Ict notes

CPU is the brain of the computer

A computer system is a set of equipment that works together to help you do useful work
Input → processor → output → storage

The processor

At the Centre of a computer, system is a processor. The processor does all the work in a
computer system a processor is small enough to fit on your fingertip modern processor are so
tiny they called microprocessors

Part of the CPU

The control unit (cu) manages the work done by cpu when an instruction arrives at the cpu it
goes to the cu the cu works out what instruction means the cu makes sure that the other parts
cpu do the work necessary to carry out the instructions .

The arithmetic and logic unit (alu) does all the calculations in the CPU. The cu sends the
instructions to the alu and it carries out the instructions this is similar to using a spreadsheet to
do your calculations.

The clocks sends out regular electric pulses just like the tick of a clock. A clock at home tick
every second. The clock in a computer CPU ticks around 3billion times every second every time
the CPU clock ticks the control units sends an instruction to the alu

Buses

Connected called buses join the three parts of a CPU together. Buses are high speed connected
that carry data around inside the CPU

How the CPU works

Think about the last time you played a game or watched a video on a computer. The screen is
full of color the images are lifelike and object move just as they do in the real world. If you are
playing a video game you can give instruction through a joystick or game controller. High
quality audio is being played in the background while you play. It easy to think that CPU must
be doing complicated things .the CPU can only perform very simple instruction it performs
these simple instruction very quickly 3 billion time per seconds

The fetch execute cycle

The CPU is the part of the computer that comes out instruction it is made up of control unit the
alu and clock all connected by buses the computer memory is sometimes called the ram

What happens inside the ram?

The memory hold:

 The instructions that tell the computer what to do

 The data values that the computer needs.
 When the cpu has completed an instruction it sends the result back to memory

How does the memory work?

 Memory is made of microscopic electrical circuits the circuits can be on or off

 Everything inside the memory is stored using these on/off signals
 The on/off signals can be shown as 1and 0 in binary

Memory and storage

 Data is stored memory as electrical signals

 All data is lost if the electricity is turned off this is why must save your work before
you turn the computer off
 Your work is copied from the memory to storage whenever you save your work
o examples
a) The hard disk of a computer
b) A flash memory drive
c) The storage of a school network
d) Cloud storage on the internet

Advantages and disadvantages of ram and storage

Advantages ram Disadvantages

Ram is very close to the cpu the cpu can get The disadvantages of ram is that its contents
data and instructions from ram easily and are lost when the computer is switched off
quickly

Advantages storage Disadvantages

The advantages of the secondary storage is it Secondary storage is further away from the
 can keep data and instructions safe when the cpu it takes longer for the cpu to get data
computer is turned off and instructions from secondary storage
The fetch execute cycle

The cpu carries out instructions million or even billions of times a second it follows these steps
anytime it carries out instruction

Fetch –The control unit fetches the instruction from the ram the instructions travels down the
bus from ram to the control unit

Decode –The instruction is in the form of binary number code the control unit knowns all the
binary number codes the control unit decodes the instruction so it knowns what to do

Execute –The control unit sends a signal to the alu to tell it what to do the alu carries out the
instruction execute means carry out an instruction

Save- if the instruction produces a result then the alu send the result back to the ram

Worked example

Here is a single commend written in python

To the carry this instruction the computer must complete at least one fetch execute cycle

Fetch :the control unit fetch the instruction add and the data values from ram

Decode :The control unit decodes the instruction and sends a signial to the alu telling it to add
the numbers

Execute The alu carries out the instruction and adds the two numbers together

save the alu sends the result of the additions back to the ram the result saved in a memory
location with the label answer

Computer speed

Ram

If a computer has lots of ram all the data and instructions can fit into the computer memory.
The cpu can quickly get instruction and the computer will go quickly

If a computer has less memory all the data and instruction won’t fit into the memory some will
have to stored in storage this makes the computer run slowly run since it takes a longer time for
the cpu to get the instruction from the storage

Cache size
The CPU has small amount of memory known as cache it is very quick for the cpu to get data
and instruction from cache

If a computer has a big cache then it will be able to get data and instruction quickly

Word size

The amount of data a computer can fetch and use in one cycle is called the word size

A computer with a large word size generally work more quickly, the buses are larger so they can
carry more