AS SSD Software Flashcards
(25 cards)
What is at the centre of virtually every computer?
The Central Processing Unit (CPU)
What is the CPU often called?
The brain of the computer.
What actions does the computer carry out?
The computer controls and sequences all input and output operations and carries out simple logical and arithmetic operations very quickly.
What is the CPU and other physical component called?
Hardware.
What operates directly on top of the hardware?
The operating system (OS)
What does the OS provide?
An interface between the user and the hardware.
What is the OS considered as?
System software which is concerned with the more technical aspects of setting up and running the computer system.
What are some examples of system software tasks?
Managing memory, virus detection, managing BIOS, managing the operating system and installing and managing device drivers.
What are some other examples of system software?
Utility programs and compiler, assembler and interpreter software.
What is higher level software?
Application software enables users to accomplish tasks.
Give some examples of application software?
Common examples are database software, word processing and spreadsheets.
What is source code?
Source code is human-readable program code. Computer programs are written using a programming language - either a list of commands or as a collection of interacting objects.
Where can source code be written?
In a text editor such as “Notepad++” or in an integrated development environment (IDE). These files are stored in a storage device as encoded text.
What does an IDE contain to help with writing and modifying program code?
It has extensive error detection and correction capability.
What needs to happen for a program to be executed?
It needs to be converted into binary.
What is this process referred to as?
The translation process. It converts code from a high level language which the programmer can read and understand, to binary or machine code which the computer can understand.
What does a compiler do?
A compiler will compile code into machine code before it runs and if errors exist, it will provide a list of errors for the user to fix.
What does an interpreter do?
An interpreter will translate code into machine code line by line. If the interpreter comes across an error, it will stop the program and wait for the line to be fixed.
What is the bit binary code for every character in ACSII?
7 bits
How many possible encodings does ACSII have?
127
What is the difference between ASCII and Extended ASCII?
Extended ASCII can use 8 bits to represent 256 different characters. This gives it a bigger storage capacity.
What is an example of a more modern and flexible encoding?
Unicode. It can represent over 65,000 characters as it makes use of 16 bits.
What are executable files?
They contain a series of operation codes for CPU instructions and the memory locations of the data. They generally have the “.exe” file extensions.
What is a more structured way to store data?
In Extensible Markup Language (XML). It was created as a standard means of storing and transporting data. It is closely related to Hypertext Markup Language (HTML).
