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Computing > 06 Hardware And Software > Flashcards

06 Hardware And Software Flashcards

1
Q

What is hardware?

A

The electrical or electro-mechanical parts of a computer

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2
Q

What is software?

A

All the programs that make the computer function

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3
Q

What are the two ways of classifying software?

A

System Software - Operating Systems and Utility Programs

Application Software - General and Special Purpose

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4
Q

What does system software do?

A

Runs and manages the computer’s hardware and application programs

Allocates jobs to processor, installs software, maintains security, peripheral management

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5
Q

What is the operating system?

A

Serves as a middle man for communication between the computers hardware and software

Windows
OS X
Linux

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6
Q

What does the OS do?

A

Resource Management - Processor scheduling, memory management, IO management, backing store management

Provision of user interface - Command Line, Menu driven, GUI

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7
Q

What is utility software?

A

Some is designed to optimise and maintain a computer system (install, uninstall software, software updates, defragment a disk)
Or

Additional common tasks (virus check, backup, restore, file compression)

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8
Q

What are libraries?

A

A collection of pre compiled routines that can be used by other programs

Most OSs have hundreds

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9
Q

What is machine code?

A

The lowest level of instructions made up of pure binary

Hard for humans to write or understand

All instructions need to be converted to it

Opcode in first few bits
Operand in the rest of the bests

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10
Q

What is a translator?

A

It is used to translate code written in assembly language or high level code into machine code

Not a utility program

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11
Q

What are the three types of translators?

A

Assemblers
Compilers
Interpreters

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12
Q

What are assemblers?

A

Translate assembly language into machine code

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13
Q

What are compilers?

A

Translate high level language programs into machine/object code which can be saved and run whenever without a compiler

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14
Q

What are interpreters?

A

Translates high level languages into an intermediate from and then executes it

No object code is produced and it will usually scan through and find syntax errors

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15
Q

What are some examples of application software?

A

Word processors
Image editors
Email clients
Internet browsers

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16
Q

What are general purpose software packages?

A

Can be used for a range of generic tasks

Word processors
Graphics packages
Spreadsheet software

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17
Q

What are special purpose software packages?

A

Performs tasks for a single specific job

Media players
Calendar programs
Online payment systems

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18
Q

What is off the shelf software?

A

Readily available
Low cost
Well documented and well tested

However
Little control of features
May not do exactly what u want

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19
Q

What is bespoke software?

A

Created to fulfil your own expectations
Complete control over the process so can do exactly what u need

Can increase costs
Can take weeks, months or years

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20
Q

What is an API and what does it do?

A

It is an application programming interface and hides the true complexities of the operation

User gives a request
API sends this to OS
Operation is carried out and shown through API

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21
Q

What is memory management?

A

OS allocates memory to each process

And if there is not enough they are swapped out of memory and into virtual memory

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22
Q

What is processor scheduling?

A

OS controls which programs can send data to the processor to be processed

Instructions from multiple operations are queued

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23
Q

What is processor scheduling?

A

Operating system module responsible for ensuring that processor time is used as efficiently as possible

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24
Q

What are the different scheduling algorithms?

A

Round robin - each process is given a time slice and takes turns

Shortest job next

Priority system

25
Q

What is backing store management?

A

OS keeps tracks of where all files are stored and where space is free if the user performs a save operation

26
Q

What is IO device management?

A

Communicates with I/O devices via the I/O controller, part of the CPU
Checks that a required output device is switched on and ready to receive data
Deals with processor interrupts (Out of paper message from printer)

27
Q

What is an instruction set?

A

All the instructions that a computer can understand and execute

The operand can either be an actual value or the address in memory where the value is held

28
Q

What is assembly language?

A

Each opcode was replaced by a mnemonic which gave a clue to what the operation did

Operand was replaced by a decimal or hexadecimal number

Still one to one correspondence between assembly language and machine code instructions

29
Q

What are the advantages and disadvantages to assembly language and machine code?

A

Much easier to write, understand and debug

Has to be translated into machine code by an assembler

30
Q

What are imperative and declarative high level languages?

A

Imperative - Commands for the computer to perform (Python)

Declarative - Focuses on what the program should do without listing the steps needed (SQL)

31
Q

What is a high level language?

A

Implies that the programmer can think and code in terms of algorithms rather than worrying about how the computer will execute each tiny step

Has to be translated into machine code before being executed

(Pascal, FORTRAN, Python)

This is an example of abstraction

32
Q

What are the advantages of high level languages?

A

Easier and faster to write debug and maintain

Portable so can be written for one computer and recompiled for another

33
Q

What are the disadvantages of high level languages?

A

Compiled or interpreted code runs slower than assembly or machine code

Occupies more space in RAM

Do not have statements to manipulate individual bits

34
Q

How is assembly code translated into machine code by an assembler?

A

One assembly code instruction is translated into machine code by an assembler

Each type of processor has its own type assembly code and assembler program

35
Q

What is source code and what is object code?

A

Source code is the assembly code program and the input to the assembler

Object code is the machine code instructions produced by the assembler and can be saved and run whenever needed

36
Q

When is assembly code used?

A

When a program needs to
execute fast
occupy as little space
manipulate individual bits

Typically used for embedded systems, phones and sensors

The object code is saved and ran whenever needed

37
Q

What is the compilation process of a compiler?

A

Several phases such as lexical analysis, syntactic analysis and semantic analysis

It produces intermediate code optimises it then generates machine code
Will not generate it if there are errors

38
Q

What types of errors will the compiler detect and what will it do once errors are corrected?

A

Syntax errors or missing subroutines

After errors have been corrected it will produce relocatable code as it doesn’t know the address where the code will be loaded

39
Q

What are the advantages of a compiler?

A

After being compiled the object code can be distributed without the compiler

Object code is faster than interpreted code

Object code is more secure as it cannot be easily read and copied by someone

Available for most types of high level language

40
Q

What are the advantages of an interpreter?

A

Useful in education as it allows students to program interactively

Useful during development if you want to test a small bit of code and not the whole thing

Available for most high level languages

41
Q

What is byte code?

A

Some compiler compile source code into an intermediate form called byte code

It is portable

42
Q

How is byte code used?

A

Once it has been translated into machine code it is retained for the next time so the translation doesn’t have to be done again

43
Q

What are logic gates?

A

Simple circuits made up of switches that can only be ON or OFF

44
Q

What are the six types of logic gate?

A

NOT, AND, OR, XOR, NAND, NOR

45
Q

What is a NOT gate?

A

If 0 is input it outputs 1

If 1 is input it outputs 0

46
Q

What is an AND gate?

A

If both inputs are 1 then the output is 1

Otherwise the output is 0

47
Q

What is an OR gate?

A

If either input is 1 then the output is 1

Otherwise the output is 0

48
Q

What is an XOR gate?

A

If one, but not both, of the inputs is 1, the output is 1
Otherwise the output is 0

(Or with curved line before it)

49
Q

What is a NAND gate?

A

It inverts the output of the AND gate

And with dot on end of it

50
Q

What is a NOR gate?

A

This gate inverts the OR gate
The output is 1 only if both inputs are 0

(Or with dot on end)

51
Q

How can any input be turned into one using a logic gate?

A

Use a NAND or NOR function

52
Q

How is Boolean algebra written?

A

Line above = NOT
Dot = AND
+ = OR

53
Q

What is De Morgan’s first law?

A

¯A”• ¯B=¯(A+B)

(NOT A) AND (NOT B) = NOT A OR B

54
Q

What is De Morgan’s second law?

A

¯(A•B)=¯A+¯B

NOT A AND B = (NOT A) OR (NOT B)

55
Q

How do implement De Morgan’s laws?

A

Complement both terms in the expression
Change AND to OR and OR to AND
Invert the result

E.g. ¯P+¯Q= ¯(P • Q)
¯P • ¯Q = ¯(P “+ “ Q)

(NOT P) OR (NOT Q) = NOT P AND Q
(NOT P) AND (NOT Q) = NOT P OR Q

56
Q

What is commutative rule?

A

X AND Y = Y AND X

Same both ways round

57
Q

What is the associative rule?

A 
X AND (Y AND Z) = (X AND Y) AND Z
If there are three values with the same logic gate you can do any two before the other. Order doesn’t matter
58
Q

What is the distributive rule?

A 
X AND (Y OR Z) = X AND Y OR X AND Z
Expand the brackets
59
Q

What is the absorption rule?

A 
X OR (X AND Y) = X
X AND (X OR Y) = X

Computing (5 decks)

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