CPU architecture, memory hierarchy, and assembly-level concepts from a computer organization course.
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- What is the ALU and what is its primary function?
- The arithmetic-logic unit performs arithmetic operations (addition, subtraction) and logical operations (AND, OR, XOR) on data.
- Define a register in CPU architecture.
- A small, ultra-fast storage location inside the CPU that holds data or addresses for immediate use during computation.
- What is the program counter (PC)?
- A register that stores the memory address of the next instruction to be fetched and executed.
- What is the control unit in a CPU?
- The component that decodes instructions and generates control signals to direct other CPU components to execute those instructions.
- What does CPU clock speed measure?
- The number of clock cycles per second, measured in hertz (GHz), determining how many instructions per second the CPU can execute.
- Describe the fetch-decode-execute cycle.
- Fetch: retrieve instruction from memory; Decode: interpret the instruction; Execute: perform the operation.
- What is the memory hierarchy?
- The ordering of memory types by speed and cost, from fastest/smallest (registers) to slowest/largest (disk storage).
- What is cache memory?
- A small, fast memory between the CPU and main memory that stores frequently accessed data to reduce average memory access time.
- What is the typical size relationship between L1, L2, and L3 cache?
- L1 is smallest (kilobytes), L2 is larger (megabytes), L3 is largest (megabytes), and each is slower than the one before it.
- What is a cache hit?
- An occurrence when requested data is found in the cache, resulting in fast retrieval without accessing main memory.
- What is a cache miss?
- An occurrence when requested data is not in the cache and must be fetched from main memory or slower storage, causing a stall.
- What is virtual memory?
- A memory management technique that uses disk storage to extend addressable memory beyond physical RAM, allowing programs larger than RAM.
- What is a page in virtual memory?
- A fixed-size block of memory (typically 4 KB to 16 KB) used as the unit of transfer between RAM and disk in virtual memory systems.
- What is the TLB?
- Translation lookaside buffer, a small cache that stores recent virtual-to-physical address translations to speed up address translation.
- What is instruction pipelining?
- A technique where multiple instructions are processed in overlapping stages (fetch, decode, execute, write-back) simultaneously to improve throughput.