This is an old version of the compendium, written July 17, 2020, 3:19 p.m. Changes made in this revision were made by EvenMF. View rendered version.

TDT4160: Computers and Digital Design

# Preface This compendium tries to explain the essence of the course. The information provided is largely based on the course book "Structured Computer Organization" and the lecture slides. Please note that this compendium is written by students, so please be critical to what you read. Anyone is allowed to edit this compendium, so feel free to make improvements. # Von Neumann- and Harvard Architecture Von Neumann architecture

: A digital computer cosists of three main parts: CP~~rocessor~~U, Memory, and I/O devices

Harvard architecture : Essentially the same as a von neumann architecture, except that there are two memories; One for data, and one for instructions.

![](https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/wikipendium-public/15949916710xcedde.jpg) CPU (Central Processing Unit) : The "brain" of the computer. Its function is to executre programs stored in the main memory by fetching their instructions,examining them, and then executing them one after another.