Definition of computer bus
A computer bus is a type of small wire embedded on a motherboard. It behaves as a communication media between CPU, memory and other devices of the computer.
Computer bus transfers bits internally and externally. By internal transfer, I mean between processor and cache and between CPU and memory. And by external transfer mean the bus transfers bits from memory to external devices like a printer.
The computer bus is a very small wire and each wire transfer 1 bit at a time. In the modern age of computers, one single bus or wire also transfer 2 parallel bits at a time.
If we consider the speed of bus or bit transfer then one wire or bus transfers millions of bits per second. The speed of bits transfer is also known as bus width.
Now let’s discuss some types of computer buses.
Types of computer buses
Data bus:
A data bus transfers data bits from processor to memory and from memory to other internal components of the computer e.g. cache and registers.
Address bus:
The address bus is used to transfer address bits to the memory. In memory or RAM, every memory location has some address. The processor assigns addresses to the memory and these addresses are transferred through the address bus.
Control bus:
The control bus is used to transfer control bits from control units to other components of the computer. Control means for example if whether we want to write or read data in memory, clear any value from memory or increment value or read data from the input device. These decision making bits are transferred through the control bus.