- What is the difference between a microprocessor and a microcontroller?
- What are the different components of a CPU, and how do they interact?
- How does pipelining improve CPU performance?
- Explain the fetch-decode-execute cycle in a CPU.
- What is the role of the control unit in a CPU?
- What is the difference between Harvard and Von Neumann architectures?
- What is cache memory, and how does it work?
- How does virtual memory help in CPU performance?
- What is the difference between CISC and RISC architectures?
- Explain the role of a memory management unit (MMU) in a CPU.
- What is the difference between parallel and serial processing?
- What is SIMD, and how does it work?
- What is SMT, and how does it differ from SIMD?
- What is the role of the ALU in a CPU?
- What is the difference between a register and a memory location?
- How does the CPU handle interrupts?
- What is a system call, and how is it handled by the CPU?
- What is branch prediction, and how does it improve CPU performance?
- How does superscalar execution differ from pipelining?
- What is out-of-order execution, and how does it work?
- How does speculation help in CPU performance?
- What is the role of the clock signal in a CPU?
- How does clock speed affect CPU performance?
- What is a cache miss, and how is it handled?
- What is the difference between L1, L2, and L3 cache?
- How does cache coherence work in a multiprocessor system?
- What is DMA, and how does it work?
- What is prefetching, and how does it improve CPU performance?
- What is speculation, and how does it improve CPU performance?
- What is the difference between a hard and a soft fault?
- What is the difference between synchronous and asynchronous data transfer?
- What is the difference between a stack and a queue?
- What is the role of the instruction pointer in a CPU?
- What is the role of the program counter in a CPU?
- How is the CPU connected to other components of a computer system?
- What is the role of a northbridge and a southbridge in a computer system?
- What is the difference between big-endian and little-endian byte ordering?
- What is the difference between a user mode and a kernel mode?
- What is the difference between physical and virtual addresses?
- What is the difference between synchronous and asynchronous reset?
- How does a CPU implement hardware multitasking?
- What is the difference between a stack pointer and a frame pointer?
- What is the difference between a direct and an indirect jump?
- What is the difference between a barrel shifter and a shift register?
- What is the role of the MMX and SSE instructions in a CPU?
- What is the difference between a signed and an unsigned integer?
- How is floating-point arithmetic implemented in a CPU?
- What is the difference between a single-core and a multi-core CPU?
- What is the role of the TLB in a CPU?
- What is the difference between a fault and a trap?
Please look for the comments space for answers
A microprocessor is a single chip that contains only a CPU, while a microcontroller contains a CPU, memory, and I/O peripherals on a single chip.
ReplyDeleteThe components of a CPU include the control unit, arithmetic logic unit (ALU), registers, cache memory, and buses. They interact by exchanging data and instructions via buses and executing instructions in a sequence determined by the control unit.
ReplyDeletePipelining breaks down the fetch-decode-execute cycle into smaller stages that can be overlapped, which reduces the overall time needed to execute instructions.
ReplyDeleteThe fetch-decode-execute cycle is the process by which a CPU retrieves an instruction from memory, decodes it to determine what operation to perform, and executes the operation.
ReplyDeleteThe control unit is responsible for fetching instructions from memory, decoding them, and controlling the flow of data and control signals between the different components of the CPU.
ReplyDeleteThe Harvard architecture uses separate memory spaces for instructions and data, while the Von Neumann architecture uses a single memory space for both.
ReplyDeleteCache memory is a small, fast memory that stores frequently accessed data and instructions to reduce the time needed to access them from main memory.
ReplyDeleteVirtual memory is a technique that allows a CPU to use more memory than is physically available by swapping data between RAM and a hard disk as needed.
ReplyDeleteCISC (complex instruction set computer) architectures have complex, multi-step instructions that can perform multiple operations at once, while RISC (reduced instruction set computer) architectures have simpler, single-cycle instructions that can be executed more quickly.
ReplyDeleteThe MMU is responsible for translating virtual addresses into physical addresses, managing memory protection and sharing, and enforcing access control policies.
ReplyDeleteParallel processing involves executing multiple instructions or operations simultaneously, while serial processing executes instructions or operations one at a time.
ReplyDeleteSIMD (single instruction, multiple data) is a type of parallel processing that involves executing the same operation on multiple data elements in parallel.
ReplyDeleteSMT (simultaneous multithreading) is a type of parallel processing that allows a CPU to execute multiple threads in parallel by overlapping their instructions in the pipeline.
ReplyDeleteThe ALU performs arithmetic and logical operations on data stored in registers or memory locations.
ReplyDelete15. Registers are small, fast memory locations inside a CPU that can be accessed more quickly than memory.
ReplyDelete16. Interrupts are signals that are sent to the CPU by I/O devices or other components to request attention or indicate an event. The CPU suspends its current task, saves its state, and jumps to an interrupt service routine to handle the interrupt.
ReplyDelete17. A system call is a request made by a user program to the operating system to perform a privileged operation on its behalf, such as reading or writing to a file.
ReplyDelete18. Branch prediction is a technique that attempts to predict the outcome of a branch instruction before it is executed, in order to reduce the time needed to execute the program.
ReplyDelete19. Superscalar execution is a technique that allows a CPU to execute multiple instructions in parallel by issuing multiple instructions per clock cycle, while pipelining allows a CPU to execute multiple instructions in parallel by overlapping their execution in a pipeline.
ReplyDelete20. Out-of-order execution is a technique that allows a CPU to execute instructions in a different order than they appear in the program, in order to exploit parallelism and improve performance.
ReplyDelete21. Speculation is a technique that allows a CPU to predict the outcome of an operation and start executing the next instruction before the result is known, in order to reduce the time needed to execute the program.
ReplyDelete22. The clock signal is a periodic signal that synchronizes the operations of different components of a CPU, such as the fetching of instructions and the execution of operations
ReplyDelete23. The cache coherency problem arises when multiple CPUs or devices access the same data in cache memory, and there is a risk of inconsistency or conflict.
ReplyDelete24. DMA (direct memory access) is a technique that allows devices to access memory directly without involving the CPU, in order to improve performance and reduce overhead.
ReplyDelete25. A TLB (translation lookaside buffer) is a cache that stores recent translations of virtual addresses to physical addresses, in order to improve the efficiency of virtual memory management.
ReplyDelete26. A pipeline stall or bubble occurs when the pipeline cannot proceed due to a delay or dependency, and must wait for a previous stage to complete before proceeding.
ReplyDelete27. An atomic operation is an operation that is performed as a single, indivisible unit, and cannot be interrupted or partially completed by other operations.
ReplyDelete28. A mutex (mutual exclusion) is a programming construct that allows multiple threads or processes to access a shared resource in a mutually exclusive manner, in order to prevent conflicts and ensure consistency.
ReplyDelete29. A spinlock is a synchronization technique that uses a loop to repeatedly check a shared resource until it becomes available, in order to prevent conflicts and ensure consistency.
ReplyDelete30. A semaphore is a programming construct that allows multiple threads or processes to synchronize their access to a shared resource, by using a counter or flag to control access.
ReplyDelete31. Cache coherence protocols are mechanisms that maintain consistency between multiple caches or copies of the same data, in order to prevent conflicts or inconsistencies.
ReplyDelete32. Register renaming is a technique that allows a CPU to assign temporary names to registers in order to avoid data dependencies and improve parallelism.
ReplyDelete33. Data forwarding is a technique that allows a CPU to pass data directly between stages of the pipeline, without having to store it in memory or registers.
ReplyDelete34. The branch target buffer is a cache that stores recent branch targets in order to speed up branch instructions.
ReplyDelete35. The return address stack is a stack that stores return addresses for subroutine calls, in order to enable the CPU to return to the correct location after a subroutine call.
ReplyDelete36. The instruction cache is a cache that stores recently executed instructions in order to speed up instruction fetches.
ReplyDelete37. The data cache is a cache that stores recently accessed data in order to speed up data accesses.
ReplyDelete38. The TLB miss handler is a routine that is called when a TLB miss occurs, in order to look up the translation in main memory and update the TLB cache.
ReplyDelete39. The trap handler is a routine that is called when an exception or interrupt occurs, in order to handle the event and return to the interrupted program.
ReplyDelete40. The interrupt vector table is a table that stores the addresses of interrupt service routines, in order to enable the CPU to jump to the correct routine when an interrupt occurs.
ReplyDelete41. The system call table is a table that stores the addresses of system call routines, in order to enable the CPU to perform privileged operations on behalf of user programs.
ReplyDelete42. The program counter is a register that stores the memory address of the next instruction to be executed.
ReplyDelete43. The stack pointer is a register that stores the memory address of the current top of the stack.
ReplyDelete44. The status register is a register that stores flags or status bits that indicate the outcome of previous operations, such as whether an operation overflowed or resulted in a carry.
ReplyDeleteThe link register is a register that stores the return address for subroutine calls, in order to enable the CPU to return to the correct location after a subroutine call.
ReplyDeleteThe branch history table is a table that stores the outcomes of recent branch instructions, in order to aid branch prediction.
ReplyDelete47. The reservation station is a queue or buffer that holds instructions waiting to be executed, in order to enable the CPU to execute them out of order.
ReplyDelete48. The reorder buffer is a buffer that holds instructions waiting to be committed, in order to enable the CPU to execute them out of order and still maintain program order.
ReplyDeleteThe speculative execution is a technique that allows the CPU to execute instructions that may not be needed, in order to improve performance by exploiting parallelism and reducing the impact of pipeline stalls.
ReplyDelete50. The branch prediction is a technique that allows the CPU to guess the outcome of a branch instruction before it is executed, in order to reduce the impact of pipeline stalls and improve performance.
ReplyDelete