Von Neumann architecture provides the basis for the majority of the computers we use today. The fetch-decode-execute cycle describes how a processor functions.
cache memoryA piece of temporary memory. It can refer to a part of the RAM, storage disk, CPU, or an area for storing web pages. is a type of high-speed RAMRandom access memory. This is volatile memory that is constantly being written to and read from. It does not retain its contents without a constant supply of power. When a computer is turned off, everything stored in its RAM is lost. which is built into the CPU/processorCentral processing unit - the brain of the computer that processes program instructions. .
dataUnits of information. In computing there can be different data types, including integers, characters and Boolean. Data is often acted on by instructions. can be transferred to and from cache memory more quickly than from RAM. As a result, cache memory is used to temporarily hold data and instructionA single action that can be performed by a computer processor. that the processor is likely to reuse. This allows for faster processing as the processor does not have to wait for the data and instructions to be fetched from RAM.
The more cache memory a computer has, the faster it runs. However, because of its high-speed performance, cache memory is more expensive to build than RAM. Therefore, cache memory tends to be very small in size.
To get around this issue, different types of cache exist:
L1 cache has extremely fast transfer rates, but is very small in size. The processor uses L1 cache to hold the most frequently used instructions and data.
L2 cache is bigger in capacity than L1 cache, but slower in speed. It is used to hold data and instructions that are needed less frequently.
