Appendix A: Hardware Basics Flashcards
Information Technology
Any computer based tool that people use to work with information and support the information and information processing needs of an organization
Hardware
Consists of the physical devices associated with a computer system
Software
The set of instructions that the hardware executed to carry out specific tasks
Computer
An electronic device operating under the control of instructions stored in its own memory that can accept, manipulate, and store data
Central Processing Unit
The actual hardware that interprets and executed the program instructions and coordinated how all the other hardware devices work together
Control Unit
Interprets software instructions and literally tells the other hardware devices what to do, based on the software instructions
Arithmetic Logic Unit
Performs all arithmetic operations and all logic operations
Megahertz
The number of millions of CPU cycles per second
Gigahertz
The number of billions of CPU cycles per second
Binary Digit
The smallest unit of information that a computer can process
Byte
A group of 8 bits representing one natural language character
Complex Instruction Set Computer Chip
Type of CPU that can recognize as many 100 or more instructions, enough to carry out most computations directly
Reduced Instruction Set Computer Chip
Limit the number of instructions the CPU can execute to increase processing speed
Virtualization
A protected memory space created by the CPU allowing the computer to create virtual machines
Primary Storage
The computer’s main memory, which consists of the random access memory, cache memory, and the read only memory that is directly accessible to the CPU
Random Access Memory
The computers primary working memory, in which program instructions and data are stored so that they can be accessed directly by the CPU via the processors high speed external data bus
Read Only Memory
The portion of a computers primary storage that does not lose its contents when one switches off the power
Secondary Storage
Consists of equipment designed to store large volumes of data for long term storage
Megabyte
Roughly 1 million bytes
Gigabyte
Roughly 1 billion bytes
Terabyte
Roughly 1 trillion bytes
Magnetic Medium
A secondary storage medium that uses magnetic techniques to store and retrieve data on disks or tapes coated with magnetically sensitive materials
Magnetic Tape
An older secondary storage medium that uses a strip of thin plastic coated with a magnetically sensitive recording medium
Hard Drive
A secondary storage medium that uses several rigid disks coated with a magnetically sensitive material and housed together with the recording heads in a hermetically sealed mechanism
