Introduction to Computer Systems and Performance
The chapter provides an overview of computer systems, focusing on their basic structure, including hardware, software, and firmware, as well as the evolution of computer architecture through its generations. It discusses key components like the CPU, memory, and I/O devices, as well as software layers and interactions with hardware. Performance measurement metrics are also introduced, highlighting factors affecting performance and the importance of benchmarking for system evaluation.
Sections
Navigate through the learning materials and practice exercises.
What we have learnt
- Computer systems consist of integrated hardware, software, and firmware components.
- The evolution of computer architecture has moved from vacuum tubes to microprocessors and advanced parallelism.
- Performance in computer systems can be measured using metrics such as execution time, throughput, and latency.
Key Concepts
- -- Computer System
- An integrated system comprising hardware, software, and firmware necessary for computation.
- -- Von Neumann Architecture
- A design model where both data and program instructions are stored in the same memory and accessed sequentially.
- -- Performance Metrics
- Quantitative measures like execution time, throughput, response time, and latency that assess the efficiency of computer systems.
- -- Benchmarking
- The practice of comparing the performance of computer systems using standardized test programs.
Additional Learning Materials
Supplementary resources to enhance your learning experience.