2 Flashcards

1
Q

How are computers constructed?

A

Using individual transistors. Which form circuits that enable various operations and logic.

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2
Q

What is current?

A

Current is the flow of electric charge through a conductor, like a wire, measured in units of amperes (A).

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3
Q

What are transistors made of?

A

Semiconductor materials that amplify/switch electrical signals and electrical power.

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4
Q

A transistor is equal to…

A

a switch.

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5
Q

Name three parts of small input signal

A

Emitter, base, collector

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6
Q

Which are the four types of gates?

A

AND Gate, OR Gate, NOT Gate, XOR Gate

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7
Q

AND Gate is like…

A

multiplication.

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8
Q

OR Gate is like…

A

sum.

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9
Q

The XOR Gate follows…

A

Boolean Algebra.

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10
Q

For what do we use the Half Adder (HA)?

A

We use it to handling the carry bit.

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11
Q

Abstraction in Hardware design consists of…

A

Design more complex devices in terms of logic, not electronics

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12
Q

How we tend to represent the world?

A

With 8 bit numbers.

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13
Q

What the Arithmetic Logic Unit (ALU) does?

A

It combines multiple full adders & additional logic circuits to perform arithmetic and logical operations (AND, XOR, OR).

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14
Q

Why we have to use CPU (Central Processing Unit)?

A

Because ALU’s are no capable of perform multiplication (more than 1 inst.)

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15
Q

What the control unit does?

A

Receives instructions from memory & controls the flow of data within CPU. Also, interprets opcode.

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16
Q

What is RAM?

A

Random Access Memory. Is the computer’s temporary workspace.

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17
Q

Registers are

A

temporary storage units within the CPU that hold data during processing

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18
Q

What RAM does?

A

Stores data & instructions that the CPU accesses during execution.

19
Q

What would happen if you ran out of RAM?

A

The device would start to run really slowly.
Your programs wouldn’t be able to run.

20
Q

What would happen if you ran out of permanent storage?

A

Your computer would no longer be able to permanently store any of its files, you would no longer be able to save any work.

21
Q

What is the instruction set?

A

Collections of binary-coded instructions with specific operations like arithmetic, memory access, and control flow. That a computer’s CPU can execute.

22
Q

Which are the two main types of instruction sets?

A

RISC: with simple instructions for faster execution.
CISC: with more complex instructions to reduce program size.

23
Q

Different processors use specific instruction sets…

A

optimized for various applications and performance requirements.

24
Q

What is Machine Language?

A

Binary instructions that CPU can directly execute.

25
Q

It’s very difficult for humans to work with machine code. What do we do?

A

Use abstraction. High level-programming languages like Java, C++…

26
Q

What Moore’s Law says?

A

The number of transistors in a dense integrated circuit (IC) doubles about every two years.

27
Q

How do we calculate the factor by which a computer’s power has increased based on Moore’s Law?

A

Determine the number of two-years periods in x years (x years/2 years/period = y periods)
Since the power doubles every period, the increase is 2^y

28
Q

Name the parts of the computer (hardware)

A

CPU
GPU (Graphics Processing Unit)
Motherboard
Power Supply (PSU)
CPU Cooler

29
Q

What is CPU?

A

Computer’s brain.

30
Q

What is GPU?

A

Brain of computers graphics capabilities.

31
Q

What is the motherboard?

A

Large printed circuit board with numerous wires & various microchips, components, sockets, ports, slots, headers & connectors.

32
Q

There are memory channels in the motherboard, what do they allow?

A

They allow the CPU to communicate directly with DRAM.

33
Q

What are SSDs?

A

Solid-state drive. It stores data permanently.

34
Q

What’s a bit?

A

Smallest unit of storage.

35
Q

8 bits form a…

A

Byte

36
Q

How many different patterns can I form with 3 bits?

A

8 patterns

37
Q

How many different patterns can I form with 9 bits?

A

2^9 patterns

38
Q

How many patterns can I form with 1 Byte?

A

256 patterns

39
Q

Name all “types” of bytes and corresponding number of bytes of each.

A

KB (1 thousand bytes)
MG (1 million bytes)
GB (1 billion bytes)
TB (1 trillion bytes)

40
Q

What is ASCII?

A

Is an enconding representing each typed character by a number. (Each number is stored in one byte)

41
Q

What is Unicode?

A

Is an enconding for mandarin, greek, arabic, etc. languages, typically 2-bytes per character.

42
Q

What happens if you carry to the leftmost bit?

A

Changes the numbers from positive to negative!

43
Q

What is a Gigaherz?

A

Is speed! (1 billion cycles per second)