Von Neumann versus Harvard Architecture

In Figure 2.1, instruction memory and data memory are depicted as two separate entities. This is not always the case, both instructions and data may well be in one shared memory. In fact, whether program and data memory are integrated or separate is the distinction between two basic types of architecture:

Von Neumann Architecture: In this architecture, program and data are stored together and are accessed through the same bus. Unfortunately, this implies that program and data accesses may conflict (resulting in the famous von Neumann bottleneck), leading to unwelcome delays.

Harvard Architecture: This architecture demands that program and data are in separate memories which are accessed via separate buses. In consequence, code accesses do not conflict with data accesses which improves system performance. As a slight drawback, this architecture requires more hardware, since it needs two busses and either two memory chips or a dual-ported memory (a memory chip which allows two independent accesses at the same time).