CHAPTER 2
Parts of a Computer System
A practical computer system consists of hardware and software. The major hardware components of a typical microcomputer system are a central processing unit (CPU), memory circuits, a keyboard for input, a visual display, specialized input/output devices like a mouse or a network card, and one or more disk drives to store programs and data. Software refers to the programs that the hardware executes, including system software and application software.
These basic components vary from one computer system to another. This chapter discusses how the memory and CPU look to the assembly language programmer for a particular class of microcomputers, those using 80×86 microprocessors, where 80×86 refers to the series ...
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