Lesson 3- 4

Write down into your vocabulary.

Comparatively, pocket calculator, a few button presses, with a near certainty of marking a mistake, to solve problems, to face with, instead of, equation, speed up, by “guessing” about, outcome, re-arranging the order of instructions, branch prediction, speculative execution, out-of-order execution, a more efficient way, without regard to efficient or alternative solutions.

Read and translate the text. Stored program architecture (II)

Comparatively, person using a pocket calculator can perform a basic arithmetic operation such as adding two numbers with just a few button presses. But to add together all of numbers from 1 to 1,000 would take thousand of button presses and a lot of time-with a near certainty of marking a mistake. On the other hand, a computer may be programmed to do this with just a few simple instructions.

Once told to run this program, the computer will perform the repetitive addition task without further human invention. It will almost never make a mistake and a modern PC can complete the task in about a millionth of a second.

However, computer cannot “think” for themselves in the sense that they only solve problems in exactly the way they are programmed to. An intelligent human faced with the above addition task might soon realize that instead of actually adding up all the numbers one can simply use the equation

and arrive at the correct answer (500,500) with little work. Many modern computers are able to make some decision that speed up the execution of some programs by “guessing” about the outcomes of certain jump instructions and re-arranging the order of instructions slightly without changing their meaning (branch prediction, speculative execution, and out-of-order execution). However, computers cannot intuitively determine a more efficient way to perform the task given to them because they do not have an overall understanding of what the task, or the “big pictures”, is. In other words, a computer programmed to add up the numbers one by one as in the examples above, would do exactly that without regard to efficient or alternative solutions.

Module 3

Lesson 1

Translate into Ukrainian.

Punched card, label, for identification purposes, might include, word processor, web browser, may take teams of computer programmers’ years, probability, entire program, completely, in the manner intended, unlikely, error, benign, to affect, usefulness, in other cases, they might cause, subtle problems, fail (crash), for malicious intent, creating a security exploit, otherwise, merely, oversight, handful, several, to choose from each, numerical, alongside, manipulate inside the computer, crux, is kept separate from, display some traits, in CPU caches.

Read and translate the text.

Programs

A 1970s punched card contains one line from a FORTRAN program. The card reads:”Z (1)=Y+W(1)” and is labeled “PROJ39” for identification purposes.

In practical terms, a computer program might include anywhere from a dozen instructions to many millions of instructions for something like a word processor or a web browser. A typical modern computer can execute billions of instructions every second and nearly never make a mistake over years of operation

Large computer programs may take teams of computer programmers’ years to write and the probability of the entire program having been written completely in the manner intended is unlikely. Errors in computer programs are called bugs .Sometimes bugs are benign and do not affect the usefulness of the program, in other cases they might cause the program to completely fail (crash), in yet other cases there may be subtle problems. Sometimes otherwise benign bugs may be used for malicious intent, creating a security exploit. Bugs are usually not the fault of the computer. Since computers merely execute the instructions they are given, bugs are nearly always the result of programmer error or an oversight made in the program’s design.

In most computers, individual instructions are stored as machine code with each instruction being given a unique number (its operation code or opcode for short).The command to add two numbers together would have one opcode , the command to multiply them would have a different opcode and so on. The simplest computers are able to perform any of a handful of different instructions; the more complex computers have several hundred to choose from each with a unique numerical code. Since the computer’s memory is able to store numbers, it can also store the instruction codes. This leads to the important fact that entire programs (which are just lists of instructions) can be represented as lists of numbers and can themselves be manipulated inside the computer just as if they were numeric data. The fundamental concept of storing programs in the computer’s memory alongside the data they operate on is the crux of the von Neumann, or stored program architecture. In some cases, a computer might store some or its entire program in memory that is kept separate from the data it operates on. This is called the Harvard architecture after the Harvard Mark I computer. Modern von Neumann computers display some traits of the Harvard architecture in their designs, such as in CPU caches.

LESSON 2

Read and translate the text.