Computer Organization VS Computer architecture
Computer architecture is concerned with the way hardware components are connected together to form a computer system. It acts as the interface between hardware and software.
Computer architecture helps us to understand the functionalities of a system. A programmer can view architecture in terms of instructions, addressing modes, and registers. While designing a computer system architecture is concerned first. Computer architecture deals with high-level design issues. It is a blueprint for the design and implementation of a computer system. It provides the functional details and behavior of a computer system and comes before the computer organization. Basically, Computer organization means ‘What to do?’.
Computer architecture has three main subcategories:
- Instruction Set Architecture(ISA).
Instruction set architecture (ISA) is an abstract model of a computer. It is also referred to as architecture or computer architecture. A realization of an ISA, such as a central processing unit (CPU), is called an implementation.
2. System Design.
Systems design is the process of defining the architecture, modules, interfaces, and data for a system to satisfy specified requirements. Systems design could be seen as the application of systems theory to product development. There is some overlap with the disciplines of systems analysis, systems architecture, and systems engineering.
3. Microcode.
Microcode is a computer hardware technique that interposes a layer of organization between the CPU hardware and the programmer-visible instruction set architecture of the computer. As such, the microcode is a layer of hardware-level instructions that implement higher-level machine code instructions or internal state machine sequencing in many digital processing elements.
Computer Organization
Computer Organization is connected with the structure and behavior of a computer system as seen by the user. It deals with the components of a connection in a system. Computer Organization tells us how exactly all the units in the system are arranged and interconnected.
Whereas organizations express the realization of architecture. As the organization is done on the basis of architecture computer organization deals with the Low low-level design issues. Basically, computer organization involves the physical components of the computer.
Computer Organization consist of four types of devices:
1.Input Devices
Anything that feeds the data into the computer. This data can be in an alpha-numeric form which needs to be keyed-in or in its very basic natural form
Typical input devices are:
1. Keyboard
2. Mouse
3. Joystick
4. Digitizing Tablet
5. Touch Sensitive Screen
6. Light Pen
2. Output Devices
Output devices display information in a way that you can understand. The most common output device is a monitor. It looks a lot like a TV and houses a computer screen. The monitor allows you to ‘see’ what you and the computer are doing together. Types of Output Device
for Printing: Plotter, Printer
for Sound: Speakers
for Visual: Monitor
3. Memory
The fundamental components of a general-purpose computer are arithmetic and logic unit, control circuitry, storage space, and input/output devices. If storage was removed, the device we had would be a simple calculator instead of a computer. The ability to store instructions that form a computer program and the information that the instructions manipulate is what makes stored program architecture computers versatile. Types of memory can be identified as :
- Primary storage.
- Processor registers.
- Cache memory.
- Main memory.
4. Storage Devices
The purpose of storage in a computer is to hold data or information and get that data to the CPU as quickly as possible when it is needed. Computers use disks for storage: hard disks that are located inside the computer, and floppy or compact disks that are used externally.
• Can be easily removed and moved & attached to some other device
• Memory capacity can be extended to a greater extent
- Cheaper than primary memory
