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Computer_Organization_and_Architecture_Practicals

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11 views

Computer_Organization_and_Architecture_Practicals

Uploaded by

alexanderthuranira287
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Computer Organization and Architecture Practicals

1. Binary and Hexadecimal Conversion:

Objective: Learn how computers use binary (base-2) and hexadecimal (base-16) number systems.

Exercise: Convert numbers between decimal, binary, and hexadecimal. Write simple programs in

Python or Java to automate the conversion.

Explanation: Computers use the binary system internally to process and store information. Learning

to convert between decimal (human-friendly), binary (machine-friendly), and hexadecimal (often

used for memory addresses) provides a good understanding of how data is represented. You can

use Python's `bin()`, `hex()`, and `int()` functions to convert numbers.

2. Assembly Language Programming:

Objective: Understand the low-level programming languages used to directly communicate with

hardware.

Exercise: Write simple assembly language programs (using tools like NASM or MASM) to perform

basic arithmetic operations and manipulate registers.

Explanation: Assembly language provides instructions directly to the CPU. By writing simple

programs, such as adding two numbers and storing the result in a register, you can see how CPUs

handle instructions. This is a critical aspect of understanding computer architecture.

3. ALU (Arithmetic Logic Unit) Design:

Objective: Understand the role of the ALU in performing arithmetic and logical operations.

Exercise: Simulate a simple ALU in a tool like Logisim, and implement basic operations like addition,

subtraction, AND, OR, and NOT.

Explanation: The ALU is a fundamental building block of the CPU. It performs all arithmetic

(addition, subtraction) and logic (AND, OR, NOT) operations. Understanding its design helps you
grasp how calculations are carried out at the hardware level.

4. CPU Instruction Cycle:

Objective: Understand how the CPU fetches, decodes, and executes instructions.

Exercise: Simulate the instruction cycle using an emulator like MARIE or a similar CPU simulator.

You can create a program that mimics the fetch-decode-execute process.

Explanation: The CPU follows the instruction cycle to execute programs. By simulating this, you can

see how a program moves through different stages in the CPU, from fetching an instruction from

memory to executing it.

5. Memory Hierarchy (Cache, RAM, and Hard Disk):

Objective: Learn about different types of memory and how data is transferred between them.

Exercise: Measure the time taken to read and write data from different levels of memory (cache,

RAM, and disk). Tools like benchmarking software can help you with this task.

Explanation: Computers have a hierarchy of memory, with cache being the fastest and most

expensive, and hard disks being the slowest and least expensive. Understanding how data is moved

between these different levels is critical for optimizing performance.

6. Pipelining Simulation:

Objective: Understand how modern CPUs use pipelining to improve instruction throughput.

Exercise: Simulate a pipelined processor and see how instructions overlap during execution. Tools

like MARS for MIPS programming can be used to visualize pipelining.

Explanation: Pipelining is a technique used to improve CPU performance by overlapping the

execution of multiple instructions. By simulating pipelining, you can see how CPUs process multiple

instructions simultaneously, increasing efficiency.


7. Virtual Memory and Paging:

Objective: Understand how virtual memory extends the physical memory of a system.

Exercise: Write programs that allocate large amounts of memory and observe how the operating

system handles paging and swapping with virtual memory.

Explanation: Virtual memory allows a computer to use more memory than is physically available by

swapping data in and out of the disk. By exploring how virtual memory works, you can see how

operating systems manage memory when physical RAM is insufficient.

8. I/O Device Management:

Objective: Understand how input and output devices communicate with the CPU.

Exercise: Study interrupt-driven I/O by writing a program that handles keyboard or mouse input and

investigates how interrupts are handled at the hardware level.

Explanation: Input/output devices like keyboards and printers communicate with the CPU using

interrupts. By exploring interrupt-driven I/O, you can learn how the CPU prioritizes tasks and

responds to external inputs.

9. Parallel Processing and Multithreading:

Objective: Learn how modern processors use multiple cores to handle concurrent tasks.

Exercise: Write multithreaded programs in languages like C++ or Python and measure performance

improvements over single-threaded versions.

Explanation: Modern CPUs have multiple cores that can execute tasks in parallel. Writing

multithreaded programs helps you understand how to take advantage of these cores for faster

processing.

10. Bus Architecture Simulation:

Objective: Understand the role of the bus in connecting the CPU, memory, and I/O devices.
Exercise: Simulate a bus architecture and investigate how data is transferred between the CPU,

memory, and other peripherals.

Explanation: The bus is the communication system that transfers data between different

components of a computer. By simulating bus architecture, you can see how data flows through the

system and how bandwidth limitations affect performance.

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