6. Computer Architecture & The Machine Cycle

Computers are built as a sequence of abstractions. Logical gates hide the messy details of electrical signals behind clean Boolean logic; logic gates in turn are used to construct circuits that perform functions like “add number a to b” or “remember the last value input”; these circuit are in turn used to build the higher-level components that programs actually interact with - things like the processor, the main memory and input and output devices.

Chapter Topics:

• 6.1. Computer Components
• 6.2. The Processor
• 6.3. The Processor, cont.
• 6.4. Main Memory
• 6.5. Memory Hierarchy
• 6.6. The Machine Cycle

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