well, there were three main features
of implementation. These were:
Increased complexity of arithmetic logic unit;
Increase in memory - CPU data paths; and
Simultaneous access of data in higher end members.

The major developments which took place in the third generation, can be summarized

Application of IC circuits in the computer hardware replacing the discrete

transistor component circuits. Thus, computers became small in physical size
and less expensive.
Use oSSemiconductor (Integrated Circuit) memories as main memory replacing
earlier technologies.
The CPU design was made simple and CPU was made more flexible using a
technique called microprogramming (will be discussed in later Blocksj. 1I
Certain new techniques were introduced to increase the effective speed of
program execution. These techniques were pipelining and multiprocessing. The
details on these concepts can be found in the further readings.
The operating system of computers was incorporated with efficient methods
of sharing the facilities or resources such as processor and memory space
i
i
automatically. These concepts are called multiprogramming and will be
discussed in the course on operating systems.
Introduction to Digital
Circuits 1.5.5 Later Generations
One of the major milestones in the IC technology was the very large scale integration
(VLSI) where thousands of transistors can be integrated on a single chip. The main
impact of VLSI was that, it was possible to produce a complete CPU or main memory
or other similar devices on a single IC chip. This implied that mass production of
CPU, memory etc. can be done at a very low cost. The VLSI-based computer
architecture is sometimes referred to as fourth generation computers.
The Fourth generation is also coupled with Parallel Computer Architectures. These
computers had shared or distributed memory and specialized hardware units for
floating point computation. In this era, multiprocessing operating system, compilers
and special languages and tools were developed for parallel processing and distributed
computing. VAX 9000, CRAY X-MP, IBM13090 were some of the systems
developed during this era.
Fifth generation computers are also available presently, These computers mainly
emphasise on Massively Parallel Processing. These computers use high-density
packaging and optical technologies. Discussions on such technologies are beyond the
scope of this course.
However, let us discuss some of the important breakthroughs of VLSI technologies in
this subsection:

Semiconductor Memories
Initially the IC technology was used for constructing processor, but soon it was
realised that the same technology can be used for construction of memory. The first
memory chip was constructed in 1970 and could hold 256 bits. The cost of this first
chip was high. The cost of semiconductor memory has gone down gradually and
presently the IC RAM'S are quite cheap. Although the cost has gone down, the
memory capacity per chip has increased. At present, we have reached the 1 Gbits on a
single memory chip. Many new RAM technologies are available presently. We will
give more details on these technologies later in Block 2.
Microprocessors
Keeping pace with electronics as more and more components were fabricated on a
single chip, fewer chips were needed to construct a single processor. Intel in 1971
achieved the breakthrough of putting all the components on a single chip. The single
chip processor is known as a microprocessor. The Intel 4004 was the first
microprocessor. It was a primitive microprocessor designed for a specific application.
Intel 8080, which came in 1974, was the first general-purpose microprocessor. This
microprocessor was meant to be used for writing programs that can be used for
general purpose computing. It was an 8-bit microprocessor. Motorola is another
manufacturer in this area. At present 32 and 64 bit general-purpose microprocessors
are already in the market. Let us look into the development of two most important
series of microprocessors.

S.No. Processor Year Memory size Bus width Comment

Processor for specific
1 4004 1971 640 bytes 4 bits applications
First general-purpose
micro-processor. It was
2. 8080 1974 64 KB 8 bits used in development of
first personal computer
0 Supported
instruction cache
3. 8086 1978 1 MB 16 bits memory or queue
0 Was the first
powerful machine
 The Basic Comp
o First 32 bit
o The processor
PrOCeSSOr
versions.
multitasking
o Use of powerhl
cache technology.
o Supports pipeline
based instruction
execution
1989-1991 4gByte 32 bits o Contains built-in
facility in the term
of built-in math co-
processor for
floating point
instructions
Uses superscalar
32-bits and techniques, that is
Pentium 1993-1995 64 G Bytes 64 bits execution of multiple
instructions in parallel.
Contains instruction for
handling processing of
video, audio, graphics
64 G Bytes 64 bits etc. efficiently. This
technology was called
MMX technology.
Supports 3 D graphics
64 B bytes 64 bits software.
Contains instructions for
enhancement of
64 G Bytes 64 bits multimedia. A very
powerful processor
Supports massively
10 Itaium 2001 64 G bytes 64 bits parallel computing
architecture.
Support hyper threading
explained after this
diagrams
64 G bytes 64 bits Outstanding
performance and
dependability: ideal for
low cost servers

Figure 10: Some Important Developments in Intel Family of Microprocessors

Hyper-threading:

Nonthreaded program instructions are executed in a single order at a time, till the
program completion. Supposr a program have 4 tasks namely A, B, C, D. Assume
that each task consist of 10 instructions including few 110 instructions. A simple
sequential execution would require .4+ B -+ C -+ D sequence.

In a threaded system these tasks of a single process/program can be executed in

parallel provided is no data dependency. Since, there is only one processor these tasks
will be executed in threaded system as interleaved threads, for example, 2 instructions
of A 3 instruction of B, 1 instruction of C, 4 instruction of D, 2
instruction of C etc. till completion of the threads.
Introduction to Digital Hyper-threading allows 2 threads A & B to execute at the same time. How? Some of
Circuits
the more important parts of the CPU are duplicated. Thus, there exists 2 executing
threads in the CPU at the exact same time. Please note that both these sections of the
CPU works on the same memory space (as threads are the same program). Eventually
dual CPUs will allow the computer to execute two threads in two separate programs at
the same time.

Thus, Hyper-threading technology allows a single microprocessor to act like two

separate threaded processors to the operating system and the application program that
use it.
Hyper-threading requires software that has multiple threads and optimises speed of
execution. A threaded program executes faster on hyper threaded machine. However,
it should be noted that not all programs can be threaded.

The other architecture that has gained popularity over the last decade is the power PC
family. These machines are reduced set instruction compGter (RISC) based
technologies. RISC technologies and are finding their application because of
simplicity of Instructions. You will learn more about RISC in Block 3 of this course.
The IBM made an alliance with Motorola and Apple who has used Motorola 68000
chips in their Macitosh computer to create a POWER PC architecture. Some of the
processors in this family are:

Figure 11: Power PC Family

The VLSI technology is still evolving. More and more powerhl microprocessors and
more storage space now is being put in a single chip. One question which we have still
not answered, is: Is there any classification of computers? Well-for quite sometime
computers have been classified under the following categories:
Micro-controllers
Micro-computers
Engineering workstations
Mini computers
Mainframes
Super computers
Network computers.

Micro-controllers: These are specialised device controlling computers that contains

all the functions of computers on a single chip. The chip includes provision for
processing, data input and output display. These chips then can be embedded into
various devices to make them more intelligent. Today this technology has reached
 The Bas~cCompute1
great heights. In fact it has been stated that embedded technology computing power
available even in a car today is much more than what was available in the system on
first lunar mission".

Microcomputers
A microcomputer's CPU is a microprocessor. They are typically used as single user i
computer although present day microcomputers are very powerful. They support
highly interactive environment specially like graphical user interface like windows.
These computers are popular for home and business applications. The microcomputer
originated in late 1970's. The first microcomputers were built around 8-bit
microprocessor chips. What do we mean by an 8-bit chip? It means that the chip can
retrieve instructionsldata from storage, manipulate, and process an 8-bit data at a time
or we can say that the chip has a built- in 8-bit data transfer path.
An improvement on 8-bit chip technology was seen in early 1980s, when a series of
16-bit chips namely 8086 and 8088 were introduced by Intel Corporation, each one
with an advancement over the other.
8088 was an 8/16 bit chip i.e. an 8-bit path is used to move data between chip and
primary storage (external path), but processing was done within the chip using a 16-
bit path (internal path) at a time. 8086 was a 16116-bit chip i.e. the internal and I
external paths both were 16 bits wide. Both these chips could support a primary basic
memory of storage capacity of 1 Mega Byte (MB).
Similar to Intel's chip series exists another popular chip series of Motorola. The first
16-bit microprocessor of this series was MC 68000. It was a 16132-bit chip and could
support up to 16 MB of primary storage. Advancement over the 16/32 bit chips was
the 32/32 chips. Some of the popular 32-bit chips were Intel's 80486 and MC 68020

Most of the popular microcomputers were developed around Intel's chips, while most
of the minis and super minis were built around Motorola's 68000 series chips. With
the advancement of display and VLSl technology a microcomputer was available in
very small size. Some of these are laptops, note book computers etc. Most of these are
of the size of a small notebook but equivalent capacity of an older mainframe.

Workstations
The workstations are used for engineering applications such as CAD/CAM or any
other types of applications that require a moderate computing power and relatively
high quality graphics capabilities. Workstations generally are required with high
resolution graphics screen, large RAM, network support, a graphical user interface,
and mass storage device. Some special type of workstation comes, without a disk.
These are called diskless terminals/ workstations. Workstations are typically linked
together to form a network. The most common operating systems for workstations are
UNIX, Windows 2003 Server, and Solaris etc.
Please note that networking workstation means any computer connected to a local
area network although it could be a workstation or a personal computer.
Workstations may be a client to server Computers. Server is a computer that is
optimised to provide services to other connected computers through a network.
Servers usually have powerful processors, huge memory and large secondary storage

Minicomputer
The term minicomputer originated in 1960s when it was realised that many computing
tasks do not require an expensive contemporary mainframe computers but can be
solved by a small, inexpensive computer.
Introduction to Digital The mini computers support multi-user environment with CPU time being shared
Circuits
among multiple users. The main emphasis in such computer is on the processing
power and less for interaction. Most of the present day mini computers have
proprietary CPU and operating system. Some common examples of a mini-computer
are IBM AS1400 and Digital VAX. The major use of a minicomputer is in data
processing application pertaining to departmentslcompanies.

Mainframes
Mainframe computers are generally 32-bit machines or higher. These are suited to big
organisations, to manage high volume applications. Few of the popular mainframe
series were DEC, IBM, HP, ICL, etc. Mainframes are also used as central host
computers in distributed systems. Libraries of application programs developed for
mainframe computers are much larger than those of the micro or minicomputers
because of their evolution over several decades as families of computing. All these
factors and many more make the mainframe computers indispensable even with the
popularity of microcomputers.

Supercomputers
The upper end of the state of the art mainframe machine are the supercomputers.
These are amongst the fastest machines in terms of processing speed and use
multiprocessing techniques, where a number of processors are used to solve a
problem. There are a number of manufacturers who dominate the market of
supercomputers-CRAY, IBM 3090 (with vector), NEC Fujitsu, PARAM by C-DEC
are some of them. Lately, a range of parallel computing products, which are
multiprocessors sharing common buses, have been in use in combination with the
mainframe supercomputers. The supercomputers are reaching upto speeds well over
25000 million arithmetic operations per second. India has also announced its
indigenous supercomputer. They support solutions to number crunching problems.

Supercomputers are mainly being used for weather forecasting, computational fluid
dynamics, remote sensing, image processing, biomedical applications, etc. In India,
we have one such mainframe supercomputer system-CRAY XMP-14, which is at
present, being used by Meteorological Department.
Let us discuss about PARAM Super computer in more details
PARAM is a high-performances, scalable, industry standard computer. It has evolved
from the concepts of distributes scalable computers supporting massive parallel
processing in cluster of networked of computers. The PARAM's main advantages is
its Scalability. PARAM can be constructed to perform Tera-floating point operations
per second. It is a cost effective computer. It supports a number of application
software.
PARAM is made using standard available components. It supports Sun's Ultra
SPARC series servers and Solaris Operating System. It is based on open
environments and standard protocols. It can execute any standard application
available on Sun Solaris System.
Some of the applications that have been designed to run in parallel computational
mode on PARAM include numerical weather forecasting, seismic data processing,
Molecular modelling, finite element analysis, quantum chemistry.
It also supports many languages and Softcare Development platforms such as:
Solaris 2.5.1 Operating system on 110 and Server nodes, FORTRAN 77, FORTRAN
90, C and C++ language compilers, and tools for parallel program debugging,
Visualisation and parallel libraries, Distributed Computing Environment, Data
warehousing tools etc.

28
 I
1
Check Your Progress 3 The Basic Computer 1
1) What is a general purpose machine?
.....................................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................

2) List the advantages of IC technology over discrete components.

........................................................................................................................................ i
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.....................................................................................................
i
3) i n a t is a family of computers? What are its characteristics?
.....................................................................................................................................
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1.6 SUMMARY
This completes our discussion.on the introductory concepts of computer architecture.
The von-Neumann architecture discussed in the unit is not the only architecture but
many new architectures have come up which you will find in further readings.
The information given on various topics such as interrupts, classification, history of
computer although is exhaustive yet can be supplemented with additional reading. In i
fact, a course in an area of computer must be supplemented by further reading to keep
your knowledge up to date, as the computer world is changing with leaps and boursds. I
In addition to further readings the student is advised to study several Indian Journals
on computers to enhance his knowledge.
1

1.7 SOLUTIONS / ANSWERS

Check 'Your Progress 1
I
i
i
i

3. von Neumann architecture defines the basic architectural (logical) components

of computer and their features. As per von Neumann the basic components of a
computer are CPU (ALUtCU + Registers), 110 Devices, Memory and
interconnection structures. von Neumann machine follows stored program
concept that is, a program is loaded in the memory of computer prior to its 1
execution. i
* The instructions are not executed in sequence
* More than one data items may be required during a sinsle instruction
execution.
Speed of CPU is very fast in comparion to I10 devices.
Introduction to Digital Check Your Progress 2
Circuits
1.
i) False
ii) True
iii) True
iv) False
v) False, they may be acknowledged as per priority.
2. An interrupt is an external signal that occurs due to an exceptional event. It
causes interruption in the execution of current program of CPU.
3. An interrupt is acknowledged by the CPU, which executes an interrupt cycle
which causes interruption of currently executing program, and execution of
interrupt servicing routine (ISR) for that interrupt.
Check Your Progress 3
1. A machine, which can be used for variety of applications and is not modeled
only for specific applications. von Neumann machities are general-purpose
machines since they can be programmed for any general application, while
microprocessor based control systems are not general-purpose machines as they
are specifically modeled as control systems.
2.
Low cost
Increased operating speed
Reduction in size of the computers
Reduction in power and cooling requirements
More reliable
3. The concept of the family of computer was floated by IBM 360 series where the
features and cost increase from lower end members to higher end members.