What do you mean by Von Neuman architecutre.

This idea, known as the stored-program concept, is usually attributed to the ENIAC designers, most notably the mathematician John von Neumann, who was a consultant on the ENIAC project. Alan Turing developed the idea at about the same time. The first publication of the idea was in a 1945 proposal by von Neumann for a new computer, the EDVAC (Electronic Discrete Variable Computer).
In 1946, von Neumann and his colleagues began the design of a new stored- program computer, referred to as the IAS computer, at the Princeton Institute for Advanced Studies. The IAS computer, although not completed until 1952, is the pro- totype of all subsequent general-purpose computers. 

It consists of
• A main memory, which stores both data and instructions
• An arithmetic and logic unit (ALU) capable of operating on binary data 

Acontrolunit,whichinterpretstheinstructionsinmemoryandcausesthemto be executed
• Input and output (I/O) equipment operated by the control unit
This structure was outlined in von Neumann’s earlier proposal, which is worth
quoting at this point.

 

2.2 First: Because the device is primarily a computer, it will have to perform the elementary operations of arithmetic most fre- quently. These are addition, subtraction, multiplication and divi- sion. It is therefore reasonable that it should contain specialized organs for just these operations.
It must be observed, however, that while this principle as such is probably sound, the specific way in which it is realized re- quires close scrutiny. At any rate a central arithmetical part of the device will probably have to exist and this constitutes the first spe- cific part: CA. 

2.3 Second: The logical control of the device, that is, the proper sequencing of its operations, can be most efficiently carried out by a central control organ. If the device is to be elastic, that is, as nearly as possible all purpose, then a distinction must be made be- tween the specific instructions given for and defining a particular problem, and the general control organs which see to it that these instructions—no matter what they are—are carried out. The for- mer must be stored in some way; the latter are represented by def- inite operating parts of the device. By the central control we mean this latter function only, and the organs which perform it form the second specific part: CC.

 

2.4 Third: Any device which is to carry out long and compli- cated sequences of operations (specifically of calculations) must have a considerable memory . . .
(b) The instructions which govern a complicated problem may constitute considerable material, particularly so, if the code is circumstantial (which it is in most arrangements). This material must be remembered.
At any rate, the total memory constitutes the third specific part of the device: M.
2.6 The three specific parts CA, CC (together C), and M cor- respond to the associative neurons in the human nervous system. It remains to discuss the equivalents of the sensory or afferent and the motor or efferent neurons. These are the input and output organs of the device.
The device must be endowed with the ability to maintain input and output (sensory and motor) contact with some specific medium of this type. The medium will be called the outside record- ing medium of the device: R.
2.7 Fourth: The device must have organs to transfer . . . infor- mation from R into its specific parts C and M. These organs form its input, the fourth specific part: I. It will be seen that it is best to make all transfers from R (by I) into M and never directly from C.
2.8 Fifth: The device must have organs to transfer . . . from its specific parts C and M into R. These organs form its output, the fifth specific part: O. It will be seen that it is again best to make all trans- fers from M (by O) into R, and never directly from C.
With rare exceptions, all of today’s computers have this same general structure and function and are thus referred to as von Neumann machines. Thus, it is worth- while at this point to describe briefly the operation of the IAS computer [BURK46]. Following [HAYE98], the terminology and notation of von Neumann are changed in the following to conform more closely to modern usage; the examples and illus- trations accompanying this discussion are based on that latter text.
The memory of the IAS consists of 1000 storage locations, called words, of 40 binary digits (bits) each.2 Both data and instructions are stored there. Numbers are represented in binary form, and each instruction is a binary code. Figure 2.2 illustrates these formats. Each number is represented by a sign bit and a 39-bit value. A word may also contain two 20-bit instructions, with each instruction consisting of an 8-bit operation code (opcode) specifying the operation to be performed and a 12-bit address designating one of the words in memory (numbered from 0 to 999).
The control unit operates the IAS by fetching instructions from memory and executing them one at a time. To explain this, a more detailed structure diagram is

 

needed, as indicated in Figure 2.3. This figure reveals that both the control unit and the ALU contain storage locations, called registers, defined as follows:

• Memory buffer register (MBR): Contains a word to be stored in memory or sent to the I/O unit, or is used to receive a word from memory or from the I/O unit.
  
• Memory address register (MAR): Specifies the address in memory of the word to be written from or read into the MBR.
  
• Instruction register (IR): Contains the 8-bit opcode instruction being exe- cuted.
  
• Instruction buffer register (IBR): Employed to hold temporarily the right- hand instruction from a word in memory.
  
• Program counter (PC): Contains the address of the next instruction-pair to be fetched from memory.
  
• Accumulator (AC) and multiplier quotient (MQ): Employed to hold tem- porarily operands and results of ALU operations. For example, the result of multiplying two 40-bit numbers is an 80-bit number; the most significant 40 bits are stored in the AC and the least significant in the MQ.
  The IAS operates by repetitively performing an instruction cycle, as shown in Figure 2.4. Each instruction cycle consists of two subcycles. During the fetch cycle, the opcode of the next instruction is loaded into the IR and the address portion is loaded into the MAR. This instruction may be taken from the IBR, or it can be ob- tained from memory by loading a word into the MBR, and then down to the IBR, IR, and MAR.
  Why the indirection? These operations are controlled by electronic circuitry and result in the use of data paths. To simplify the electronics, there is only one
  

 

register that is used to specify the address in memory for a read or write and only one register used for the source or destination.
Once the opcode is in the IR, the execute cycle is performed. Control circuitry in- terprets the opcode and executes the instruction by sending out the appropriate con- trol signals to cause data to be moved or an operation to be performed by the ALU.