Computer Systems Flashcards
Address Bus
Used to identify a memory location to be read from or written to.
Arithmetic Logic Unit
Part of the processor where calculations and decisions are made.
Bi-Directional
Transfers in both directions.
Control Unit
Includes timing/control logic and an instruction decoder. It sends signals to other parts of the computer to direct the fetch and execution of machine instructions.
Control bus
Separate functions include initiating a read or a write to/from memory
Data Bus
Used to transfer data to and from the CPU.
Fetch-Execute Cycle
The memory address of the next instruction is placed on the address bus, read line is activated on the control bus, the instruction is transferred to the processor on the data bus, and instruction is decoded and executed.
Read Line
A function of the control bus which transfers data from the main memory to the processor
Registers
Temporary storage areas within the processor
Uni-Directional
Transfers data in one direction only.
Write Line
A function of the control bus which transfers data from the process or to main memory
Clock
A function of the control bus which provides the internal timer to synchronize events between system components.
Clock speed
Frequency at which a CPU executes instructions, measured in GHz.
Multi-core processors
More than one processors on the same chip, which gives them the capability of executing separate instructions at the same time
Increase data bus width
More bits can be transferred in one clock cycle
Cache Memory
A small amount of SRAM that sits between the processor and RAM in order to speed up data transfer by requiring less fetch-executes
Decimal equivalent of 10101010
170
Binary equivalent of 102
1100110
Range of positive and negative numbers using 7 bits
-64 to 63
Range of positive and negative numbers using 9 bits
-256 to 255
Range of positive numbers using 6 bits
0 to 63
An advantage of ASCII
Less storage required
An advantage of Unicode
Can represent more characters
A way of representing text using 8 bits
ASCII
