Von Neumann architecture

Dr. John von Neumann:

John von Neumann circa the 1940s

Any discussion concerning computers must include the contributions of the famed Hungarian mathematician/genius Dr. John von Neumann. He was the first to stipulate, in his famous 1945 paper, the general requirements for an electronic computer. This device was called a stored-program computer, since the data and program instructions are kept in electronic memory. The specification was a departure from earlier designs where computers were programmed via hard wiring. Von Neumann's basic design has endured to this day, as practically all modern-day processors exhibit some vestiges of this design architecture (see the following figure):

Von Neumann architecture

Von Neumann's design basic components are tabulated as follows:

• The four main elements:
  • A memory component
  • A controller unit
  • A logic unit for doing arithmetic
  • An input and output port
• A means for storing data and program instructions termed read/write random access memory
  • The data is information utilized by the program
  • The program instructions consist of coded data that guides the computer to complete a task
• Controller Unit acquires information from memory, deciphers the information, and then sequentially synchronizes processes to achieve the programmed task
• Basic arithmetic operations occur in the Arithmetic Logic Unit
• Input and Output ports allow access to the Central Processing Unit (CPU) by a human operator
• Additional information can be obtained at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_von_Neumann

So, how does this architecture relates to parallel processors/supercomputers? You might ask. Well, supercomputers consist of nodes, which are, in fact, inpidual computers. These computers contain processors with the same architectural elements described previously.