Book Image

Modern Computer Architecture and Organization

By : Jim Ledin
Book Image

Modern Computer Architecture and Organization

By: Jim Ledin

Overview of this book

Are you a software developer, systems designer, or computer architecture student looking for a methodical introduction to digital device architectures but overwhelmed by their complexity? This book will help you to learn how modern computer systems work, from the lowest level of transistor switching to the macro view of collaborating multiprocessor servers. You'll gain unique insights into the internal behavior of processors that execute the code developed in high-level languages and enable you to design more efficient and scalable software systems. The book will teach you the fundamentals of computer systems including transistors, logic gates, sequential logic, and instruction operations. You will learn details of modern processor architectures and instruction sets including x86, x64, ARM, and RISC-V. You will see how to implement a RISC-V processor in a low-cost FPGA board and how to write a quantum computing program and run it on an actual quantum computer. By the end of this book, you will have a thorough understanding of modern processor and computer architectures and the future directions these architectures are likely to take.
Table of Contents (20 chapters)
1
Section 1: Fundamentals of Computer Architecture
8
Section 2: Processor Architectures and Instruction Sets
14
Section 3: Applications of Computer Architecture

Keyboard and mouse

Compared to the high-speed device interfaces discussed earlier in this chapter, the bandwidth requirements for a keyboard and mouse are quite modest. These devices are the sole input methods used by the human operator in most computer configurations, and thus are only required to operate at the speed of human actions. Even the fastest typist can only press one or two dozen keys per second.

Keyboard

A mechanical computer keyboard consists of a collection of keys, each of which operates an electrical momentary switch. A standard full-size keyboard contains 104 keys, including the arrow keys, control keys (Home, Scroll Lock, and so on), and the numeric keypad. Modern keyboards commonly provide a USB cable for connection to the computer system via cable or wirelessly. Because the bandwidth requirements for human interaction are so low, some computer motherboards provide a slower USB 2.0 port for keyboard connection while offering higher-performance USB 3.0 or...