Computer System

About

A computer is a device of device controlled by a special device called a CPU.

It consists then of:

This invention of the transistor started the whole computer industry as it permits automatic switching of electric signal.

Hardware is a specific physical implementation of a logical computer represented by an Instruction Set Architecture (ISA) and an organization.

Code (Machine code) in a computer are called instructions.

Operations

All computer operations are carried out by a device and are built from the combinations of logic gates (ie the combinations of boolean functions). Se Instruction - Cycle

Type

Single-purpose

The function is built at hardware level.

Example:

  • encoders/decoders ,
  • timer

See Computer - Embedded system - Single Purpose

General-purpose

A lot of function can be programmed without modifying its hardware.

See Computer - Desktop Computer (General Purpose)

Documentation / Reference

Task Runner