VI. Oral Practice

Ex. 13 Prove the necessity of inventing and using microprocessor for microcomputer design.

Ex. 14. Speak about 1)The microprocessor design.

2) Single-chip microcomputers

VII. Reading and comprehension

Ex. 15. Read and translate the text with a dictionary.

Microprocessor (mp)

The microprocessors form the heart of a microcomputer. The first microprocessors were developed in 1971 as an offshoot of pocket cal­culator development. Since then there has been a tremendous upsurge of work in this field and some years later there appeared dozen of dif­ferent microprocessors commercially available.

The age of microprocessors is not great. We have seen the evolu­tion of MP as it progressed from early applications in simple hand­held calculators through 4—8 bit controller applications towards more sophisticated processing operations. MPs are used primarily to re­place and upgrade random logic design. What we see are: larger and denser chips, higher resolution, higher speed, specially designed RAMs and ROMs (read only memory), specially designed peripheral inter­face circuits, on-chip clock and timing circuits, more powerful instruc­tion sets and lower power dissipation. Most processors also include computer software. The key features to consider in any computer are: word length, architecture, speed and programming flexibility.

The processor handles binary data in the form of «words». A word is a set of binary bits which is used to represent a binary number with­in the computer. It is the number of bits in the computer «word» which limits the numerical range of the data that the processor can handle. MPs are structured for fixed word length or for modular expansion.

Appearing of MPs has altered the entire architecture of modern computer system. Recently the processing of information was carried out only in the computer's CPU. Today the input-output port may have a controller to regulate the flow of information through it. The controller may accept commands from the CPU and send signals back in order to coordinate its operations inside the system or may operate independently of the CPU.

The use of MPs provides greater application flexibility. Today MPs are designed with communications in mind so it is possible to link these processors together in a network.

Ex 16. Make the sentences complete using the information from the text .

1. The first were developed 1971 as an pocket calculator .

2. MPs are used replace and random design.

3. MPs are now in many types equipment and their field will widen.

4. Central unit (CPU) consists unit and bus control circuits.

5. Recently the processing of information was ___only in the computer's CPU.

6. The use of MPs ___ greater application flexibility.

Ex. 17 Read and translate the text. Fill in the gaps using the words given below.

User, processing, provide, multimedia, simplicity, programming, pro­grams, significant, application, software, personal computers

Personal computers are normally operated by one at a time to perform such general purpose tasks as word , Internet browsing, Internet faxing, e-mail and other digital messaging, playback, computer game play, computer , etc. The user of a modern personal computer may have knowledge of the operating environment and programs, but is not necessar­ily interested in programming or even able to write for the computer. Therefore, most written primarily for personal computers tends to be designed with of use, or «user-friendliness in mind. However, the software industries continuously a wide range of new products for use in_____ , targeted at both the expert and the non-expert user.

Remember! Computer architecture — the overall layout of the hard­ware or software components of a computer system.

The term hardware covers all of those parts of a computer that are tangible objects. Circuits, displays, power supplies, cables, keyboards, prin­ters and mice are all hardware.

Software is the logical sequence of commands making up a computer program.