202QP1

Question 1

Describe what is meant by von-Neumann architecture

Answer 1

Uses same memory for instructions and data
Uses same bus for data and instruction
Follows the FDE cycle

Question 2

Describe what happens during the fetch stage of the FDE cycle

Answer 2

Data/address is copied from PC to MAR
PC is incremented (by 1) (this can be in any location from here down)
Data in MAR is passed onto the Address Bus
Read signal is sent onto the control bus
RAM copies the data from the location specified by the address bus onto the data bus
Data on the data bus is passed into the MDR
Data is copied from the MDR to the CIR

Question 3

In what stage of the FDE cycle is an interrupt handled

Answer 3

at the end of an execute

Question 4

State 2 functions of an operating system

Answer 4

Peripheral management
Handle interrupts
File management
Provides a user interface
Provides platform to install and run software.
Provides utilities for system maintenance.
Allows multi-tasking
Provides security

Question 5

State a benefit of using paging

Answer 5

Programs can be stored in non-contiguous memory locations making it easier to make best use of remaining storage

Question 6

Which method of compression are most likely to be used for photographs on a webpage

Answer 6

Lossy

Question 7

Why is compression used for photographs online

Answer 7

Reduces the size of the image file
Uses lower bandwidth in transmission
Takes up less storage (on the HTTP server)

Question 8

Explain the role of the DNS in a website being loaded

Answer 8

DNS is used to resolve IP corresponding to URL
Request sent to DNS resolver.
Resolver checks its cache and if it doesn’t hold the URL, it passes it in to the TLD Name server
which checks its cache and returns the answer
or passes on to the
Authoritative Name Server.
The IP address is returned up to the
requesting client.
Or an error if no resolution can be found.

Question 9

State the translator used to convert assembly into machine-readable code

Answer 9

Assembler