What is a computer system
Computer organisation
Computer organisation refers to the physical aspects of computer systems.
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- This includes circuit design, control signals, memory types, etc
Computer architecture
Computer architecture refers to logical aspects of system implementation as seen by a programmer.
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- This includes instruction sets, instruction formats, data types, addressing modes, etc
Contents
Basic Components
A computer consists of three basic components:
- Processor (Central Processing Unit): interprets / executes programs
- Consists of an ALU (to perform computations) and a control unit to signal different tasks.
- Also contains registers which are very fast storage locations.
- Memory: stores data and / or programs
- I/O: a mechanism for data to / from the outside world.