OCR J277 1.1.1: Architecture of the CPU
The free BugBot lessons that teach this point, a robot to try it on, and the past-paper questions that test it.
What it covers
A computer is two things that are useless apart. Hardware is the physical parts: the processor, the memory, the motors and sensors on BugBot. Software is the programs: the instructions that tell the hardware what to do. This lesson is about how they fit together, and the idea at the heart of almost every computer, including the one in the robot: the stored program.
- Hardware and software
- The stored program concept
- Program and data in one memory
- Why it matters
Or do it in the simulator, with tasks that mark themselves
Lessons that teach it
- F9.3 Hardware, software and von Neumann Logic and computer systems
Hardware and software, and the stored program concept in a tiny computer. - F9.4 The CPU and fetch-execute Logic and computer systems
The ALU, control unit, registers and buses, and tracing the fetch-decode-execute cycle.
Try it on a robot
The task from F9.3 Hardware, software and von Neumann, running here. Change the program and press Run.
The specification is OCR's own document; this page says which of our lessons teach point 1.1.1 and is not endorsed by the board.