Famanga Ngobeh
Prof. Saunders
Review Question
Lab
September 23, 2015
1. Move copies data from one memory location or register to another. The term “move” is a misnomer because data values in the source location aren’t removed. They’re tested, and copies of these values are placed in the destination location. Therefore, a move operator is really a copy operator. 2. Access to data stored in registers is immediate, but access to data stored in memory locations is slower. Most programs require a temporary storage area for intermediate results and frequently needed variables or constants. General-purpose registers serve this purpose. As the number of general-purpose registers increases, more of these items can be held in registers, reducing the need to access memory for these items. …show more content…
The instruction pointer stores the address of the next instruction the control unit retrieves at the start of the next fetch cycle. The program status word contains data describing the CPU status and the currently executing program. 4. Word size is the number of bits the CPU processes simultaneously. It also describes the size of a single register. 5. The width of the data bus should equal or exceed CPU word size. The bus clock rate should match the CPU clock rate, though this is difficult or impossible to achieve. 6. 7. The most important factor is miniaturization—decreased size of devices and the wires connecting them. Smaller devices and shorter wires mean electricity has less distance to travel to perform a processing function. Therefore, the function is performed more quickly, resulting in higher clock rates. 8. Optical computing could eliminate interconnections and simply fabrication problems because photon pathway can cross without interfering with one another. Elimination wires would vastly improve fabrication cost and reliability. 9. In most cases, a benchmark is a better measure of computer performance because
Prof. Saunders
Review Question
Lab
September 23, 2015
1. Move copies data from one memory location or register to another. The term “move” is a misnomer because data values in the source location aren’t removed. They’re tested, and copies of these values are placed in the destination location. Therefore, a move operator is really a copy operator. 2. Access to data stored in registers is immediate, but access to data stored in memory locations is slower. Most programs require a temporary storage area for intermediate results and frequently needed variables or constants. General-purpose registers serve this purpose. As the number of general-purpose registers increases, more of these items can be held in registers, reducing the need to access memory for these items. …show more content…
The instruction pointer stores the address of the next instruction the control unit retrieves at the start of the next fetch cycle. The program status word contains data describing the CPU status and the currently executing program. 4. Word size is the number of bits the CPU processes simultaneously. It also describes the size of a single register. 5. The width of the data bus should equal or exceed CPU word size. The bus clock rate should match the CPU clock rate, though this is difficult or impossible to achieve. 6. 7. The most important factor is miniaturization—decreased size of devices and the wires connecting them. Smaller devices and shorter wires mean electricity has less distance to travel to perform a processing function. Therefore, the function is performed more quickly, resulting in higher clock rates. 8. Optical computing could eliminate interconnections and simply fabrication problems because photon pathway can cross without interfering with one another. Elimination wires would vastly improve fabrication cost and reliability. 9. In most cases, a benchmark is a better measure of computer performance because