Computer architecture

When we talk about architecture, we are usually talking about buildings.

If we talk about the architecture of typical school, we might list the sort of rooms you would expect:

• classrooms
• science labs
• assembly hall
• gym
• canteen
• library etc

We would also think about the floor plan - how they are connected by corridors, where the main entrance and fire exits should be.

This provides us with an overall pattern of how a school is designed. We could compare this with the architecture of, say, a hospital. It would have wards instead of classrooms, operating theatres instead of science labs, etc. But it would still have corridors, fire exits and a canteen.

If we then look at a particular school, we can see how the overall pattern is applied. For example, a small primary school might not have a gym and an assembly hall. It might just have a gym which can be used as a hall.

Computer architecture

Computer architecture has a similar meaning. It covers the essential parts which are in almost all computers, in one form or another.

In this chapter we will only consider the core of the computer - the Central Processing Unit (CPU). Other parts of the computer - such as memory, storage, and networking, have their own chapters.

See also

• What is a computer
• Chronometers
• Difference engine
• Von Neumann architecture
• Performance
• Clock speed
• Processor type
• Number of cores
• Cache memory
• Amount of RAM