1.1 The characteristics of contemporary processors, input, output and storage devices

Question 1

What does the ALU do?

Answer 1

It completes all the arithmetical and logical operations

Question 2

What is the CU?

Answer 2

A part of the processor which directs operations inside the CPU

Question 3

What are registers?

Answer 3

Small memory cells that operate at high speeds

Question 4

Where do all the arithmetic, logic, or shift operations occur?

Answer 4

In registers

Question 5

What does the PC do?

Answer 5

The PC holds the address of the next instruction

Question 6

In which part of the CPU do all calculations take place?

Answer 6

The ALU

Question 7

Where are intermediate arithmetic and logic results stored?

Answer 7

In the ACC

Question 8

What does the MAR do?

Answer 8

Holds the address of a location that is to be read from or written to

Question 9

What does the MDR do?

Answer 9

Temporarily stores the data that has just been read from or the data needs to be written

Question 10

What does the CIR do?

Answer 10

Holds the current instruction divided up into opcode and operand

Question 11

What is a bus?

Answer 11

A set of parallel wires connecting two or more components together

Question 12

What is the system bus?

Answer 12

The collection of the data bus, address bus, and control bus is called the system bus

Question 13

What is the width of a bus?

Answer 13

The number of parallel wires it has

Question 14

What is the data bus?

Answer 14

A bidirectional bus used to transport data and instructions between components

Question 15

What is the control bus?

Answer 15

The bi-directional bus used to transmit control signals between internal and external components

Question 16

What is the address bus used for?

Answer 16

Used to transmit the memory address specifying where data is to be sent from or retrieved from

Question 17

What does adding a wire to the address bus do to the number of addressable locations?

Answer 17

It doubles the number of addressable locations

Question 18

What does the Bus Request indicate?

Answer 18

Indicated a device is requesting access to the data bus

Question 19

What does Bus Grant indicate?

Answer 19

Indicates the CPU has granted access to the data bus

Question 20

What does memory write do?

Answer 20

Causes the data on the data bus to be written into the addressed location

Question 21

What does memory read do?

Answer 21

Causes the data from the addressed location to be placed onto the data bus

Question 22

What does the interrupt request control signal indicate?

Answer 22

Indicates that a device is requesting access to the CPU

Question 23

What is the clock control signal used for?

Answer 23

It is used to synchronize instructions

Question 24

What is opcode?

Answer 24

Opcode is used to determine the type of instruction and what hardware to use to execute it

Question 25

What is the operand?

Answer 25

The operand is the address of where the operation is performed

Question 26

What occurs during the fetch phase?

Answer 26

- The address from the PC is copied to the MAR - Instruction held at that address is copied to the MDR by the data bus, simultaneously the contents of the PC is incremented by 1 - The value of the MDR is copied to the CIR

Question 27

What occurs during the decode phase?

Answer 27

The contents of the CIR is split into operand and opcode

Question 28

What occurs during the execute phase?

Answer 28

The opcode is executed on the data

Question 29

What is the clock speed?

Answer 29

The number of clock cycles completed per second

Question 30

What is cache memory?

Answer 30

Cache memory is the CPU's onboard memory which can be accesses a lot faster than main memory

Question 31

What is Von Neumann architecture?

Answer 31

Architecture in which there is a single shared memory and shared data bus for both data and instructions

Question 32

What is Harvard architecture?

Answer 32

Architecture in which there is two separate memory and data buses for data and instructions

Question 33

What is contemporary processing?

Answer 33

Processing in which Von Neumann architecture is used for main memory. Cache uses Harvard architecture, divided into instructions, cache and data cache

Question 34

What does RISC mean?

Answer 34

Reduced Instruction Set Computer

Question 35

What does CISC mean?

Answer 35

Complex Instruction Set Computer

Question 36

What are the properties of RISC?

Answer 36

- Small instruction set - Each instruction is one line of machine code - Used in everyday devices

Question 37

What are the properties of CISC?

Answer 37

- A large instruction set - Instructions are built into hardware - Used in embedded systems and microprocessors

Question 38

What are the benefits of RISC processors?

Answer 38

Pipelining is possible since each instruction takes one clock cycle

Question 39

What are the benefits of CISC processors?

Answer 39

- Compilers have to do less work - They require less RAM since instructions are smaller

Question 40

What are multi-core systems?

Answer 40

Systems where there are multiple cores that separate fetch-execute cycles

Question 41

What are parallel systems?

Answer 41

Systems where multiple instructions can be completed at any given time, doesn't require multiple cores, it can use threading and pipelining instead

Question 42

Give two types of magnetic storage

Answer 42

- Hard Disk Drive - Floppy Disk - Magnetic Tape

Question 43

Give three examples of input devices

Answer 43

- Keyboard - Mouse - Microphone - Webcam - Touchpad - Barcode reader - Magnetic Stripe Reader

Question 44

Give an example of a device which is used for both input and output

Answer 44

Touchscreen

Question 45

What name is given to the areas on a CD's surface which have been burned into grooves by a laser?

Answer 45

Pits

Question 46

Give three examples of output devices

Answer 46

- Speaker - Monitor - Printer - Projector

Question 47

Which has the highest typical storage capacity: CD, DVD or Blu-Ray?

Answer 47

Blu-Ray

Question 48

In a HDD what is mounted at the end of the actuating arm?

Answer 48

Read/write head

Question 49

Which storage device has typical capacities in the range 500GB-5TB?

Answer 49

HDD

Question 50

Give 2 disadvantages of SSDs

Answer 50

- High cost per GB - Limited lifespan

Question 51

How is information stored in flash memory?

Answer 51

Information is stored in blocks which are then combined to form pages

Question 52

Which two types of logic gates are used in flash storage?

Answer 52

NAND and NOR

Question 53

Give 3 advantages of SSDs

Answer 53

High transfer speeds Lightweight No moving parts

Question 54

Give 2 disadvantages of SSDs

Answer 54

- Expensive - Limited read/writes

Question 55

What is ROM?

Answer 55

- Small piece of read-only memory - Non volatile - Contains very first instructions for the computer (bootstrap)

Question 56

What is RAM?

Answer 56

- Temporary storage of instructions and data - Holds information being executed by the processor - Volatile - Much faster than the hard disk

Question 57

What is virtual storage?

Answer 57

- The concept of storing and receiving data over the internet in the cloud instead of a local storage device

Question 58

What are the advantages of Cloud storage?

Answer 58

- Data can be accessed at any time, from any device as long as there is internet access - Data can be easily shared without the need for removable media transfer - Easy collaboration - Storage considered to be 'limitless' from the user's point of view

Question 59

What are the disadvantages of cloud storage?

Answer 59

- Can become quite expensive - If connectivity is low, access times can be slow - No internet connection = no access to your files

Question 60

What can virtual storage also refer to?

Answer 60

- The abstraction or separation of logical storage from physical storage