Explain the significance of the Von Neumann architecture.

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

In 1946, John Von Neumann proposed a radically different computer design based on a model called the stored program computer. Until then, all computers were programmed externally using wires, connectors, and plugboards. The memory unit stored only data, not instructions. For each different problem, users had to rewire virtually the entire computer. For example, the plugboards on the ENIAC contained 6,000 separate switches, and reprogramming the ENIAC involved specifying the new settings for all these switches-not a trivial task.Von Neumann proposed that the instructions that control the operation of the computer be encoded as binary values and stored internally in the memory unit along with the data. To solve a new problem, instead of rewiring the machine, you would rewrite the sequence of instructions-that is, create a new program. Von Neumann invented programming as it is known today. The model of computing proposed by Von Neumann included many other important features found on all modern computing systems, and to honor him this model of computation has come to be known as the Von Neumann architecture.