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→Common Elements in Modern Computer Design
Various decisions made throughout the history of computing have resulted in a fairly consistent basic design for most modern digital computers: almost all designs consist of:
* A central processing unit (CPU) which reads binary [[Machine languageLanguage|machine language]] instructions from memory and executes them. The CPU contains multiple [[Register|registers]]. Instructions are executed according to a [[Clock|clock]] pulse, which synchronizes activity across the system.
* Random-access memory (RAM), which consists of multiple [[Word|words]] of memory which are individually [[Address|addressable]] -- words can be individually written to or read from each address. Memory is used to store both instructions and data. Memory is generally [[Volatile|volatile]]. Some memory may be connected to two or more devices for "memory mapped" input/output -- the CPU as one device, and a peripheral such as a video system or disk controller as the second device.
* Storage, which is addressable in sectors or blocks, and is used for [[Volatile|non-volatile]], long-term storage of instructions and data.
