ENVS 1000 Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: Processor Design, Taschen, Execution Unit
10 May 2018
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ENVS 1000 Tutorial 8 Notes – Modern computer systems
Introduction
• Each execution unit provides a pipeline that is optimized for one general type of
instruction.
• Typically, a modern CPU will have a LOAD/STORE unit, an integer arithmetic unit, a
floating point arithmetic unit, and a branch unit.
• More powerful CPUs may have multiple execution units for the more commonly used
instruction types and, perhaps, may provide other types of execution units as well.
• Again, an analogy may aid in understanding the concept of multiple, parallel execution
units.
• A simple automobile plant analogy would note that most automobile plants have
separate assembly lines for different car models.
• The most popular models might have multiple assembly lines operating in parallel.
• The use of multiple execution units operating in parallel makes it possible to perform
the actual execution of several instructions simultaneously.
• It’s time to put all the pieces together!
• We carefully explored the various fundamental components of computer systems.
• We explained in detail the operation of the computer CPU and introduced some of the
many variations on the basic CPU design found in different systems.
• You learned that there is a fundamental group of instructions that make up the
repertoire of the computer and that each instruction is performed in a series of simple
steps known as a fetch-execute cycle.
• You have seen variations in instruction sets and memory addressing techniques that
differentiate computers from one another and extend the flexibility of the basic
architecture.
• We explored various CPU architectures, memory enhancements, and CPU organizations
that expand the processing power of the CPU.
• We also considered various techniques used to perform I/O operations.
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