Section 7

Question 1

What is a processor in a computer?

Answer 1

A device that carries out instructions and memory management.

Question 2

What does a processor do in a pc?

Answer 2

A processor controls the memory management and it also carries out computation on data by following instructions.

Question 3

What does main memory do?

Answer 3

Main memory stores data and it instructions that will be used by the processor.

Question 4

What is RAM

Answer 4

RAM (random access memory) is volatile memory that can be stored very quickly, this means that certain applications can run quickly. However when the power is turned off the ram looses all of its content.

Question 5

What is ROM

Answer 5

ROM (read only memory) is a method of storing data and instructions. But it is mainly used for the start up if a computer.

Question 6

What is addressable memory?

Answer 6

Addressable memory is made up of millions of addressable cells and various instructions that make up a program. This memory is organised via the address.

Question 7

What are the three types of buses?

Answer 7

Data, Address, control

Question 8

What does the data bus do?

Answer 8

Transfers data between the processer and memory. It also transfers data from the I/O controllers.

Question 9

What is the address bus?

Answer 9

It is used to specify a physical address in memory so that the data bus can access it.

Question 10

What is the control bus?

Answer 10

The control bus controls the flow of data between the processor and other parts of the computer.

Question 11

What are I/O controllers

Answer 11

These are the direct link between the processor and the main memory. They send and receive instructions. Basic I/O devices are keyboard and mouse.

Question 12

What is the Von Neumann architecture?

Answer 12

A technique for building a processor where data and instructions are stored in the same memory and accessed via the buses.

Question 13

What is the Harvard architecture?

Answer 13

A technique for building a processor that uses separate buses and memory for data and instructions.

Question 14

What is a HDD

Answer 14

A HDD is a hard disk drive. It is a secondary storage device made up of metallic disks that store data magnetically.

Question 15

What is a controller in reference to a SSD?

Answer 15

A controller is in SSDs and is needed to organise data into blocks for storage purposes.

Question 16

What are blocks in regard to storage?

Answer 16

A Block is the concept of storing data into sent groups of bits and bytes of a fixed length.

Question 17

What is a Floating gate transistor?

Answer 17

It is in SSDs, it is a type of non-volatility transistor that stored data even without power.

Question 18

How are magnetic hard disks constructed?

Answer 18

They are constructed of a hard metallic material and are hermetically sealed. They are made up in a number of disks arranged in a stack. The disks are coated with a thin film of magnetic material.

Question 19

How is the data stored in a magnetic hard disk?

Answer 19

Changed in the direction of magnetism represents ones and zeros.

Question 20

How is the data read from a MHD (Magnetic hard disk)?

Answer 20

There is an actuator arm which moves the head across the surface of the disk as it spins. Due to the combination of the rotating disks with the lateral movement of the arm means that the head can access every part of the disks surface.

Question 21

How is the surface of the disks originised?

Answer 21

The surface of the disk is organised into concentrated tracks and each track is split into sectors each of which can be addressed individually by the OS. Because of the head assembly it can read any one of the disks, a cylinder reference is also used to identify which disk in the stack is being addressed.

Question 22

What is an optical disk?

Answer 22

An optical disk is a generic term for all variations of CD, DVD, and Blu-Ray that use laser technology to write and read data.

Question 23

How is an optical disk made up?

Answer 23

An optical disk is made up of one single spiral track that starts in the middle and works its way to the edge of the CD. The laser will read the data that is contained within this track by ready the pits and lands.

Question 24

What are read-only optical disks?

Answer 24

A read-only optical disk is when the data is written. It is encoded as a series of bumps, pits and lands within the track layer on the disk.

Question 25

How is data protected on a read-only optical disk?

Answer 25

After the data has been encoded onto the disk, a protective layer is put over the surface to prevent any corruption.

Question 26

How are optical disks read?

Answer 26

The pattern of pits and lands are used to represent data, when the disk is ready the pits and lands are read by the laser which interprets each as different electrical signals (ones and zeros)

Question 27

How are writeable disks writeable?

Answer 27

Rather then using pits and lands the disk is coated in a photosensitive dye, that is transparent. When writing the laser will alter the dye making it opaque. Which can then be interpreted as binary patterns.

Question 28

What is a SSD?

Answer 28

A SSD is a is a memory device made up of semiconductors. It is also non-volatile meaning that the data is not lost when there is no power.

Question 29

What is one benefit of a SSD over a HDD?

Answer 29

High speeds of data transfer can be achieved, compared with magnetic hard disks.

Question 30

How are the semiconductors stored in a SSD?

Answer 30

They are stored in a unit that looks like a hard disk and they commonly use a type of memory called NAND memory. This organises the data into blocks like a traditional HDD.

Question 31

How are the semiconductors able to retain data? In a SSD.

Answer 31

The semiconductors are able to retain data due to the type of transistor used.

Question 32

What transistor is used to store the data in an SSD?

Answer 32

A SSD uses a floating gate transistor which is able to trap and store charge.

Question 34

What is the basic concept of the Von Neumann architecture?

Answer 34

To store instructions and data in the same memory unit.

Question 35

What is the basic instructions for fetch?

Answer 35

The processor fetched the programs next instruction from memory. The instruction sill be stored at a memory address and will contain the instruction in binary code.

Question 36

What is the basic instruction for the decode part of the fde cycle?

Answer 36

The processor works out what the binary code at the address means?

Question 37

What is the basic instructions for execute?

Answer 37

The processor carries out the instruction which may involve reading an item of data from memory performing a calculation or writing data back into memory.

Question 39

What part of the processor supervises the FDE cycle?

Answer 39

The CU supervises the FDE cycle. It also makes sure that all the data that is being processed is pouted correctly.

Question 40

What operations does the ALU carry out?

Answer 40

Arithmetic and logic. The ALU can be used to carry out normal mathematical operations as well as shifting. It can also be used to compare two values. Some comparisons can lead to true or false values being recorded.

Question 41

How does the ALU process requests?

Answer 41

The ALU is sent an operation code and the operands. The ALU then uses logical or arithmetic operations to carry out the appropriate process.

Question 42

What is the internal clock?

Answer 42

The internal clock is a clock that generates a signal that is used to synchronise the operations of the processor and the movement of data around the other components of the computer.

Question 43

What is the speed of the clock measured in?

Answer 43

It is measured in gigahertz (GHz 1000 million cycles per second)