The Computer is arguably one of humankind’s greatest inventions. It is an electronic device used to process, store, and display data of any kind. Any computer consists of 5 elements: input, output, memory, datapath, and control unit. The combination of the last two elements is widely known as “processor”. In this article, we are going to tackle the concept of cache memory and its important role in improving the performance of modern-day computers while in the next article, we are going to discuss the three different types of structuring a cache memory. Let’s begin!
The Processor and The Main Memory
Before we dive into the world of cache memories, let us take a moment to remind ourselves how a computer’s processor and main memory work together.
Every computer comes with an internal clock. The clock dictates when events (arithmetic operations, loads from memory, stores in memory, etc) happen on a computer. It is, basically, a stream of pulses. With every pulse, an event happens.
A central processing unit (CPU), also called a central processor, main processor, or just processor is the electronic circuitry that executes instructions comprising a computer program. The CPU performs basic arithmetic, logic, controlling, and input/output (I/O) operations specified by the instructions in the program. —…
