Chapter 4: Software Flashcards

Question

Definition of interrupt

Answer 1

a signal sent from a device or software to a microprocessor requesting its attention; the microprocessor suspends all operations until the interrupt has been serviced

Answer 2

a function that allows a computer to process more than one task/process at a time

Answer 3

a person responsible for the upkeep and maintenance of a computer system that involves multi-user function

Answer 4

an agreement that allows an individual to use a computer; the user needs a user name and password to enter the user's area

Answer 5

a routine in a program or operating system that recognises and recovers a system from abnormal inputs or hardware faults (for example, recovery from an attempt to divide by zero)

Answer 6

a program that provides low level control for devices

Answer 7

the priority assigned to an interrupt are given a priority so that the microprocessor knows which one needs to be serviced first and which interrupts are to be dealt with quickly

Answer 8

when an interrupt is received, some action needs to be taken by the processor depending on what caused the interrupt; until this is resolved (that is, it is serviced), the interrupt cannot be removed to allow the processor to continue

Answer 9

software that handles interrupt requests (for example, when the printer out of paper) and sends a request to the CPU for processing

Answer 10

a binary programming language, a program written in machine code can be loaded and executed without translation

Answer 11

a programming language that is independent of computer hardware, a program written in a HLL needs to be translate into machine code before it is executed

Answer 12

a programming language that is dependent on computer hardware, both machine code and assembly language are LLLs

Answer 13

a programming language that is dependent on computer hardware, a program written in an assembly language program needs to be translated into machine code before it is executed

Answer 14

a computer program that translates programming code written in assembly language into machine code

Answer 15

a computer program that translates a source program written in a high-level language to machine code

Answer 16

converts a program written in a high-level language program into machine code

Answer 17

a computer program that analyses and executes a program written in a high-level language line by line

Answer 18

a suite of programs used to write and test a computer program written in a high-level language

Answer 19

finding errors in a computer program by running or tracing the program

Answer 20

displaying source code using different colours and formatting, which make the code easier to read and understand

Answer 21

a separate window in the runtime environment of an IDE that shows the contents of variables during the execution of a program

Answer 22

- system software - application software

Answer 23

- set of programs to control and manage the operation of computer hardware - provides a platform on which other software can run - required to allow hardware and software to run without problems - provides a human computer interface (HCI) - controls the allocation and usage of hardware resources

Answer 24

- used to perform various applications (apps) on a computer - allows a user to perform specific tasks using the computer's resources - may be a single program (e.g. NotePad) or a suite of programs (e.g. Microsoft Office) - user can execute the software as and when they require

Answer 25

- Word processor - Spreadsheet - Database - Apps - Graphics manipulation software - Video editing software - Photo editing software - Control and measuring software

Answer 26

Word processing software is used to manipulate a text document, such as an essay or a report. Text is entered using a keyboard and the software provides tools for copying, deleting and various types of formatting.

Answer 27

- creating, editing, saving and manipulating text - copy and paste functions - spell checkers and thesaurus - import photos/images into a structured page format - translation into a foreign language

Answer 28

Spreadsheet software is used to organise and manipulate numerical data (in the form of integer, real, date and so on). Numbers are organised on a grid of lettered columns and numbered rows. The grid itself is made up of cells, and each cell is identified using a unique combination of columns and rows, for example B6

Answer 29

- use of formulas to carry out calculations - ability to produce graphs - ability to do modelling and 'what if' calculations

Answer 30

Database software is used to organise, manipulate and analyse data. A typical database is made up of one or more tables. Tables consist of rows and columns. Each row is called a 'record' and each column is called a 'field'. This provides the basic structure for the organisation of the data within the database.

Answer 31

- ability to carry out queries on database data and produce a report - add, delete and modify data in a table

Answer 32

Control and measuring software is designed to allow a computer or microprocessor to interface with sensors

Answer 33

- measure physical quantities in the real world (such as temperatures) - to control applications (such as a chemical process) by comparing sensor data with stored data and sending out signals to alter process parameters (e.g. open a valve to add acid and change the pH)

Answer 34

Apps is short for applications - a type of software. They normally refer to software which runs on mobile phones or tablets. They are normally downloaded from an 'App Store' and range from games to sophisticated software such as phone banking.

Answer 35

- video and music streaming - GPS (global positioning systems - help you find your way to a chosen location) - camera facility (taking photos and storing/manipulating the images taken)

Answer 36

Photo editing software allows a user to manipulate digital photographs stored on a computer; for example, change brightness, change contrast, alter colour saturation or remove 'red eye'. They also allow for very complex manipulation of photos (e.g. change the features of a face, combine photos, alter the images to give interesting effects and so on). They allow a photographer to remove unwanted items and generally 'touch up' a photo to make it as perfect as possible

Answer 37

Video editing software is the ability to manipulate videos to produce a new video. It enables the addition of titles, colour correction and altering/adding sound to the original video

Answer 38

- rearranging, adding and/or removing sections of video clips and/or audio clips - applying colour correction, filters and other video enhancements - creating transitions between clips in the video footage

Answer 39

Graphics manipulation software allow bitmap and vector images to be changed. Bitmap images are made up of pixels which contain information about image brightness and colour. Bitmap graphics editors can change the pixels to produce a different image. Vector graphic editors operate in a different way and don't use pixels - instead they manipulate lines, curves and text to alter the stored image as required. Both types of editing software might be chosen depending on the format of the original image

Answer 40

- Compilers - Linkers - Device drivers - Utilities - Operating Systems (O/S)

Answer 41

A compiler is a computer program that translates a program written in a high-level language (HLL) into machine code (code which is understood by the computer) so that it can be directly used by a computer to perform a required task. The original program is called the source code and the code after compilation is called the object code. Once a program is compiled, the machine code can be used again and again to perform the same task without re-compilation.

Answer 42

- Java - Python - Visual Basic - Fortran - C++ - Algol

Answer 43

A linker (or link editor) is a computer program that takes one or more object file produced by a compiler and combines them into a single program which can be run on a computer. For example, many programming languages allow programmers to write different pieces of code, called modules, separately. This simplifies the programming task since it allows the program to be broken up into small, more manageable sub-tasks. However, at some point, it will be necessary to put all the modules together to form the final program. This is the job of the linker

Answer 44

A device driver is the name given to software that enables one or more hardware devices to communicate with the computer's operating system. Without drivers, a hardware device (for example, a computer printer) would be unable to work with the computer. All hardware devices connected to a computer have associated drivers. As soon as a device is plugged into the USB port of a computer, the operating system looks for the appropriate driver. An error message will be produced if it can't be found.

Answer 45

- printers - memory sticks - mouse - CD drivers

Answer 46

The operating (OS) is essentially software running in the background of a computer system. It manages many of the basic functions. Without the OS, most computers would be very user-unfriendly and the majority of users would find it almost impossible to work with computers on a day-to-day basis

Answer 47

- input/output operations - users to communicate with the computer (e.g. Windows) - error handling to take place - the loading and running of programs to occur - managing of security (e.g. user accounts, log on passwords)

Answer 48

Utility programs are software that are designed to carry out specific tasks on a computer. Essentially, they are programs that help to manage, maintain and control computer resources.

Answer 49

- anti-virus (virus checkers) - anti-spyware - back-up of files - disk repair and analysis - file management and compression - security - screensavers - disk defragmenter/ defragmentation software

Answer 50

- they check software or files before they are run or loaded on a computer - anti-virus software compares a possible virus against a database of known viruses - they carry out heuristic checking- this is the checking of software for types of behaviour that could indicate a possible virus; this is useful if software is infected by a virus not yet on the database - any possible files or programs which are infected are put into quarantine which: - allows the virus to be automatically deleted, or - allows the user to make the decision about deletion (it is possible that the user knows that the file or program is not infected by a virus- this is known as a false positive and is one of the drawbacks of anti-virus software) - anti-virus software needs to be kept up to date since new viruses are constantly being discovered - full system checks need to be carried out once a week, for example, since some viruses lie dormant and would only be picked up by this full system scan

Answer 51

- allow a schedule for backing up files to be made - only carry out a back-up procedure if there have been any changes made to a file

Answer 52

1. The current (working) version stored on the internal HDD or SSD 2. A locally backed up copy of the file (stored on a portable SSD, for example) 3. a remote back-up version stored well away from the computer (for example, using cloud storage)

Answer 53

- restore data, files or the computer from the back-up (useful if there has been a problem and files have been lost and need to be recovered) - create a restore point (this is basically a kind of 'time machine' where your computer can be restored to its state at this earlier point in time; this can be very useful if a very important file has been deleted and can't be recovered by any of the other utilities) - options of where to save back-up files; this can be set up from the utility to ensure files are automatically backed up to a chosen device

Answer 54

- back-up every hour - do daily back-ups for the past month - do weekly back-ups for all the previous months

Answer 55

- manages access control and user accounts (using user IDs and passwords) - links into other utility software, such as virus checkers and spyware checkers - protects network interfaces (for example, through the use of firewalls) - uses encryption and decryption to ensure any intercepted data is meaningless without a decryption key - oversees the updating of software (does the update request come from a legitimate source, for example)

Answer 56

- virus scans - distributed computing applications - these allow apps to use the computer's resources only when it is idle (for example, an online gaming app)

Answer 57

- Microsoft Windows - Apple Mac OS - Google Android - Apple IOS

Answer 58

- Human computer interface (HCI) - Multitasking - Platform for running of application software - Management of user accounts - Managing files - Hardware peripheral management (including drivers) - Memory management - Interrupt handling routines - Security (manages log on, passwords)

Answer 59

- the user is in direct communication with the computer - the user is not restricted to a number of pre-determined options - it is possible to alter computer configuration settings - uses a small amount of computer memory

Answer 60

- the user needs to learn a number of commands to carry out basic operations - all commands need to be typed in which takes time and can be error-prone - each command must be typed in using the correct format, spelling, and so on

Answer 61

- the user doesn't need to learn any commands - it is more user-friendly; icons are used to represent applications - a pointing device (such as a mouse) is used to click on an icon to launch the application - this is simpler than typing in commands or a touch screen can be used where applications are chosen by simply touching the icon on the screen

Answer 62

- this type of interface uses up considerably more computer memory than a CLI interface - the user is limited to the icons provided on the screen - needs an operating system, such as Windows, to operate, which uses up considerable memory

Answer 63

a programmer, analyst or technician; basically somebody who needs to have a direct communication with a computer to develop new software, locate errors and remove them, initiate memory dumps (contents of the computer memory at some moment in time), and so on

Answer 64

the end-user who doesn't have or doesn't need to have any great knowledge of how the computer works; a person who uses the computer to run software or play games or stored/manipulates photographs, for example

Answer 65

- manages the primary storage (RAM) and allows data to be moved between RAM and HDD/SSD during the execution of programs - keeps track of all the memory locations - carries out memory protection to ensure that two competing applications cannot use the same memory locations at the same time. If this wasn't done the following might happen: - data would probably be lost - applications could produce incorrect results (based on the wrong data being in memory locations) - potential security issues (if data is placed in the wrong location, it might make it accessible to other software, which would be a major security issue) - in extreme cases, the computer could crash

Answer 66

- by carrying out operating system updates as and when they become available - ensuring that anti virus software (and other security software) is always up to date, preserving the integrity, security and privacy of data - by communicating with, for example, a firewall to check all traffic to and from the computer - by making use of privileges to prevent users entering 'private areas' on a computer that permits multi-user activity (this is done by setting up user accounts and making use of passwords and user IDs); this helps to ensure the privacy of data - by maintaining access rights for all users - by offering the ability for the recovery of data (and system restore) when it has been lost or corrupted - by helping to prevent illegal intrusion into the computer system (also ensuring the privacy of data)

Answer 67

- communicates with all input and output devices using device drivers - uses a device drivers to take data from a file (defined by the operating system) and translates it into a format that the input/output device can understand - ensure such hardware resource has a priority so that they can be used and released as required - manages input/output devices by controlling queues and buffers

Answer 68

- first of all, the printer driver is located and loaded into memory - then the data is sent to a printer buffer reading for printing - if the printer is busy (or the printing job has a low priority) then the data is sent to a printer queue before it can be sent to the printer buffer - it will send various control commands to the printer throughout the printing process - it receives and handles error messages and interrupts from the printer

Answer 69

- file naming conventions which can be used i.e. filename.docx (where the extension can be .bat, .htm, .dbf, .txt, .xls, etc.) - performing specific tasks (for example, create, open, close, delete, rename, copy, and move) - maintaining the directory structures - ensuring access control mechanisms are maintained (for example, access rights to files, password protection, or making files available for editing or locking them) - ensuring memory allocation for a file by reading it from the HDD/SSD and loading it into memory

Answer 70

It constantly monitors the status of each of the processes under its control: - resources are allocated to a process for a specific time limit - the process can be interrupted while it is running - the process is given a priority so it can have resources according to its priority (the risk here is that a low priority process could be starved of resources)

Answer 71

- customise their screen layout and other settings - user separate folders and files and to manage these themselves

Answer 72

- a timing signal - an input/output process (for example, a disk drive or printer requiring more data) - a hardware fault (for example, a paper jam in the printer) - user interaction (for example, the user presses a key (or keys) on a keyboard, such as , which causes the system to be interrupted) - software errors that cause a problem (for example, an .exe file that cannot be found to initiate the execution of a program, two processes trying to access the same memory location, or an attempt to divide by zero)

Answer 73

- read and understand as the language used is closer to English - write in a shorter time - debug at the development stage - maintain once in use

Answer 74

- independent of the type of computer being used - easier to read, write and understand programs - quicker to write programs - programs are easier and quicker to debug - easier to maintain programs in use

Answer 75

- can make use of special hardware - includes special machine-dependent instructions - can write code that doesn't take up much space in primary memory - can write code that performs a task very quickly

Answer 76

- programs can be larger - programs can take longer to execute - programs may not be able to make use of special hardware

Answer 77

- it takes a longer time to write and debug programs - programs are more difficult to understand

Answer 78

- to make use of special hardware - to make use of special machine-dependent instructions - to write code that doesn't take up much space in primary memory - to write code that performs a task very quickly

Answer 79

- easier and quicker to debug and test programs during development - easier to edit programs during development

Answer 80

- a compiled program can be stored ready for use - a compiled program can be executed without the compiler - a compiled program takes up less space in memory when it is executed - a compiled program is executed in a shorter time

Answer 81

- programs cannot be run without the interpreter - programs can take longer to execute

Answer 82

- it takes a longer time to write, test and debug programs during development

Answer 83

- code editors - a translator - a runtime environment with a debugger - error diagnostics - auto-completion - auto-correction - an auto-documenter and prettyprinting