Digital Systems And Computer Engineering Flashcards
What is a microcontroller?
A computer on a single integrated circuit (IC)
What is a graphic processing unit ( GPU )?
A processor optimised for 2D/3D graphics and for visual processing.
Its highly parallel, highly multithreaded multiprocessor.
What can quantum computing do?
Can perform certain computational problems faster than traditional technologies.
What is computer paradigm based on?
Based on qbit.
What is a program written for Adrino IDE called?
Sketch
How is the architecture of a computer important to its hardware?
It represents the interconnectivity of a computer’s hardware components.
How does the hardware of a computer improve its performance?
1- Allows the use of fasters electronics.
2- Increases clock frequency which is why modern microprocessors can operate over the 5GHz range and require faster transistors and have a strong relationship with energy consumption such as overheating.
How does the energy management of a computer improve its performance?
- Dynamic scaling of clock frequency.
- Manages switching activity at the transistor level.
- Allows better performance of energy recovery in logic circuits.
- Optimises the machine’s code through the use of more energy-efficient instruction sequences.
How can space managements improve the performance of a computer’s hardware?
by using 3D integrated circuits and increasing the transistor density per unit area (Moor’s law).
What are the different ways to improve the performance of computer hardware?
Architectural, Hardware, Enery management and Space management improvements
What is an identifier?
A variable.
What must an identifier be?
- A sequence of letters (a-z, A-Z), underscores (_), and digits (0-9).
- Start with a letter or underscore.
- Identifiers are case sensitive meaning lower and upper case letters differ.
What is a floating point number?
Is a real number containing a decimal point that can appear anywhere in the number.
What are constant variables and how do you declare them?
Are initialized variables whose value cannot change.
const is used to declare constant variables.
What is a character?
In what form is a character stored?
Where is a character stored?
What does a space before the %c cause?
A variable that can store a single character like the letter m.
Binary number form.
In the ASCII standard System.
Will cause the program to not read any upcoming white space.
What is printf () function?
Allows a program to print text and formatted numbers.
What is scanf used for?
Scanf is used to read a user-entered value into a variable.
What are underscores treated as?
As letters.
What is needed in the Arduino development board?
- Arduino board.
- Compatible IDE (integrated development environment).
What is Arduino?
Arduino is an open-source electronics platform based on easy-to-use hardware and software and is intended for anyone making interactive projects.
What is a sketch?
A program written for Arduino IDE (integrated development environment).
What does the minimum Arduino sketch look like?
Void setup ()
{
}
void loop ()
{
}
What is a format specifier?
A format specifier is a placeholder that defines the type of value that will be printed in its place.
What does a branch mean in Arduino?
A branch is a sequence of statements only executed under a certain condition.
What does computer hardware include?
Computer hardware includes the physical parts of the computer like the case and central processing unit (CPU).
How does the architecture of the computer improve its hardware?
- Decreases CPI (clock cycle per instruction).
- Decreases the clock time by reducing propagation delays or by using pipelining.
- Decreases the number of required cycles.
What is propagation delay?
The amount of time required for a signal to be received after it has been sent.
What is pipelining?
The process of accumulating instructions from the processor through a pipeline.
What does dynamic mean?
A force that simulates progress within a system.
What is a clock?
It is the rate at which a processor executes instructions.
What is a thread?
The smallest sequence of programmed instruction.
What is Moor’s law?
The doubling of IC (integrated circuit) capacity roughly every 18 months.
What does an operating system do?
Manages programs and interfaces with peripherals.
What are peripherals?
Any computing device that is part of the computer but does not perform any core computing process like speakers.
What is RAM (random access memory)?
A changeable storage with faster access usually located off processor chip.
What is cache?
A relatively small changeable storage with faster access, which is located on the processor chip.
What is a disk?
Unchangeable storage with slower access which means its content stays the same even when the power is off.
What are the values of a bit?
A bit can have the value of 0 or 1.
What does a compiler do?
Translates a high-level language program into low-level machine instructions.
What is application?
Another word for program.
What is machine instruction?
A series of 0s and 01 stored in memory that tells a processor to carry out a particular operation like multiplication.
What is qbit?
Qbit is a basic unit of quantum information.
A qbit can be in 0 and 1 states at the same time.
What are the disadvantages of long-distance communication?
- The losses such as the distortion from the signal and the interferences from the environment.
- No security.
Where did digital systems make a revolution in?
- Medical technologies.
- Communication.
- Manufacturing.
- Entertainment.
- Aviation and Aerospace.
- Energy.
- Machinery.
- Transportation.
- Defences.
- Finances.
- Money transfer.
What is a single number called in binary code or system?
Bit.
What values can a bit have and depending on what?
1 or 0. Depending on if the voltage is HIGH or LOW.
Compare assembly and machine code.
- Assembly language uses mnemonics while machinery code uses binary code.
- Assembly language and machine code are machine-dependent.
- Assembly language is not portable usually while machine code is not portable.
- Examples of assembly language are ADD R2, 10. While examples of a machine code are 11001101.
What is the relationship between assembly language and hardware?
Specific to hardware.
What is the relationship between assembly languages and machine code?
Have a (mostly) one to one relationship with machine code.
What is the scale of programming languages from high level to low level?
English - Python - Java - C - FORTRAN - assembly language - Machine code.
Explain high-level languages.
Use English - like languages.
Machine independent.
Portable (need to be compiled for the target platforms).
Examples: C, C++, Java, C hashtag, Javascript, Python, HTML, MATLAB.
What are the advantages of high-level languages?
Are very similar to ordinary languages, therefore, are far easier to use but still have strict syntax.
What are programming languages?
Are formally constructed languages designed to communicate instructions to a machine.
What are the benefits of using machine language?
- It makes fast and efficient use of the computer.
- It is directly understood by the computer.
What has digital systems made revolution in?
-medical technologies
-communication
-manufacturing
-entertainment
aviation and aerospace
-energy
-machinery
-transportation
-defence
-finance
-money transfer
what is a single number called in binary code or system?
bit
what values can a bit have?
0 or 1
what does the values of bit depend on?
depend if the voltage is HIGH or LOW
Compare assembly language and machine code
assembly language uses mnemonics, is machine dependent, is not portable (usually) and looks like ADD R2,10
machine code uses binary code, is machine depended, is not portable and looks like 11001101
what is the relationship between assembly language and hardware?
specific to hardware
what is the relationship between assembly language and machine code?
have a (mostly) one to one relationship with machine code.
what is the scale of programming languages from high level to low level?
high level: English, python, java, c , FORTRAN.
low level: assembly language, machine code
explain high level languages
use English-like languages
machine dependent
portable (need to be compiled for the target platform)
examples: c, c++, java, c#, JavaScript, python, HTML, MATLAB
what are the advantages of high level languages?
are very similar to ordinary languages therefore are far easier to use (but still have strict syntax)
what are programming languages?
are formal constructed languages designed to communicate instructions to a machine
what are the benefits of using machine language?
makes fast and efficient use of the computer
it is directly understood by the computer
describe the following languages according to their form, translator, human-friendly and portability:
machine code
assembly
high-level languages
machine code has a binary format (101011), does not have a translator
,is not possible to be understood and is not portable
assembly has mnemonics form (ADD R2,10), has an assembler translator, can be memorised but is difficult to be understood and is not portable (usually)
high-level languages have an English like form ((y=x+5), return), the translator is a compiler or interpreter, is human friendly and is portable
what is portability?
a program is said to be portable if it can be made to run on different kinds of computers
what is a translator?
a program that converts source code into object code
what are the three types of translators?
assemblers, compilers and interpreters.
