Computer architecture

Computer architecture is a branch of technical informatics that deals with the design of computers and especially with their organization as well as their external and internal structure (which is also referred to as 'computer architecture').

definition

Gene Amdahl , Gerrit A. Blaauw and Frederick P. Brooks introduced the term architecture in 1964 to distinguish the common properties of all models of the IBM System / 360 from their very different designs in terms of technology, capacity and operating speed. This common ground should facilitate the exchange of computer parts and programs if the customer's needs change.

So it was an abstraction similar to the mathematical concept of an algebraic structure . In it, for example, arithmetic is abstracted through the rules for ordering and interchanging operands or the resolution of brackets in such a way that it applies to various basic sets and links, such as natural numbers with addition or sets with union.

The authors avoided the word abstraction by attempting a definition by enumeration in a footnote: “The term architecture is used here to describe the attributes of a system as seen by the programmer, ie the conceptual structure and functional behavior as distinct from the organization of the data flow and controls, the logical design and the physical implementation. "

Later authors such as Peter Stahlknecht and Ulrich Hasenkamp detailed, supplemented and changed this list, but lost sight of the aspect of commonality and abstraction. The term computer architecture lost its essential character and became a demanding catchphrase for any design.

application

Just as an architect of a building defines the principles and goals of a building project as the basis for the draftsman's plans, just as a computer architect defines the computer architecture as the basis for the actual design specifications.

The term is used for different meanings:

• The design of the processor architecture of a computer and its instruction set and techniques such as SIMD and MIMD parallelism.
• More general and comprehensive hardware architecture such as cluster computing and NUMA architectures.
• A less formal meaning relates to the description of the requirements (especially speed and connection requirements) or design implementations of the various components of a computer (such as memory , motherboard , electronic peripherals or, in general, the CPU ).

literature

• John L. Hennessy , David A. Patterson : Computer Architecture: Analysis, Design, Implementation, Evaluation. Vieweg, Braunschweig 1994, ISBN 3-528-05173-6
• Wolfgang Everling : Algebra of Computer Architectures. Spektrum Akademischer Verlag Heidelberg, Berlin, Oxford 1996, ISBN 3-8274-0061-9
• John P. Hayes : Computer Architecture and Organization. McGraw-Hill 1998, ISBN 0-07-027355-3
• Paul Hermann: Structure, organization and implementation, including 64-bit technology and parallel computers. 3rd edition, Braunschweig, Vieweg 2002, ISBN 3-528-25598-6
• Andrew S. Tanenbaum , James Goodman: Computer Architecture. 4th edition, Pearson Studium, Munich 2001, ISBN 3-8273-7016-7
• Nicholas P. Carter : Computer Architecture. IT study edition. mitp-Verlag / Bonn, 1st edition 2003, 1st programming models, processor design and parallel processing, 2nd cache and virtual memory, 3rd 192 practical exercises with sample solutions, German: 19.95e, Austrian: 20.60e, ISBN 3-8266 -0907-7
• Theo Ungerer (Ed.) Et al .: Computer architecture - challenges in the next few years . Focus issue of it-Information Technology magazine . Vol. 50 (2008) issue 5

Web links

• Basic principles of computer architecture - online tutorial

Individual evidence

1. ^ Gene M. Amdahl, Gerrit A. Blaauw, Fred P. Brooks: Architecture of the IBM System / 360 . In: IBM Journal of Research and Development, Volume 8, Issue 2, April 1964.
2. ↑ Peter Stahlknecht, Ulrich Hasenkamp: Introduction to Business Information Systems . 11th edition, Springer, Berlin 2005, ISBN 3-540-01183-8 .