Computing

Question 1

Define addressable memory

Answer 1

Each main memory location has a main memory address - a unique numerical code that distinguishes the individual parts of memory.

Question 2

What are the three components of the Three Box Model?

Answer 2

Memory, Processor and I/O ports connected by a bus

Question 3

What is the Von Neumman architecture?

Answer 3

All the data is stored in main memory, and are sent and received by a processor.

Question 4

What is a microcontroller?

Answer 4

A complete computer on a single chip

Question 5

What is an example of a microprocessor?

Answer 5

MP3 player

Question 6

What is a homepage?

Answer 6

The starting page of a website; it will have links to other pages on the site

Question 7

What is HTML?

Answer 7

Hypertext Markup Language is use to write web pages. It consists of text that defines the content of a page, and how that page should be structured.

Question 8

Hyperlink?

Answer 8

A link from one web page to another

Question 9

Define a web browser

Answer 9

Software that displays a web page by rendering the HTML elements

Question 10

Define a web site

Answer 10

A set of linked documents associated with a person, organisation or topic that is held on a computer system, accessed via the World Wide Web.

Question 11

Define hardware

Answer 11

Electronic circuits that a computer is assembled from, and the platform from which software is executed.

Question 12

What is the Harvard architecture

Answer 12

Processor, main memory and data memory

Question 13

Define a memory location

Answer 13

A separately addressable area of main memory

Question 14

Define RAM

Answer 14

Random Access Memory, volatile main memory locations that can be accessed directly in any order for all writing and reading operations

Question 15

Define main memory

Answer 15

Memory that is directly addressable by the processor

Question 16

Define the stored program concept

Answer 16

A program must be in main memory to be executed.

Question 17

Define an I/O port

Answer 17

Allows the CPU to communicate with peripherals

Question 18

Define an I/O device

Answer 18

A hardware unit that sends or receives data or stores data by communicating with the processor and main memory through an I/O controller

Question 19

Define peripherals

Answer 19

A computer device that is not part of the CPU

Question 20

Define EEPROM

Answer 20

Electrically erasable programmable read-only memory; it’s contents may be altered but writing is about 100 times slower than reading.

Question 21

Define machine code instructions

Answer 21

A binary code that a machine can understand and execute

Question 22

Define op-code

Answer 22

The part of a machine code instruction that denotes the basic machine code operation

Question 23

Define operand

Answer 23

The part of a machine code instruction that represents a single item of binary data or the address of a single item of binary data.

Question 24

Define a register

Answer 24

A very fast memory location inside the processor or I/O controller

Question 25

Define general purpose register

Answer 25

A register not assigned a specified role by the professor designer.

Question 26

Define a dedicated register

Answer 26

A register assigned a specific role by the processor designer

Question 27

Define the ALU

Answer 27

Arithmetic and logic unit performs operations on data such as addition and subtraction

Question 28

Define internal clock

Answer 28

Gathered from the system clock

Question 29

What are logic gates used for

Answer 29

Flow control

Question 30

Define the MAR

Answer 30

Memory address register; holds the address of the memory location currently being accessed by the processor.

Question 31

Define the MBR

Answer 31

Hold the data item being transferred to or from the memory location currently being accessed by the processor.

Question 32

Define word length

Answer 32

The number of digits in a binary word

Question 33

Define clock speed

Answer 33

The frequency a processor executes instructions (in MHz or GHz).

Question 34

What is the bus width

Answer 34

The number of the signal wires or lines allocated to the bus

Question 35

Define the CIR

Answer 35

The current instruction register holds the current instruction to be decided and executed

Question 36

What is a Boolean variable

Answer 36

A variable that is either on or off, 1 or 0

Question 37

What is a truth table

Answer 37

A table that shows the result of applying the logical function to all possible combination of inputs.

Question 38

What is a gateway

Answer 38

Connects networks that use different link layer protocols

Question 39

What is a router

Answer 39

Connects networks that use the same link layer protocol

Question 40

What's an IP address

Answer 40

A unique address that identifies a computer or other electronic device on the network.

Question 41

What is the WWW

Answer 41

The World Wide Web is a system of interlinked hypertext documents accessed via the internet.

Question 42

What's an intranet

Answer 42

A private computer network used to share information or operations within an organisation

Question 43

What is an FQDN

Answer 43

Fully qualified domain names are a host ID and domain name.

Question 44

What does a DNS server do

Answer 44

A server that translates FQDNs into IP addresses

Question 45

What is an ISP

Answer 45

A business that sells people internet access

Question 46

What is a server

Answer 46

A software process that provides a service requested by a client

Question 47

What is a client

Answer 47

A software process that requests and uses the services provided by a server

Question 48

What is a protocol

Answer 48

A set of agreed rules and codes for data change between systems

Question 49

Define a protocol stack

Answer 49

A collection of protocol layers

Question 50

What is a TCP/IP protocol stack

Answer 50

Has an application layer, network layer and a link layer.

Question 51

What does the network layer do

Answer 51

Adds source and destination IP addresses to packets on their way from the transport layer to the link layer

Question 52

What does the link layer do

Answer 52

Handles all physical details of interacting with the cable

Question 53

What does the application layer do

Answer 53

Handles the details of a particular networking application, such as a web browser

Question 54

What is FTP

Answer 54

Application layer protocol that enables files on one host to be copied to another

Question 55

What are the three types of system software?

Answer 55

Operating software, library program's and utility programs.

Question 56

What are the three language translators?

Answer 56

Assembler, compiler and interpreter.

Question 57

What are the three types of application software?

Answer 57

Bespoke software, general-purpose software and special purpose software.

Question 58

What is a first generation language?

Answer 58

Machine code is the only program code that the computer can execute.

Question 59

What is a second-generation language?

Answer 59

Assembly language - same structure and instructions as machine code, but it is based on mnemonics.

Question 60

What is a third-generation language?

Answer 60

Languages that are executed in an order defined by the programmer.