CS 25000 Chapter Notes - Chapter 8: Field-Programmable Gate Array, Microcode, Macro Instruction

• School: Purdue University
• Department: Computer Sciences
• Course: CS 25000
• Professor: Adams George

Document Summary

A central processor: early in the history of computers, centralization emerged as an important architectural approach as much functionality as possible was collected into a single process. Processing unit (cpu), controlled the entire computer, including both calculations and i/o: a modern computer system follows a decentralized approach. The system contains multiple processors, many of which are dedicated to a specific function or a hardware subsystem. In essence, the cpu manages the entire computer system by telling other processors when to start, when to stop, and what to do. Cpu complexity: a modern cpu is extremely complex, multiple cores, modern cpu chips contain multiple processors called cores. The cores all function in parallel, permitting multiple computations to proceed at the same time. Required for high performance: multiple roles, a cpu must fill several major roles: running application programs, running os, handling external i/o devices, starting or stopping the computer, and managing memory.