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ACW - Computer Science - Architecture

The document discusses the inner workings of a computer when a user clicks their mouse. It describes how the mouse click is handled by the input/output subsystem and generates an interrupt to the CPU. The CPU then fetches and executes instructions from various programs in memory related to the mouse, monitor, and button to process the click. Many critical computer components work together without any 'gremlins' to make the simple task of a mouse click happen.

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Edmond Labule
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38 views13 pages

ACW - Computer Science - Architecture

The document discusses the inner workings of a computer when a user clicks their mouse. It describes how the mouse click is handled by the input/output subsystem and generates an interrupt to the CPU. The CPU then fetches and executes instructions from various programs in memory related to the mouse, monitor, and button to process the click. Many critical computer components work together without any 'gremlins' to make the simple task of a mouse click happen.

Uploaded by

Edmond Labule
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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ACADEMIC CONTENT WORKSHOP

Computer Architecture Basics

Ali
Workshop Objectives

After this session, you will be able to:

• Identify the main parts of a typical computer.

• Discuss possible future developments in data storage.


Review : Fill in the blanks with the correct word.
What is Machine Code?

Machine code is any ………. programming language, consisting of machine


language instructions, which is used to ……… a computer's central processing
unit (CPU). Each instruction causes the …….. to perform a very specific task.
Machine code is a strictly numerical language which is designed to run as fast as
possible. While it is possible to write …….. directly in machine code, managing
individual bits and calculating numerical addresses and constants manually is
tedious and error-prone. The majority of practical programs today are written in
higher-level human ……… languages or assembly language. The source code is
then ……… to executable machine code by utilities such as compilers etc.

a. programs b. translated c. low-level d. readable e. control f. CPU


Warm-up Activity

Hardware vs Software

What is the difference? Discuss in pairs.


Activity: Video 1
Watch the video and write down a short description of each
person’s job and duties.

1. Erica

2. Jerome
Watch the video again and answer the
questions.
Her job is to nap under her desk and snore
1. What’s the dog’s job?  very loudly

2. What console does Jerome work on? Xbox

3. What is the master chip called? Central Processing Unit (CPU)

4. In what format are the commands 0s and 1s only is binary


processed by the master chip?

5. What is the master program called? Operating System (OS)


Watch the video one more time.
• What hardware components of a computer are
shown in the video?

• What examples of software are mentioned by


Erica?

• What’s an Operating System according to Bill?


What do these abbreviations stand for?
For example: CPU stands for Central Processing Unit.
Activity: Video 2
1. What part of a computer handles a mouse click?
Input/Output (I/O)
subsystem
2. What does this part generate to let the CPU know the mouse
has been clicked? It generates an interrupt
3. What expression in the video means being able to do more
than one activity at once? Multi-task
4. How is human-readable code turned into language that a It’s compiled
computer can understand?

5. What do we call devices that are attached to a computer (e.g. Peripherals


printer, scanner etc.) ?
Read the text and check the underlined words.
Inside your Computer
Do you remember when you first realized that your computer was more than
just a monitor and keyboard? That between the mouse click and the video
playing, there was something that captured your attention, understood it, and
made it real? What is that something? Is it gremlins? Let's imagine that we can
shrink down to the size of an electron and inject ourselves into a click of a
mouse.
If you took your mouse apart, you'd see that it's really a very simple machine. It
has a couple buttons and a system for detecting motion and distance. You
might have an optical mouse that makes these measurements with lights and
sensors, but older ones did this with a hard rubber ball and some plastic
wheels. Same concept. When you click the button on your mouse, it sends a
message to the computer with information about its position. When your mouse
click is received, it's handled by the basic input/output subsystem.
This subsystem acts like the eyes and ears and mouth and hands of the computer. Basically, it
provides a way for the computer to interact with its environment. But it also acts like a buffer
to keep the CPU from being overwhelmed by distractions. In this case, the I/O subsystem
decides that your mouse click is pretty important, so it generates an interrupt to the CPU.
"Hey, CPU! Got a click here.“

The CPU, or central processing unit, is the brains of the whole computer. Just like your brain
doesn't take up your whole body, the CPU doesn't take up the whole computer, but it runs the
show all the same. And the CPU's job, its whole job, is fetching instructions from memory and
executing them. So, while you’re typing, typing, typing, maybe really fast, like 60 words a
minute, the CPU is fetching and executing billions of instructions a second. Yes, billions every
second: instructions to move your mouse around on the screen, to run that clock widget on
your desktop, play your internet radio, manage the files you're editing on the hard drive, and
much, much more.

Your computer's CPU is one heck of a multitasker! "But oh my gosh there's a very important
mouse click coming through now! Let's drop everything now and deal with that!" There are
programs for everything that the CPU does. A special program for the mouse, for the clock
widget, for the internet radio, and for dealing with letters
Each program was initially written by a human in a human-readable programming
language, like Java, C++, or Python. But human programs take up a lot of space
and contain a lot of unnecessary information to a computer, so they are compiled
and made smaller and stored in bits of ones and zeros in memory. The CPU
realizes that it needs instructions for how to deal with this mouse click, so it looks
up the address for the mouse program and sends a request to the memory
subsystem for instructions stored there. Each instruction in the mouse device
driver is duly fetched and executed.
And that's not nearly the end of the story! Because the CPU learns that the mouse
was clicked when the cursor was over a picture of a button on the monitor
screen, and so, the CPU asks memory for the monitor program to find out what
that button is. And then the CPU has to ask memory for the program for the
button, which means that the CPU needs the monitor program again to show the
video associated with the button, and so it goes. And let's just say there are a lot
of programs involved before you even see the button on the screen light up when
you clicked it.
So, just the simple task of clicking your mouse means visiting all of the critical
components of your computer's architecture: peripherals, the basic input-output
system, the CPU, programs, and memory, and not one gremlin.
Good work!
See you next time 

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