Faculty of Electrical and Electronic Engineering

BEC 30303, Computer Architecture and Organization, Semester II Session 2014/2015

CHAPTER 1: BASIC STRUCTURE OF COMPUTERS

TUTORIAL

1. Briefly explain four (4) basic functions of a computer. Relate each function with the
corresponding functional unit blocks in a computer.
2. Relate each basic function of a computer with the types of computer such as server and
personal computer.
3. List some of the common registers exist in Intel Pentium III and ARM Cortex-A9 processors.
4. Explain the typical operation steps involved when executing an instruction in a processor.
5. Based on the general equation to determine the processor performance, T=(N x S)/R, show
how can a software designer (application developer) improve the processor performance
when writing an application program in high level language (such as C/C++, JAVA, etc)?
6. Elaborate the effect of instruction set architecture, hardware design, and compiler to the
computer performance.
7. Differentiate between CISC and RISC processors architecture in terms of variable N and S
from the computer performance equation.
8. Describe the primary technology in each computer generation.
9. The number of transistor in a chip has been continuously increasing since its invention due to
the shrinking geometry size. In your opinion, what are the benefits of having so many
transistors?
10. Discuss the problem of single processor architecture that lead to the introduction of multicore
processor.
11. If the transistor size cannot be reduced anymore, what do you think will happen to the
computer performance?
12. Explain the method to improve computer performance using multicore processor
architecture.
13. Argue whether bus structure has any effect to the computer performance or not.

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