CS Flashcards
what does the processor (CPU) do?
it carries out the instructions of a program, to preform the basic operations of the system.
what is the brains of the computer
processor
what does ALU stand for
arithmetic and logic unit
what does the ALU do
it preforms all the calculations and logical operations like AND, OR
what is the processor made up of
ALU, control unit, and registers
what does the controll unit do
the control unit controls the sequencing of fetching, decoding and execution of instructions
what are the registers
the registers are temporary memory locations within the processor itself
what is memory
memory is a set of chips which store programs and data in the computer
what is the purpose of unique addresses
so that the computer can read and write the data to that location correctly
what are the two types of busses
the address bus and the data bus
what does the address bus do
it identidies the memory location that is going to be accessed.
what does the data bus do
the data bus transfer data from the processor to the memory and vice versa.
what are common features of high level languages
it uses english like words, it has to be translated to machine code, it can work on different types of computer systems with only minor changes
what are common features of machine code
it is made up of 1s and 0s, it is machine specific. a machine code program will only run on the type of computer it was created for NOT others
what does a translater do
it translates the high level language to machine code
what are the two types of translaters
interpreter and compiler
what does an interpreter do
an interpreter translates the high level program one line at a time into machine code and executes this line immediately. becuase you cant save the machine code this translation must be carried out every time the program is run hence it takes a long time
what are two advantages of an interpreter
it reports errors at the end of each line so it is easier to correct mistakes and it takes less memory than a compiler when translating the program into machine code