The Computer System (Hardware View)

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A computer is a digital machine that generates, processes, stores and transmits information. The essential design of a computer is bases on Von Neumann architecture consisting of two components – a processor and a tore connected through a communication channel.

Von Neumann architecture

Von Neumann architecture

The program instructions and associated data are loaded into the store. Therefore, such a machine is also called a stored program computer. The instructions and data travel through the communication channel, to and from the processor and store. Since there is one communication channel, only one item (instruction or data) can travel at ta time, in one direction, on the communication channel. This restriction is known as the Von-Neumann bottleneck. Consequently, computer bases on this architecture are inherently serial and sequential.