What is computer organization and architecture?

Right from the inventions of the super-machines that we call computers today, systematic arrangement and ensuring the functioning of all the components have been the primary concern for manufacturers and researchers. Computer architecture describes its structure in terms of its individually stated components and their interrelationships.

The history of computer architecture:

The first contemporary electronic computer systems were in the late 1940s, leading to computer architecture’s emergence. Compared to the work of an electronic circuit designer, the work is slightly different. 

Some of the early computer designers focused on the logical parts of the design, but many of them primarily focused on circuit design. The computer architect abstracts from electrical and electronic circuitry and instead works with idealised computing parts that have explicit, logical, and well-defined qualities. 

The intricacy of creating computers is a byproduct of the abstract viewpoint of the computer architect. A hierarchical view of the computer development process works well with an architectural view of the computer, making it simpler to understand and control. 

The architectural view also enables designers to think about the computer’s functional capabilities without having to think about the technological specifics concurrently.

The subcategories of computer architecture 

Three basic subdivisions are as follows:

Instruction set architecture (ISA): The word size, memory address modes, processor registers, and data type are all by the instruction set architecture (ISA), which also specifies the machine code that a processor reads and executes. 

Micro-architecture: It is well-known as “computer organization,” which explains the ISA implementation strategy used by a specific processor.

[15] For example, the size of a computer’s CPU cache is a problem that typically has nothing to do with the ISA.

Systems design: entails all of the other hardware parts of a computer system, such as direct memory access, virtualization, and multiprocessing, which are for data processing other than the CPU.

Computer architecture also uses other technologies. 

Programmer-visible Macro-architecture:  By abstracting variations between underlying ISA, USA, and micro-architectures, higher-level language tools like compilers may offer a consistent interface or contract to programmers utilizing them. For instance, several programmer-visible macro-architectures are by the C, C++, or Java standards.

 Microcode:  It is software that converts instructions so they can execute on a chip. It presents the desired version of the hardware’s instruction set interface as a wrapper around the device.

UISA: User Instruction Set Architecture: One of three subsets of the RISC CPU instructions by PowerPC RISC Processors. This is also referred to as the UISA The RISC instructions in the UISA subset are those that application developers are interested in. The developers of virtualization systems use the VEA (Virtual Environment Architecture) instructions, and operators utilize the OEA (Operating Environment Architecture) instructions. [16]

Pin architecture: A microprocessor’s responsibility to offer a hardware platform with certain hardware functionalities, such as the x86 pins A20M, FERR/IGNNE, or FLUSH. Messages that the processor must also send in order to invalidate external caches (emptied). Functions in pin architecture are more adaptable than those in ISA because external hardware can switch from a pin to a message or accommodate new encoding.

 Key Takeaways:

• Computer Architecture is the functioning, organization and implementation of various components of computing systems. 
• Lyle R. Johnson and Frederick P. Brooks, Jr.’s contributions to the Machine Organization department at IBM’s leading research center in 1959 are credited with coining the term “architecture” in computer literature.
• A change in computer architecture affects the overall power, performance and efficiency of the systems.

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FAQs

Q1. What is computer architecture?

Answer: Computer Architecture is the functioning, organization and implementation of various components of computing systems.

Q2. What is the importance of Computer Architecture?

Answer: Computer Architecture is responsible for the efficient working of any system. The computers and systems we use today are all based on it which is why developers always strive for an efficient Computer Architecture.

Q3. What are the subtypes of computer architecture?

Answer: Computer architecture has two broad sub-categories they are; Instruction Set architecture (ISA), Micro-architecture, and System Design.