Von Neumann architecture
The Von Neumann architecture, also known as the Von Neumann model and Princeton architecture, is a computer architecture.
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Description
The Von Neumann architecture is based on that described in 1945 by the mathematician and physicist John von Neumann and others in the First Draft of a Report on the EDVAC.
This describes a design architecture for an electronic digital computer with parts consisting of a processing unit containing an arithmetic logic unit and processor registers, a control unit containing an instruction register and program counter, a memory to store both data and instructions, external mass storage, and input and output mechanisms.
The meaning has evolved to be any stored-program computer in which an instruction fetch and a data operation cannot occur at the same time because they share a common bus. This is referred to as the Von Neumann bottleneck and often limits the performance of the system.
The design of a Von Neumann architecture is simpler than the more modern Harvard architecture which is also a stored-program system but has one dedicated set of address and data buses for reading data from and writing data to memory, and another set of address and data buses for fetching instructions.
Stored-program digital computer
A stored-program digital computer is one that keeps its program instructions, as well as its data, in read-write, random-access memory (RAM).
Advancements
Stored-program computers were an advancement over the program-controlled computers of the 1940s, such as the Colossus and the ENIAC, which were programmed by setting switches and inserting patch leads to route data and to control signals between various functional units.
Modern computers
In the vast majority of modern computers, the same memory is used for both data and program instructions, and the Von Neumann vs. Harvard distinction applies to the cache architecture, not the main memory.
(TO DO: organize, cross-ref)
See also
External links
- Von Neumann architecture @ Wikipedia
