Computing Flashcards
Define addressable memory
Each main memory location has a main memory address - a unique numerical code that distinguishes the individual parts of memory.
What are the three components of the Three Box Model?
Memory, Processor and I/O ports connected by a bus
What is the Von Neumman architecture?
All the data is stored in main memory, and are sent and received by a processor.
What is a microcontroller?
A complete computer on a single chip
What is an example of a microprocessor?
MP3 player
What is a homepage?
The starting page of a website; it will have links to other pages on the site
What is HTML?
Hypertext Markup Language is use to write web pages. It consists of text that defines the content of a page, and how that page should be structured.
Hyperlink?
A link from one web page to another
Define a web browser
Software that displays a web page by rendering the HTML elements
Define a web site
A set of linked documents associated with a person, organisation or topic that is held on a computer system, accessed via the World Wide Web.
Define hardware
Electronic circuits that a computer is assembled from, and the platform from which software is executed.
What is the Harvard architecture
Processor, main memory and data memory
Define a memory location
A separately addressable area of main memory
Define RAM
Random Access Memory, volatile main memory locations that can be accessed directly in any order for all writing and reading operations
Define main memory
Memory that is directly addressable by the processor
Define the stored program concept
A program must be in main memory to be executed.
Define an I/O port
Allows the CPU to communicate with peripherals
Define an I/O device
A hardware unit that sends or receives data or stores data by communicating with the processor and main memory through an I/O controller
Define peripherals
A computer device that is not part of the CPU
Define EEPROM
Electrically erasable programmable read-only memory; it’s contents may be altered but writing is about 100 times slower than reading.
Define machine code instructions
A binary code that a machine can understand and execute
Define op-code
The part of a machine code instruction that denotes the basic machine code operation
Define operand
The part of a machine code instruction that represents a single item of binary data or the address of a single item of binary data.
Define a register
A very fast memory location inside the processor or I/O controller
Define general purpose register
A register not assigned a specified role by the professor designer.
Define a dedicated register
A register assigned a specific role by the processor designer
Define the ALU
Arithmetic and logic unit performs operations on data such as addition and subtraction
Define internal clock
Gathered from the system clock
What are logic gates used for
Flow control
Define the MAR
Memory address register; holds the address of the memory location currently being accessed by the processor.
Define the MBR
Hold the data item being transferred to or from the memory location currently being accessed by the processor.
Define word length
The number of digits in a binary word
Define clock speed
The frequency a processor executes instructions (in MHz or GHz).
What is the bus width
The number of the signal wires or lines allocated to the bus
Define the CIR
The current instruction register holds the current instruction to be decided and executed
What is a Boolean variable
A variable that is either on or off, 1 or 0
What is a truth table
A table that shows the result of applying the logical function to all possible combination of inputs.
What is a gateway
Connects networks that use different link layer protocols
What is a router
Connects networks that use the same link layer protocol
What’s an IP address
A unique address that identifies a computer or other electronic device on the network.
What is the WWW
The World Wide Web is a system of interlinked hypertext documents accessed via the internet.
What’s an intranet
A private computer network used to share information or operations within an organisation
What is an FQDN
Fully qualified domain names are a host ID and domain name.
What does a DNS server do
A server that translates FQDNs into IP addresses
What is an ISP
A business that sells people internet access
What is a server
A software process that provides a service requested by a client
What is a client
A software process that requests and uses the services provided by a server
What is a protocol
A set of agreed rules and codes for data change between systems
Define a protocol stack
A collection of protocol layers
What is a TCP/IP protocol stack
Has an application layer, network layer and a link layer.
What does the network layer do
Adds source and destination IP addresses to packets on their way from the transport layer to the link layer
What does the link layer do
Handles all physical details of interacting with the cable
What does the application layer do
Handles the details of a particular networking application, such as a web browser
What is FTP
Application layer protocol that enables files on one host to be copied to another
What are the three types of system software?
Operating software, library program’s and utility programs.
What are the three language translators?
Assembler, compiler and interpreter.
What are the three types of application software?
Bespoke software, general-purpose software and special purpose software.
What is a first generation language?
Machine code is the only program code that the computer can execute.
What is a second-generation language?
Assembly language - same structure and instructions as machine code, but it is based on mnemonics.
What is a third-generation language?
Languages that are executed in an order defined by the programmer.
