Last updated: Thu Jan 26 18:36:08 CET 2014


> "Microachitecture (Lec 10, 11, 12) - Part 1
>
>   * The data path (enlarged view)"
>
>
> Hvad mener du med enlarged view, Mic-1 (figur 4-6) eller the data path?


ja, jeg mener det, Mic-1, slide 7 lec 11 eller fig 4-6.





> Jeg har et spørgsmål angående de nye tider: skal vi stadig præsentere selv
> i 10 min, eller har vi så kun 7 minutter til selv at snakke?


ja. stadig 10 min. Vi stopper jer når vi vil går hurtigere frem.


> Noget andet jeg har tænkt på er, om vores noter SKAL være håndskrevne
> eller om vi gerne må medbringe 'noget læseligt' så længe vi selv har
> skrevet det?  (Du skriver handwritten notes på hjemmesiden)


ja, noter skal være håndskrevne! Figurer som man vil projektere falder ikke i noterkategorien.



> In the topic "trend" under Introduction to computer systems, you have
> listed tradeoff, what is meant by this?


There are several trade offs in computer design to talk about (A trade
off is a choice between alternatives, where both alternatives have pro
and contra):

- ISA implementation according to metrics (speed, energy, cost)
- microprogramming vs hardware
- personal computers vs mainframes
- clock speed vs larger chips
- RISC vs CISC
- cache vs main memory
- 32-bit vs 64-bit
...




> I'm getting a bit confused about primary memory and main memory. Is it
> the same or has primary memory only something to do with RAM and the
> current program instructions?


The "main memory" is a type of "primary memory". It is a temporary
storage device that holds both program and data actively operated
on. Physically, it consists of DRAM chips. Logically, it is organized as
a linear array of bytes each with its own unique addresses. Those
addresses are found in for example assembly code. Then, before access it
will be checked whether the address has been brought into cache.  The
main memory is what it is also commonly call RAM.

Summarizing:

Primary memory: Registers, Caches, RAM (main memory), ROM (containing
the BIOS, a small start up program). Except ROM all the rest is
volatile.  Memory that is directly accessible by the CPU and it is
nowadays made of semiconductors. It stores data actively operated on.

Secondary memory: hard disk, CD, DVD, USB sticks, flash memory, etc.  It
is a kind of I/O devices: it is not controlled directly by the CPU but
by an intermediate controller. It is always non-volatile.



> Med det du har skrevet "At most one topic can be drawn from the set of
> topics 1, 4, 5, 9. " mener du så at man kan trække en af "punkterne" under
> de 4 emner?
> Dvs 18 forskellige emner? 


Only the main topics from 1 to 9 are drawn.  The points within each main
topic are to remind you what you could talk about within the drawn
topic.

Eg: number 4 is drawn. You are given 10 min to talk about the points
within topic 4. You can also receive clarifying questions on those
points or on what you are presenting. After the 10 min another topic is
drawn. This time, since you already got a topic from the set {1, 4, 5,
9}, the topic cannot be drawn from that set again. The topic drawn is
8. You are given 10 min to talk about the points within topic 8.