Computer Engineering Glossary

Arithmetic Logic Unit; the CPU component that performs arithmetic and bitwise logical operations.

Application-Specific Integrated Circuit; a chip custom-designed for a particular task.

A mathematical system for binary variables and logic operations (AND, OR, NOT), foundational to digital design.

A shared communication pathway that transfers data between components in a computer system.

A small, fast memory that stores copies of frequently accessed data to reduce average access time.

Complex Instruction Set Computing; an architecture with a large set of variable-length, multi-cycle instructions.

A periodic electronic signal used to synchronize operations within a digital circuit.

Complementary Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor; the dominant IC fabrication technology using paired PMOS and NMOS transistors.

Central Processing Unit; the primary component that executes instructions in a computer.

Direct Memory Access; a mechanism for peripherals to transfer data to or from memory without CPU involvement.

A dedicated computing system performing specific functions within a larger mechanical or electrical system.

A bistable circuit element that stores one bit of state, used as the basic building block of registers and sequential logic.

Field-Programmable Gate Array; a reconfigurable IC with an array of programmable logic blocks and interconnects.

Hardware Description Language; a language (Verilog, VHDL) used to describe, simulate, and synthesize digital circuits.

A signal that causes the processor to pause current execution and handle a higher-priority event.

Instruction Set Architecture; the specification defining the instructions, registers, and memory model a processor supports.

A compact IC integrating a processor, memory, and I/O peripherals, designed for embedded applications.

The observation that the number of transistors on an IC doubles approximately every two years.

A technique that overlaps instruction execution stages to increase processor throughput.

A small, fast storage location inside the CPU used to hold data being processed.

Reduced Instruction Set Computing; an architecture emphasizing simple, fixed-length instructions for efficient pipelining.

System-on-Chip; a single IC integrating a processor core, memory, and peripherals.

A semiconductor device used to amplify or switch electronic signals; the fundamental building block of modern electronics.

A memory management technique that provides each process an isolated address space mapped to physical memory and disk.

A computer design where instructions and data share a single memory, and a CPU fetches and executes instructions sequentially.