C(M)PE 101

Introduction to Computing
Recap: Bits and Data
Storage
 Inside Today’s computer systems, information is encoded as
patterns of 0s and 1s. These digits are bits (short for binary
digits).

 Although you may be inclined to associate bits with numeric

values, they are only symbols whose meaning depends on the
application at hand.

 The bits are used to represent information on any form on the

computer; they can be used to represent a numeric value or a
character in an alphabet or even sometimes images or sound!

 Regardless of data type, bits are used to represent the data in

temporary and permanent storage.
Block Diagram of a
Computer System
Memory

 Computers and Computer Systems contains

large collection of circuits (much like flip-flops),
each capable of storing bits for the purpose of
storing data.

 This bit reservoir is known as computer

memory.
Memory Cell
 Cell: A unit of main memory (typically 8 bits which
is one byte)

 To identify individual cells in a machine’s main

memory, each cell is assigned a unique name,
called its address.
Measuring Memory
Capacity
Memory Hierarchy
Primary vs
Secondary Memory
 The information stored on your Primary Memory (i.e.
RAM) and the Cache are volatile; which means computer
systems use these memory blocks for temporary
usage.
 As an example, if you restart your computer, all the
information stored on your RAM will be overwritten.

 The information stored on your Secondary Memory is

permanent.
 As an example, when you save a word file on your hard
drive, you can always find the file even when you restart
the machine unless there is a failure on your system.
Cache

 Cache is similar to primary memory but it

generally has less capacity. Cache is primarily
designed for storing small portions of
information in process and supporting the
Central Processing Unit (CPU).

 There are two types of Cache : Memory

Cache and Disk Cache.
Memory Cache

 Cache Memory is located between Central

Processing Unit (CPU) and RAM.

 It is primarily designed to improve

performance of the CPU by storing small
parts of information which could reduce the
need for CPU to access RAM continuously.

 Memory Cache works faster than RAM but

has always got much less capacity.
Types of Memory Cache: L1,
L2 and L3
 CPU Cache memory is divided into three "levels": L1, L2, and L3.
 L1 cache is the fastest memory that is present in a computer system.
In terms of priority of access, the L1 cache has the data the CPU is
most likely to need while completing a certain task. The L1 cache size
is 64 K. Some top-end consumer CPUs now feature a 1MB L1 cache,
like the Intel i9.
 L2 cache is slower than the L1 cache but bigger in size. Where an L1
cache may measure in kilobytes, modern L2 memory caches measure
in megabytes. When it comes to speed, the L2 cache lags behind the
L1 cache but is still much faster than your system RAM. The L1
memory cache is typically 100 times faster than your RAM, while the
L2 cache is around 25 times faster.
 L3 cache in your CPU can be massive, with top-end consumer CPUs
featuring L3 caches up to 32MB. Some server CPU L3 caches can
exceed this, featuring up to 64MB.
 The L3 cache is the largest but also the slowest cache memory unit.
Modern CPUs include the L3 cache on the CPU itself. But while the L1
and L2 cache exist for each core (CPU processor) on the chip itself.
Disk Cache

 Disk Cache is located at Hard-Drive and is only

accessed when Memory Cache is not available.

 Disk Cache works slower than Memory Cache.

 As an example, Photoshop and various Internet

Browsers such as Google Chrome use Disk
Cache very often to create temporary files on
the Hard-drive.
Recap: Block Diagram of a
Computer System
Registers
 For temporary storage of information, the CPU contains
cells similar to main memory cells. These are called
registers.

 Although they are virtually similar, CPU Registers and

Cache are not the same.
 Registers hold the data being processed whereas
Cache holds the data that would be transferred to CPU
immediately.

 Registers handle instructions and data at a speed about

10 times faster than the cache memory.
Register, Cache, Main
Memory, Secondary Memory
Secondary Memory

 Due to volatile and limited size of a

computer’s primary memory; computers
and computer systems have additional
memory mechanism to store data
permanently.

 These devices are called secondary

memory, or mass storage devices.
Magnetic Systems (1)
 For decades now, magnetic technology has dominated the mass
storage area.

 The magnetic technology is predominantly used in Hard-disk.

 The Hard-disk consists of large shiny, circular "plate" of magnetic

material called a platter, divided into billions of tiny areas.

 Each one of those areas can be independently magnetized

(to store a 1) or demagnetized (to store a 0).

 Magnetism is used in computer storage because it goes on

storing information even when the power is switched off.
Magnetic Systems (2)
 The data is stored in a very orderly pattern on each platter.
 Bits of data are arranged in concentric, circular paths
called tracks.
 Each track is broken up into smaller areas called sectors.
 Cluster is a number of contiguous (next to each other) sectors.
 Part of the hard drive stores a map of sectors that have already
been used up and others that are still free. (In Windows, this
map is called the File Allocation Table or FAT.)
 When the computer wants to store new information, it takes a look at the
map to find some free sectors. Then it instructs the read-write head to
move across the platter to exactly the right location and store the data
there. To read information, the same process runs in reverse.
Hard-disk (1)
Hard-disk (2)
Optical Mechanism
 Another Class of mass storage systems (such as CD, DVD
Writers) apply Optical technology.

 In optical Technology, data is recorded on reflective

material surface to a single track consisting of individual
sectors, that spiral toward the outer edge of a disc.

 The information can be retrieved via a laser beam that

monitors irregularities on the reflective surface as the disc
spins.

 Optical Mechanism is frequently used today in CDs, DVDs,

and in Blu-Ray technology.
Flash Drivers and
Other External Storage
 Magnetic and Optical Technologies rely on physical spinning disks,
moving read/write heads and aiming laser beams.

 To overcome these requirements, external storage devices use

electronic signals directly sent to the storage medium (electrons are
trapped in tiny electronic circuits).

 Data is transferred in small byte sizes units as in RAM applications

thus, making this technology convenient for offline data storage - is
called nonvolatile memory.

 However, since data is transferred in small portions, this technology is

not very suitable for general main memory applications where its
content might be altered many times in one second.
Representing
Information as Bit
Patterns
 In addition to techniques for storing bits,
encoding systems are developed to represent
letters, numbers and special characters (&, $, +,
etc).

 Encoding system translates the data from/to

human readable format to/from machine
understanding format as a string of 1’s and 0’s.
Encoding Systems

 ‘ANSI’ (American National Standards Institute) : 8

bits are used for encoding. 128 characters are encoded by
this system, and Microsoft Windows use ANSI Standards.

 ASCII Encoding system: ‘ASCII’ (American Standard

Code for Information Interchange) encoding is the most
popular encoding system. This system uses 7 bits
encoding.

 Extended ASCII : 8 bit encoding system, and can

represent up to 256 characters.
ASCII Table