1.1 SR Misconceptions

Which of these describes a classic von Neumann architecture?

• Separate physical memory addresses are used for instructions and data

• An instruction can always be executed in a single cycle

• The same physical memory address is used for instructions and data

• The CPU can access instructions and read/write data at the same time

Which of these program instructions can cause the program counter to change the value it stores?

• A store instruction e.g. to put the value of the accumulator back into RAM

• A load instruction e.g. to load a value into the accumulator

• An add instruction e.g. to sum two numbers

• A jump instruction e.g. condition or iteration

Which of these describes a classic von Neumann architecture?

• There is a common system bus for data and instruction transfer

• Separate buses are used for transferring data and instructions

• The CPU can access instructions and read/write data at the same time

• An instruction can always be executed in a single cycle

Which two registers hold an address for the CPU?

• Memory Data Register and Accumulator

• Program Counter and Memory Address Register

• Program Counter and Accumulator

• Memory Address Register and Accumulator

One purpose of the accumulator is to…

• Hold the number of the current cycle

• Hold the count of the number of instructions in a program

• Hold the result of calculations from the ALU

• Hold the address of the next instruction

Which of these describes a classic von Neumann architecture?

• Separate physical memory addresses are used for instructions and data

• Separate buses are used for transferring data and instructions

• The CPU can access instructions and read/write data at the same time

• More than one clock cycle may be required to execute a single instruction

Which register holds the address of the next instruction or the address of data to be fetched?

• Memory address register

• Accumulator

• Program counter

• Memory data register

A condition or iteration statement in programming such as IF or WHILE could change the address in which register first?

• Memory address register

• Program counter

• Accumulator

• Memory data register

Why does increasing the clock speed of a CPU increase performance?

• More than one instruction can be executed at the same time

• More busses can be used to transfer data between the CPU and RAM

• More instructions can be fetched, decoded and executed in the same amount of time

• More instructions and data can be held within the processor requiring less read/write operations to the RAM

One purpose of the control unit is to…

• Send signals down the address bus

• Execute instructions

• Store instructions in the RAM

• Decode instructions