CHAPTER 2: COMPUTER HARDWARE

1. JON VON NEUMANN

1.1. In his architecture, data and instructions are stored as binary (0 and 1). This is stored within the memory and would be indistinguishable. It is the CPU's job to distinguish this by working it out whether this is an instruction or a data. If it is an instruction, the CPU will try and work out what the instruction is and what to do next. If it is data, it tries to access the data from the memory location (number or so)

2. TWO MAIN COMPONENTS OF A CPU

2.1. ALU

2.1.1. Carries out all the arithmetic and logical operations including addition, subtraction and comparisons - (They make comparisons between data using relational operators such as <,>, <=, >=, ==, !=) and make arithmetic operations using arithmetic operations such as +, -, /, *).

2.2. CU

2.2.1. Uses electrical signals to direct the system o execute the instructions in stored programs.