Definitions 1.1

Question 1

Accumulator

Answer 1

A special register to temporarily store the results of operations performed by the CPU.

Question 2

Address bus

Answer 2

Carries the memory location address of the register the data is being carried from or to

Question 3

Arithmetic logic unit

Answer 3

A part of the CPU that performs arithmetic calculations and logical operations on data for the computer program.

Question 4

Busses

Answer 4

A physical set of parallel wires connecting and carrying groups of bits between several computers of a program.

Question 5

cache

Answer 5

A small and fast but expensive memory in the CPU is used to store instructions and data that are assessed regularly

Question 6

clock speed

Answer 6

The frequency at which the internal clock creates signals switching between 0 and 1. it controls how often instructions are executed and data is fetched.

Question 7

contemporary processor architecture

Answer 7

a modern computer architecture combining elements of both von Neuman and Harvard architectures

Question 8

control bus

Answer 8

A part of the CPU that controls and manages the execution of instructions. it sends control signals to coordinate execution and controls the fetch- execute cycle and buses

Question 9

current instruction register

Answer 9

A special register that stores the current instruction being executed and decoded. the instructions are divided into opcode and operand

Question 10

data bus

Answer 10

a bi-directional bus for carrying data and instructions between the processor and memory

Question 11

Fetch-Decode-execute cycle

Answer 11

The process of fetching from memory(supplying the address and retrieving the instruction from the memory), Decoding (interpreting the instructions and then reading and retrieving the required data from their addresses) and executing the instructions (CPU carries out the required actions)

Question 12

Harvard architecture

Answer 12

a computer architecture that stores data and instructions in separate memory to allow the next instruction to load or data to use.

Question 13

Memory address register

Answer 13

A special register that stores the memory address of the next instruction to load or data to use

Question 14

Memory data register

Answer 14

A special register that temporarily stores the data to be read from or written to the computer memory

Question 15

Number of cores

Answer 15

A core is a processing unit that handles instructions with its own fetch- decode- execute cycle. multi core processors have multiple cores that can run simultaneously.

Question 16

pipelining

Answer 16

the simultaneous decoding of several instructions by decoding the next instruction and fetching the one after while the current one is being decoded

Question 17

Program counter

Answer 17

A special purpose register that stores the address of the next instruction to be execute

Question 18

Registers

Answer 18

Special memory cells that can be accessed quickly. They temporarily store data and control instructions

Question 19

von Neuman architecture

Answer 19

A computer architecture where a single control unit manages program control via a linear sequence of fetch-decode- execute cycles

Question 20

complex instruction set computer

Answer 20

a more complicated and expensive processor design that can execute a series of task in a single complex instruction built into the hardware. The variety of instruction means less ram is used, but pipelining is not possible.

Question 21

graphic processing unit

Answer 21

a specialized processing unit with a huge number of small cores that allow efficient parallel computation for task such as computer graphics, machine learning, data mining

Question 22

Multi core system

Answer 22

several CPU cores are incorporated into a single processor chip to help distribute work load

Question 23

Parallel processing systems

Answer 23

splitting a job into several subtask which are simultaneously carried out by each core in the system

Question 24

Reduced instruction set computer

Answer 24

a simpler processor design that can only execute a single simple instruction each clock cycle. this uses more ram but allows for pipelining

Question 25

Flash storage

Answer 25

A solid state technology that stores the data on a collection of memory chips. No moving parts as data is accessed by software

Question 26

input devices

Answer 26

peripheral devices that allow the user communicate and to pass readable data into a computer, decode it and send it to the CPU

Question 27

Magnetic storage

Answer 27

Relies on the polarization of magnetic particle to store bits on a magnetic material which is typically moved mechanically. a high capacity and low means of storage

Question 28

optical storage

Answer 28

data is stored reflectively (pits and lands) of a surface and is read and written to by a laser

Question 29

output devices

Answer 29

peripheral devices that take convert signals from a computer into a human readable form.

Question 30

Random access memory

Answer 30

Memory used to store programs and data in use by the computer. Quick access time by all data is lost when the computer is turned off(volatile memory)

Question 31

Read only memory

Answer 31

memory used to store information that is permanently required to boot up and run the computer. cannot be written to and is non volatile

Question 32

storage devices

Answer 32

any medium which data can be stored when powered off

Question 33

virtual storage

Answer 33

using the hard disk as tough it where an extension of memory to to free up ram for current programs.