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Introduction, Data Representation I

CMSC 313
Sections 01, 02

[Review of Syllabus, Web pages]

Four Components of a Computer System

Adapted fm Silberschatz, Galvin & Gagne, 2013

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1.6 The Computer Level Hierarchy

• Computers consist of many things besides

chips.
• Before a computer can do anything worthwhile,
it must also use software.
• Writing complex programs requires a “divide
and conquer” approach, where each program
module solves a smaller problem.
• Complex computer systems employ a similar
technique through a series of virtual machine
layers.

1.6 The Computer Level Hierarchy

• Each virtual machine layer

is an abstraction of the level
below it.
• The machines at each level
execute their own particular
instructions, calling upon
machines at lower levels to
perform tasks as required.
• Computer circuits ultimately
carry out the work.

1.6 The Computer Level Hierarchy

• Level 6: The User Level

– Program execution and user interface level.
– The level with which we are most familiar.
• Level 5: High-Level Language Level
– The level with which we interact when we write
programs in languages such as C, Pascal, Lisp, and
Java.

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1.6 The Computer Level Hierarchy

• Level 4: Assembly Language Level

– Acts upon assembly language produced from
Level 5, as well as instructions programmed
directly at this level.
• Level 3: System Software Level
– Controls executing processes on the system.
– Protects system resources.
– Assembly language instructions often pass
through Level 3 without modification.

1.6 The Computer Level Hierarchy

• Level 2: Machine Level

– Also known as the Instruction Set Architecture
(ISA) Level.
– Consists of instructions that are particular to the
architecture of the machine.
– Programs written in machine language need no
compilers, interpreters, or assemblers.

1.6 The Computer Level Hierarchy

• Level 1: Control Level

– A control unit decodes and executes instructions
and moves data through the system.
– Control units can be microprogrammed or
hardwired.
– A microprogram is a program written in a low-
level language that is implemented by the
hardware.
– Hardwired control units consist of hardware that
directly executes machine instructions.

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1.6 The Computer Level Hierarchy

• Level 0: Digital Logic Level

– This level is where we find digital circuits (the
chips).
– Digital circuits consist of gates and wires.
– These components implement the mathematical
logic of all other levels.

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1.8 The von Neumann Model

• On the ENIAC, all programming was done at

the digital logic level.
• Programming the computer involved moving
plugs and wires.
• A different hardware configuration was needed
to solve every unique problem type.

Configuring the ENIAC to solve a “simple” problem

required many days labor by skilled technicians.

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1.8 The von Neumann Model

• Inventors of the ENIAC, John Mauchley and
J. Presper Eckert, conceived of a computer
that could store instructions in memory.
• The invention of this idea has since been
ascribed to a mathematician, John von
Neumann, who was a contemporary of
Mauchley and Eckert.
• Stored-program computers have become
known as von Neumann Architecture systems.

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1.8 The von Neumann Model

• Today’s stored-program computers have the
following characteristics:
– Three hardware systems:
• A central processing unit (CPU)
• A main memory system
• An I/O system
– The capacity to carry out sequential instruction
processing.
– A single data path between the CPU and main memory.
• This single path is known as the von Neumann
bottleneck.

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4.3 The Bus

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4.3 The Bus

• A multipoint bus is shown below.
• Because a multipoint bus is a shared resource,
access to it is controlled through protocols, which
are built into the hardware.

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1.8 The von Neumann Model

• This is a general
depiction of a von
Neumann system:

• These computers
employ a fetch-
decode-execute
cycle to run
programs as
follows . . .

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1.8 The von Neumann Model

• The control unit fetches the next instruction from memory using
the program counter to determine where the instruction is
located.

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1.8 The von Neumann Model

• The instruction is decoded into a language that the ALU
can understand.

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1.8 The von Neumann Model

• Any data operands required to execute the instruction

are fetched from memory and placed into registers
within the CPU.

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1.8 The von Neumann Model

• The ALU executes the instruction and places results in

registers or memory.

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BASE CONVERSION

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2.1 Introduction

• A bit is the most basic unit of information in a

computer.
– It is a state of “on” or “off” in a digital circuit.
– Sometimes these states are “high” or “low” voltage
instead of “on” or “off..”
• A byte is a group of eight bits.
– A byte is the smallest possible addressable unit of
computer storage.
– The term, “addressable,” means that a particular
byte can be retrieved according to its location in
memory.

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2.1 Introduction

• A word is a contiguous group of bytes.

– Words can be any number of bits or bytes.
– Word sizes of 16, 32, or 64 bits are most common.
– In a word-addressable system, a word is the
smallest addressable unit of storage.
• A group of four bits is called a nibble.
– Bytes, therefore, consist of two nibbles: a “high-
order nibble,” and a “low-order” nibble.

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2.2 Positional Numbering Systems

• Bytes store numbers using the position of each

bit to represent a power of 2.
– The binary system is also called the base-2
system.
– Our decimal system is the base-10 system. It
uses powers of 10 for each position in a number.
– Any integer quantity can be represented exactly
using any base (or radix).

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2.2 Positional Numbering Systems

• The decimal number 947 in powers of 10 is:

9  102 + 4  101 + 7  100

• The decimal number 5836.47 in powers of 10 is:

5  103 + 8  102 + 3  101 + 6  100

+ 4  10-1 + 7  10-2

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2.2 Positional Numbering Systems

• The binary number 11001 in powers of 2 is:

1  24 + 1  23 + 0  22 + 0  21 + 1  20
= 16 + 8 + 0 + 0 + 1 = 25

• When the radix of a number is something other

than 10, the base is denoted by a subscript.
– Sometimes, the subscript 10 is added for emphasis:
110012 = 2510

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2.3 Converting Between Bases

• Because binary numbers are the basis for all data

representation in digital computer systems, it is
important that you become proficient with this radix
system.
• Your knowledge of the binary numbering system
will enable you to understand the operation of all
computer components as well as the design of
instruction set architectures.

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2.3 Converting Between Bases

• In an earlier slide, we said that every integer value

can be represented exactly using any radix
system.
• There are two methods for radix conversion: the
subtraction method and the division remainder
method.
• The subtraction method is more intuitive, but
cumbersome. It does, however reinforce the ideas
behind radix mathematics.

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2.3 Converting Between Bases

• Suppose we want to
convert the decimal
number 190 to base 3.
– We know that 3 5 = 243
so our result will be less
than six digits wide. The
largest power of 3 that
we need is therefore 3 4
= 81, and 81  2 =
162.
– Write down the 2 and
subtract 162 from 190,
giving 28.
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2.3 Converting Between Bases

• Converting 190 to base 3...

– The next power of 3 is
3 3 = 27. We’ll need one
of these, so we subtract
27 and write down the
numeral 1 in our result.
– The next power of 3, 3 2
= 9, is too large, but we
have to assign a
placeholder of zero and
carry down the 1.

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2.3 Converting Between Bases

• Converting 190 to base 3...
– 3 1 = 3 is again too
large, so we assign a
zero placeholder.
– The last power of 3, 3 0
= 1, is our last choice,
and it gives us a
difference of zero.
– Our result, reading from
top to bottom is:
19010 = 210013

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2.3 Converting Between Bases

• Another method of converting integers from

decimal to some other radix uses division.
• This method is mechanical and easy.
• It employs the idea that successive division by a
base is equivalent to successive subtraction by
powers of the base.
• Let’s use the division remainder method to again
convert 190 in decimal to base 3.

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2.3 Converting Between Bases

• Converting 190 to base 3...

– First we take the number
that we wish to convert
and divide it by the radix
in which we want to
express our result.
– In this case, 3 divides
190 63 times, with a
remainder of 1.
– Record the quotient and
the remainder.

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2.3 Converting Between Bases

• Converting 190 to base 3...

– 63 is evenly divisible by
3.
– Our remainder is zero,
and the quotient is 21.

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2.3 Converting Between Bases

• Converting 190 to base 3...

– Continue in this way until
the quotient is zero.
– In the final calculation, we
note that 3 divides 2 zero
times with a remainder of
2.
– Our result, reading from
bottom to top is:
19010 = 210013

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2.3 Converting Between Bases

• The binary numbering system is the most

important radix system for digital computers.
• However, it is difficult to read long strings of binary
numbers -- and even a modestly-sized decimal
number becomes a very long binary number.
– For example: 110101000110112 = 1359510
• For compactness and ease of reading, binary
values are usually expressed using the
hexadecimal, or base-16, numbering system.

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2.3 Converting Between Bases

• The hexadecimal numbering system uses the

numerals 0 through 9 and the letters A through F.
– The decimal number 12 is C16.
– The decimal number 26 is 1A16.
• It is easy to convert between base 16 and base 2,
because 16 = 24.
• Thus, to convert from binary to hexadecimal, all
we need to do is group the binary digits into
groups of four.

A group of four binary digits is called a hextet

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2.3 Converting Between Bases

• Using groups of hextets, the binary number

110101000110112 (= 1359510) in hexadecimal is:
If the number of bits is not a
multiple of 4, pad on the left
with zeros.

• Octal (base 8) values are derived from binary by

using groups of three bits (8 = 2 3):

Octal was very useful when computers used six-bit words.

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2.3 Converting Between Bases

• Fractional values can be approximated in all

base systems.
• Unlike integer values, fractions do not
necessarily have exact representations under all
radices.
• The quantity ½ is exactly representable in the
binary and decimal systems, but is not in the
ternary (base 3) numbering system.

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2.3 Converting Between Bases

• Fractional decimal values have nonzero digits to

the right of the decimal point.
• Fractional values of other radix systems have
nonzero digits to the right of the radix point.
• Numerals to the right of a radix point represent
negative powers of the radix:
0.4710 = 4  10 -1 + 7  10 -2
0.112 = 1  2 -1 + 1  2 -2
= ½ + ¼
= 0.5 + 0.25 = 0.75

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2.3 Converting Between Bases

• As with whole-number conversions, you can use

either of two methods: a subtraction method or an
easy multiplication method.
• The subtraction method for fractions is identical to
the subtraction method for whole numbers.
Instead of subtracting positive powers of the target
radix, we subtract negative powers of the radix.
• We always start with the largest value first, n -1,
where n is our radix, and work our way along
using larger negative exponents.

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2.3 Converting Between Bases

• The calculation to the

right is an example of
using the subtraction
method to convert the
decimal 0.8125 to
binary.
– Our result, reading
from top to bottom is:
0.812510 = 0.11012
– Of course, this
method works with
any base, not just
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binary.

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2.3 Converting Between Bases

• Using the multiplication

method to convert the
decimal 0.8125 to binary,
we multiply by the radix 2.
– The first product carries
into the units place.

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2.3 Converting Between Bases

• Converting 0.8125 to
binary . . .

– Ignoring the value in

the units place at
each step, continue
multiplying each
fractional part by the
radix.

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2.3 Converting Between Bases

• Converting 0.8125 to binary . . .

– You are finished when the
product is zero, or until you
have reached the desired
number of binary places.
– Our result, reading from top
to bottom is:
0.812510 = 0.11012
– This method also works with
any base. Just use the target
radix as the multiplier.

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Convert Base 6 to Base 10

123.456 = ???.?? 10
1236 = 1*6210 [1*3610] +
2*6110 [2*610] +
3*6010 [3*110] =
5110
0.456 = 4*6-110 [4*1/610] +
5*6-210 [5*1/3610] =
.80555…10
123.456 = 51.80555…10
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Adapted fromm R. Chang

Convert Base 10 to Base 6

754.9410 = 3254.5 35012 35012 35012...6

754 / 6 = 125 remainder 4
125 / 6 = 20 remainder 5
20 / 6 = 3 remainder 2
3 / 6 = 0 remainder 3

32546 = 3 x 21610 + 2 x 3610 + 5 x 610 + 4 x 110

= 75410

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Adapted fromm R. Chang

Convert Base 10 to Base 6

.9410 = ???.???6
0.94 x 6 = 5.64 --> 5
0.64 x 6 = 3.84 --> 3
0.84 x 6 = 5.04 --> 5
0.04 x 6 = 0.24 --> 0
0.24 x 6 = 1.44 --> 1
0.44 x 6 = 2.64 --> 2
0.64 x 6 = 3.84 --> 3

0.9410 = 0.5 35012 35012 35012...6

5/6 + 3/36 + 5/216 + 0 + 1/65 + 2/66 = 0.939986282...10

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Adapted fromm R. Chang

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