CIS106
11/12/13
Von Neumann architecture marks the beginning modern information system processing. To fully understand why it is so important, we must first consider the purpose of computer programs. We can then fathom the magnitude of this architecture. The von Neumann architecture allows instructions and data to be mixed and stored in the same memory module and the contents of this memory are addressed by location only. This all takes place in a sequential order. The Von Neumann machine had five basic parts comprised of memory, ALU, the program control unit, input equipment & output equipment.
The programs uses a language that to the naked eye can in most cases resemble spoken language. Upper-level languages such as C and Java are designed with this in mind. However, computers understand natural language without significant human effort. The physical hardware cannot truly understand language, but instead processes electrical signals.
Computer programs are a list of and data, and are represented as binary strings. We can produce a list of high level requirements that a Central Processing Unit (CPU) could execute. This then leads us to a list of functional units that implement the high-level functionality.
Neumann m/c are called control flow computer because instruction are executed sequentially as controlled by a program counter. To increase the speed, parallel processing of computer have been developed in which serial CPU’s are connected in parallel to solve a problem. Even in parallel computers, the basic building blocks are Neumann processors.
The von Neumann architecture is a design model for a stored-program digital computer that uses a processing unit and a single separate storage structure to hold both instructions and data. It is named after mathematician and early computer scientist John von Neumann. Such a computer implements a universal Turing machine, and the common "referential model" of
References: Connecting with computer science Greg Anderson, David Ferro, & Robert Hilton The Computer as Von Neumann Planned It. M.D. Godfrey & D.F. Hendry http://www.cs.bham.ac.uk/internal/courses/sys-arch/current/handout-02.pdf http://www.pccomputernotes.com/system_bus/bus01.htm http://turing.cs.camosun.bc.ca/COMP112/notes/book/Chapter8.pdf