Computer Organization

This section provides the programmer with a functional overview of the 4004 computer. Information is presented in this section at a level that provides a programmer with necessary background in order to write efficient programs.

To the programmer, the computer is represented as consisting of the following parts:

1. Sixteen working registers which serve as temporary storage for data, and provide the means for addressing memory.
   
   

2. The accumulator in which data is processed.
   
   

3. Memories which may hold program instructions or data (or sometimes both), and which must be addressed location by location in order to access stored information.
   
   

4. The stack which is a device used to facilitate execution of subroutines, as described here
   
   

5. Input/Output which is the interface between a program and the outside world.