Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/System bus model

System bus model

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I PROD'ed this article last October, but it was contested. The reason given was: rm PROD - this is a variant on the Von Neumann architecture, and I found alot of books with it, not just two - it describes the standard configuration of an x86/68k/etc machine. A discussion subsequently took place at the article's talk page; Talk:System bus model. A merge to von Neumann architecture was proposed, but has not been carried out.

My rationale for deleting this article is basically the same as it was last year. There is no indication that its topic, the system bus model, is notable. My original rationale, is still as relevant today as it was then. I am of the opinion that the rebuttal of the editor who contested the PROD inadequatly addressed the concerns I outlined in the PROD rationale in two ways. Firstly, it was asserted that there was coverage; not shown that there was; either by stating how sources were found so it could be independently verified (in the PROD, I detailed how I looked for coverage), or by listing the sources themselves. Secondly, I get the impression that because the topic is associated with the von Neumann architecture, those opposing deletion are doing so on the basis that its notability is presumed and/or inherited. For the latter case, WP:NOTINHERITED sums up why it is not a good idea.

As previously mentioned, the article was proposed for merging. In practice, problems with articles that could be fixed by normal editing (which includes merging) should not be nominated for deletion. In my opinion, this article cannot be fixed by merging because its the coverage its topic has is trivial compared to that of the von Neumann architecture, which would result in undue weight if merged.

Lastly, the article is referenced to sources that are reliable, but does coverage of the article's topic in these sources meet WP:N's requirement of non-trivial coverage? I can only assess the first source, a book, since it is the only one that can be previewed at Google Books. In that book, coverage begins at the bottom of page 31, and resumes half-way down page 32 and ends shortly after. The amount of text on the topic is around one typically-sized paragraph. It is clear that the first source is not significant coverage of the topic. For something which claims to be an evolution of the von Neumann architecture, I expect there to be substaintial coverage. This was raised at the article's talk page, but no direct response was given. Rilak (talk) 07:33, 30 April 2011 (UTC)[reply]

You've put a lot of work and careful thought into this AfD. I wish that energy and intelligence could somehow be funneled into the articles in question. I apologize for dropping the ball on the merge. I still beleive this can be done sucessfully and at least one other editor has concurred. I will try to find time to do it. I'm confident that the WP:UNDUE and WP:N issues can be dealt with by the editors of Von Neumann architecture. As far as the AfD is concerned, I favor whatever approach most expeditiously gets rid of this article while salvaging anything of value. --Kvng (talk) 15:12, 30 April 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Note: This debate has been included in the list of Computing-related deletion discussions. -- • Gene93k (talk) 17:17, 30 April 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Comment Without further researching the subject on other sources, let us first read the relevant sections of the references. The second reference of the article ([1]) starts its 1.4 The System Bus Model section, just after the 1.3 The Von Neumann Model section with the (page 5):"Although the von Neumann model prevails in modern computers, it has been streamlined.", which suggests that the so-called System bus model is the modern version of the Von Neumann model. The image on the article page is also a re-drawn copy of the "Figure 1-3 The system bus model of a computer system. [Contributed by Donald Chiarulli, Univ. Pittsburgh.]", page 5 from the same source. The term System bus model is only mentioned once in the first reference ([2]), inside the 1.7 Von Neumann Model section and before 1.8 Non-Von Neumann Model section, with "This architecture (ed. Von Neumann) has also been streamlined into what is currently called the system bus model" (page 32). This reference is published six years later than the other. We can conclude that these two references, both of which are published books about computer architecture, describes system bus model as a modern version of the Von Neumann model. Thus, merging the article into Von Neumann Model is plausible if it doesnt fail WP:WEIGHT.

When we check the web for other sources, we can see that the majority of the sources are direct copies from either of these two books (mostly the first) or from the course pages of the universities that use these books as the course textbooks. Some articles mention it (like [3]) but they either don't discuss it deeply or they're not directly related to the subject. This is (if I understand correctly) the main concern of the nominator per WP:GNG.

This lack of sources except these books (that are mainly used as textbooks) suggests that the term is in fact coined to address a general modern version of the Von Neumann model. The main reference describes the model further by (page 5-6): ""Most important to the system bus model, the communications among the components are by means of a shared pathway called the system bus, which is made up of the(..) the system bus is actually a group of individual busses classified by their function." The system bus page redirects to front-side bus, probably because of the sources like ([4]). There is an old discussion on the talk page which address the difference between two terms (Talk:Front-side_bus#System_Bus).

I think the article strongly needs {{expert-subject}}. Nimuaq (talk) 01:58, 1 May 2011 (UTC)[reply]

To clarify, I never challenged the existence of the system bus model. I challenge its notability and whether it would be due weight to merge it into von Neumann architecture. After all, the claim that the von Neumann architecture has been streamlined, and that the resulting streamlined version of it is called the system bus model, has only been shown to be supported (so far) by the two textbooks mentioned as references in the article, and their accompanying materials such as lecture presentations. Now, consider the amount of coverage the von Neumann architecture has received: two textbooks (including one whose coverage of the topic is a single paragraph) versus the 6,210 results Google Books found containing the term "von Neumann architecture" but without "system bus model".

Finally, regarding the IEEE Design and Test of Computers article, the term "system bus model" is referring to a behavioral model of the system bus. It is not claiming that it is an evolution of the von Neumann architecture. As I mentioned in my original PROD notice, there are far more instances where the term has been used to refer to a behavioral or electrical model of a system bus than what the article claims. Rilak (talk) 04:00, 1 May 2011 (UTC)[reply]