Inside a computer Flashcards
(65 cards)
1
Q
What is this?
A
Bus Lines
2
Q
What is this?
A
Serial and Parallel Ports
3
Q
What is this?
A
Serial Cable
4
Q
What is this?
A
IDE Cable
5
Q
What is this?
A
Secondary Storage
6
Q
What is this?
A
SCSI Card (Scuzzy)
7
Q
What is this?
A
PC Card
8
Q
What is this?
A
Network Card
9
Q
What is this?
A
Sound Card
10
Q
What is this?
A
Video Card
11
Q
What is this?
A
RAM (Random Access Memory)
12
Q
What is this?
A
CMOS Battery
13
Q
What is this?
A
CPU Fan and Heat Sink
14
Q
What is this?
A
CPU/ Microprocessor
15
Q
What is this?
A
Motherboard/ System Board
16
Q
What is this?
A
Power Supply
17
Q
Power Supply purpose
A
· An electronic device that supplies electric energy to an electrical load.
The primary function: convert one form of electrical energy to another and, as a result, power supplies are sometimes referred to as electric power converters.
18
Q
Motherboard/Systems Board purpose
A
· Main circuit board of your computer
· A flat board that contains the CPU and some memory chips.
Usually also contains expansion slots.
19
Q
Block diagram of Inside a computer
A
Inside the CPU: Control, ALU, Registers, Memory- ROM & RAM).
Outside the CPU: Input Unit, Output Unit, Secondary Storage
20
Q
CPU/ Microprocessor purpose
A
· Stands for “Central Processing Unit.”
Processes and manipulates data according to a set of instructions (programs) into meaningful information.
It houses the control unit, the arithmetic logic unit (ALU) and memory (ROM and RAM) as well as registers.
The CPU is located on a single silicon chip called the microprocessor. Different microprocessors have different capabilities.
· It runs the operating system and applications, constantly receiving input from the user or active software programs.
· It processes the data and produces output, which may stored by an application or displayed on the screen.
21
Q
What is the Input unit?
A
Input unit- converts data into a form the computer understands (electrical pulses) and sends it to the CPU
e.g. keyboard, mouse, microphone, bar code reader
22
Q
What is the output unit?
A
Output unit- converts the processed information back into a form that humans understand (texts, images, sound) and makes it available for use
e.g. printer, speaker, plotter
23
Q
What is ALU?
A
· ALU (Arithmetic Logic Unit)- carries out all the arithmetic (mathematical) and logic (comparison) calculations.
24
Q
What is Control?
A
· Control- the control unit directs and coordinates the entire computer system.
It does not execute the instructions itself; rather it directs other parts of the system to do so.
25
Expansion slot/board purpose
To **adjust the computers capabilities by providing a connection to external devices.**
26
CPU fan and heat sink purpose
· **Dissipates the heat from the processor, preventing it from overheating.**
The heat sink is made out of metal and is attached to the processor with a thermal material that **draws the heat away from the processor towards the heat sink.**
27
CMOS Battery purpose
· Stands for "**Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor**"
Allows the **memory to be powered by a simple Lithium battery for many years**.
A **battery** that **maintains the time, date, hard disk** and **other configuration settings in the CMOS memory.**
28
System Clock purpose
· **Controls the speed of operations** in a computer, **measured in hertz**.
· One megahertz = 1 million cycle (beats) per second.
The **faster the clock speed**, **the faster the computer can process information.**
29
Memory purpose
Comes in two well-known types: **RAM** and **ROM.**
**Stores the instructions in the RAM and ROM memory.**
**ROM** chips typically **contain special instructions** for **detailed computer operations-** e.g. to **start the computer**.
**RAM** is where **programs and data loaded from secondary storage temporarily reside.**
30
RAM purpose
· Stands for **"Random Access Memory"**
You **can store, fetch and alter it.**
Information in RAM is **temporarily stored during processing** and is **lost when the computer is turned off or loses power.**
This is **where the information** that **comes from an external storage device or an input device is stored,** as well as the results of processing.
· **Made up of small memory chips** that **form a memory module**.
· These **modules** are **installed in the RAM slots on the mother board** of your computer.
· Every time you open a program, it gets loaded from the hard drive into the RAM.
31
ROM purpose
Typically contain **special instructions for detailed computer operations-** e.g. **to start the computer**.
It is possible **only to read** (i.e. fetch) **data and instructions.**
Contents of ROM **cannot be altered or erased.**
Contents are **permanently stored.**
ROM is where the **built in instructions that come with the computer are stored.**
32
Registers purpose
Registers: **Stores the instructions temporarily while** the **CPU is processing the information.**
The **register size** can be **16, 32, or 64-bits wide**
33
Video card purpose
· To **give the CPU a break** and **help it run more efficiently**
· **To process the graphics portion of the processing load.**
· Because most of today's programs are graphically oriented, the video card can help almost any program run more efficiently.
· Also called graphics accelerators
· Can speed up both 2D and 3D graphics rendering.
**To adapt a variety of colour video display monitors to a computer.**
34
Sound Card purpose
· A component inside the computer that **provides audio input and output capabilities.**
· Most sound cards have at least one analog line input and one stereo line output connection.
· In some computers, the sound card is **part of the mother board,** while other machines may have an actual card that reside in a PCI slot.
To **record and play back digital sound.**
35
Network Card (NIC) purpose
· Stands for "**Network Interface Card**."
· Physically makes the connection between the computer and the network cable.
· These cards typically use an Ethernet connection and are available in 10, 100, and 1000 Base-T configurations.
To **connect the computer to one or more other computers so that users can share data, programs and hardware**.
36
PC Card purpose
· **A network of serial connections controlled by a hub on the computer's motherboard.**
· Can be used to **connect high-speed devices such as Gigabit Ethernet cards and high-end video cards.**
· **Credit card sized expansion cards developed to meet the size and constraints of laptops.**
They **can be easily inserted and replaced from the outside of a portable computer**.
37
SCSI (Scuzzy) Card purpose
· Stands for “**Small Computer System Interface**”
· Used primarily **for high-speed hard drives**. This is because SCSI **can support faster data transfer rates than the commonly used IDE storage interface**.
· SCSI also supports daisy-chaining devices, which means several SCSI hard drives can be connected to single a SCSI interface, with little to no decrease in performance.
**Computers must have this card.**
**Only a limited number of expansion slots.**
A SCSI card **uses only one slot to connect a whole bunch of other devices to the system (such as printers, hard drives).**
38
Secondary Storage purpose
**Stores additional data, information and programs outside of the CPU** itself, although it **can be built into the system unit cabinet**
· Storage devices and storage media that are **not always directly accessible by a computer.**
· E.g: **external hard drives, USB flash drives, and tape drives, CDs and DVDs, floppy disks,**
39
IDE cable purpose
· Stands for both **"Integrated Device Electronics"** and **"Integrated Development Environment."**
The **first** is a **hard drive term**, while the **second** is related to **software programming**.
**Standard parallel type connection for storage devices in a computer.**
40
Serial Cable purpose
· **Sends data one bit at a time**.
· **Slower but reliable over longer distances**.
· E.g. **mouse**
41
Parallel Cables purpose
**Sends multiple bits of data simultaneously over multiple parallel wires.**
**Best for short distances.**
(e.g. **printer, IDE cable**)
42
Bus Lines purpose
· Each bus inside a computer consists of **set of wires that allow data to be passed back and forth**.
· Most computers have several buses that **transmit data to different parts of the machine.**
Each bus has a certain size, **measured in bits** (such as **32-bit or 64-bit**), that **determines how much data can travel across the bus at one time.**
43
HTML purpose
It is **NOT a programming language**.
Rather, it is **the protocol used to create documents for the World Wide Web.**
While most browsers will display any document written in plain text, **HTML allows you to format the text and include multimedia elements and hyperlinks to resources all over the internet.**
44
HTML stands for...
**Hyper Text Markup Language**
45
IDE Stands for...
· Stands for both "**Integrated Device Electronics**" and "**Integrated Development Environment**."
46
SCSI Card (Scuzzy) Stands for...
· Stands for “**Small Computer System Interface**”
47
CMOS stands for...
· Stands for "Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor."
48
What is Data?
Data- refers to **the raw material to be processed**
49
What is information?
Information- refers to **data that has been processed, or manipulated according to instructions, into a meaningful form.**
50
What is Software?
Software- refers to the programs (or instructions) used to run the computer and make it do certain tasks.
51
What is Hardware?
Hardware- refers to **the physical components of the computer system which can be touched.**
e.g. **keyboard, circuits.**
52
What is the difference between Hardware and Software?
Hardware- refers to the **physical components of the computer system which can be touched.**
e.g. **keyboard, circuits.**
Software- refers to **the programs (or instructions) used to run the computer and make it do certain tasks.**
53
Why is the *binary number system* used for data representation in a computer system?
A **system** in which **information can be expressed in only two states consisting of digits 0 and 1** which **electronic devices can only exist in.**
54
BInary Sizes
Bit, Byte, Kilobyte, Megabyte
* *Bit:** A **single digit either 1 (current flow) or 0 ( no current)**.
* *Byte:** a **group of 8 bits**
* *Kilobyte: 1,000 bytes**
* *Megabytes: 1,000,000 bytes**
55
Standard coding scheme used to represent characters in a computer system?
**ACSII: A**merican **S**tandard **C**ode for **I**nformation **I**nterchange
56
Convert the binary number **1010** to its decimal equivalent
**1 0 1 0**
**^ ^ ^ ^
| | | |**
**3 2 1 0**
2**3 **+ 2**1 **= 8 + 2 = 1010
57
Convert the decimal number **51** to its binary equivalent.
**5 1**
= 32 + 16 + 2 + 1
= 1 x 25 + 1 x 24 + 1 x 21 + 1 x 20
= 1 1 0 0 1 1 2
58
What is an Algorithm?
A **step by step process** to **achieve a certain task.**
59
Psuedocode Terms
READ, WRITE, IF, ELSE, ENDIF, WHILE, ENDWHILE, REPEAT, and UNTIL.
E.g.
READ name, hourlyRate, hoursWorked, deductionRate
grossPay = hourlyRate \* hoursWorked
deduction = grossPay \* deductionRate
netPay = grossPay – deduction
WRITE name, grossPay, deduction, netPay
60
Sequence
**Steps follow eachother in a linear fashion.**
61
Selection
**Making decisions** with **If then else statements.**
The **ability to carry out a task if certain criteria is met.**
62
Iteration
**Loops: for, repeat... until, while... do**
The **ability to repeat a section of a program**.
Loops **reduce the size and complexity of the code.**
63
For loop
The **loop is executed** a ***known number of times***.
when you want to **repeat a section of the program** a known specified number of times.
**Syntax: for (start; end; change)
{do actions}**
**E.g.**
```
function count ()
{
**var n;
for (n=1;n\<6;n=n+1)**
**{**
document.write (n+ '
');
**}**
}
```
64
Repeat .. Until Loop
The **loop is executed *at least once***, and is **only terminated when the condition is *true*.**
65
While ... Do Loop
The **loop *may not be executed at all*** – it is ***only* executed if the condition is true.**
**Syntax:**
**Initialise test;
while (test)
{do actions}**
**E.g.**
```
function numberPrint()
{
**var n;
n=1;
while (n\<6)****{**
document.write (n+ '
');
**n=n+1;**
**}**
}
```
