Question

• List all the elements of the Datapath.   
• Define or explain the role and nuances of any five elements of your choice.  

Answer 1

The datapath means that how data can flow through the buses, we know that busses are nothing but interconnections through which voltage signals will be flowing, the bus can be used for different purposes if the bus carries your address then it is known as an address bus, if it carries any data then it is known as a data bus, if it carries any control signals then it will be known as control bus, if it carries any clock bus or power signals then it is known as power bus and so on. the bus can be dedicated that means it will be used for a single purpose, the bus can be multiplexed that means the same bus can be used for different other purposes so in this way bus means ways of connection through which voltages or currents are flowing.

CPU can be divided into a data section and a control section, the data section is also called the datapath which contains CPU registers and the ALU, we know that we are having multiple registers residing in the CPU which can be accessed through programming that register is called general-purpose registers. the data section is dealing with these registers and ALU. we can also have some different purposes on the data items, control section issues different control signals and which you control this data path so in this way CPU can be divided in the data section and the control section.

In simply we can say that, The path at which data travel is called Datapath. there is a number of elements in the datapath, the datapath elements are nothing but the unit is a hardware unit which will hold the data, the data could be the one which has to be processed or could have been already processed. either case, the data requires a place to stay and that is what we mean as a datapath element. some of the data path elements could be memory elements to hold the instruction or data, ALU, registers, buses, adders, multiplexers etc.

There are some fundamental datapath element like:

1. Program Counters - the program counter can hold the address of the next instructions to be executed.
2. Instruction Memory - holds all the instructions and with the input from the program counter, one can identify the instructions one after another.
3. Adder - helps in incrementing the address in the program counter so as to make it hold the address of the next instructions.

The program counter and Adder connect together which is depends on the Instruction memory so the program counter will point to the instruction memory then instruction will add an address to Adder.