The von Neumann architecture is a computer architecture based on that described in 1945 by the mathematician and physicist John von Neumann and others.


The architecture describes a design for an electronic digital computer with parts consisting of a processing unit containing an arithmetic logic unit and processor registers, a control unit containing an instruction register and program counter, a memory to store both data and instructions, external mass storage, and input and output mechanisms.  

In this Architecture, Memory can hold both data and also the program processing that data. It means that a computer built with this architecture would be much easier to re-program.