Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface to the third edition
- Preface to the second edition
- Preface to the first edition
- 1 Amplification and the transistor
- 2 The field-effect transistor
- 3 Thermionic valves and the cathode-ray tube
- 4 Negative feedback
- 5 Impedance matching
- 6 Semiconductor device characteristics
- 7 Amplification at high frequencies
- 8 Low-frequency signals, d.c. and the differential amplifier
- 9 Power supplies and power control
- 10 Pulse handling and time constants
- 11 Integrated circuit analogue building bricks
- 12 Positive feedback circuits and signal generators
- 13 Digital logic circuits
- 14 Microcomputer circuits and applications
- Appendix 1 Component identification
- Appendix 2 Transistor selection
- Appendix 3 Op amp data
- Appendix 4 Digital IC connections
- Appendix 5 Interfacing to the PC
- Bibliography
- Index
14 - Microcomputer circuits and applications
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface to the third edition
- Preface to the second edition
- Preface to the first edition
- 1 Amplification and the transistor
- 2 The field-effect transistor
- 3 Thermionic valves and the cathode-ray tube
- 4 Negative feedback
- 5 Impedance matching
- 6 Semiconductor device characteristics
- 7 Amplification at high frequencies
- 8 Low-frequency signals, d.c. and the differential amplifier
- 9 Power supplies and power control
- 10 Pulse handling and time constants
- 11 Integrated circuit analogue building bricks
- 12 Positive feedback circuits and signal generators
- 13 Digital logic circuits
- 14 Microcomputer circuits and applications
- Appendix 1 Component identification
- Appendix 2 Transistor selection
- Appendix 3 Op amp data
- Appendix 4 Digital IC connections
- Appendix 5 Interfacing to the PC
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
Computer operations
The word computer is one we naturally associate with highly complicated calculations carried out at a speed immensely faster than human thought. Indeed, the speed of today's ‘supercomputer’ is limited only by the velocity of light itself, which ultimately determines how fast the binary logic signals can travel round the circuits. In this chapter, we shall see that a computer is much more than a fast calculator. In addition to performing arithmetic, most computer operations are dominated by the rather dull but vital business of shifting, sorting and matching data. Whether the end result is the diagnosis of a patient's medical condition, a foreign language translation or even a video game missile shooting across the screen, most of the impressive results achieved in this computer age are achieved simply by moving numbers around as required and comparing them with one another.
Although actual arithmetic is a much less dominant function in most computers than is popularly believed, the arithmetic and logic unit (ALU) lies at the centre of every computer. This is an arrangement of gates capable of carrying out the logical functions discussed in the last chapter together with elementary arithmetic. It is appropriate first therefore to look further at electronic arithmetic circuits.
Electronic arithmetic
Addition
In chapter 13, simple combinational logic experiments led quickly to the addition of two binary numbers in the full adder (section 13.8).
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- Chapter
- Information
- A Practical Introduction to Electronic Circuits , pp. 428 - 485Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1995