Von Neumann and Harvard architectures

Overview

Defining feature of the Von Neumann architecture, stored program concept and von Neumann bottleneck.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

1. 1

   What is the defining feature of the Von Neumann architecture?

   Model answer

   Instructions and data are held in the same memory and travel over the same bus.

2. 2

   What is the stored program concept?

   Model answer

   The idea that a program is held in memory as data, so the machine can be reprogrammed without being rewired.

3. 3

   What is the Von Neumann bottleneck?

   Model answer

   The limit imposed by instructions and data sharing one bus, so the processor waits while transfers queue.

4. 4

   What is the Harvard architecture?

   Model answer

   An architecture with separate memories and separate buses for instructions and for data.

5. 5

   Give one advantage of the Harvard architecture.

   Model answer

   An instruction and a data item can be fetched simultaneously, which removes the shared-bus bottleneck.

6. 6

   Give one disadvantage of the Harvard architecture.

   Model answer

   It needs more hardware and is less flexible, since memory cannot be reallocated between instructions and data.

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