EVERYTHING Flashcards
What is the CPU?
It is a component that carries out program instructions using data
What is inside the CPU?
ALU, CU, Cache, Registers
ALU = ?
Arithmetic Logic Unit, Carries out maths and logic calculations
CU ?
Control unit, coordinates the F-E cycle. Decodes instructions.
What is Cache?
Small, fast memory that holds frequently accessed items.
Registers (4)
MAR, MDR, PC, ACC
MAR?
Memory address register, holds address of memory being fetched / written to
MDR?
Memory data register, Instruction that has been fetched / written to
pc?
Program counter, address of next instruction to be fetched from memory
ACC?
Accumulator, holds all results from ALU calculations
What architecture is used in most PCs?
Von Neumann architecture has all these components and is used in most PCs
FDE Cycle?
Fetch Decode Execute Cycle, controlled by the CU. Instructions are fetched from RAM to be decoded and executed by CPU
Step 1 of FDE Cycle
PC displays address in RAM of next instruction to be processed.
Value is copied into MAR
Step 2 of FDE Cycle
PC increases by 1, which prepares CPU for next instruction to be fetched.
Step 3 of FDE Cycle
CPU checks address in RAM which matches with address in MAR
Step 4 of FDE Cycle
instruction in RAM is transferred to MDR
Step 5 of FDE Cycle
instruction in MDR copied into CIR
Step 6 of FDE Cycle
Instruction in CIR is decoded and executed. Any result is stored in the accumulator.
What is clock speed?
rate at which the F-E cycle is carried out (GHz)
Why clock speed higher better?
more cycles/second, faster rate of instructions being carried out on data, faster computer.
Why number of cores bigger better?
If software allows it, each core can execute an instruction at the same time. Instructions faster
Why big cache good?
More regularly used items can be held, reducing reliance on the slower RAM.
what is embedded system?
Computers inside other devices that are simple and usually have one purpose only.
4 examples of embedded system
Smartwatches
Fitness trackers
Traffic lights
Washing Machines.
Primary vs Secondary storage?
Primary storage is directly accessible by the CPU, is volatile, and has a smaller capacity. Secondary storage is not directly accessible by the CPU, is non-volatile, and has a larger capacity, primary storage is faster than secondary storage.
2 Primary storage examples.
RAM, ROM
explain virtual memory
when RAM is full, part of secondary storage may be used as virtual memory. (IT SLOWS DONW PC IF YOU HAVE TO USE IT)
ROM VS RAM?
Ram = volatile, holds open programs and data
ROM = non-volatile, contains program that runs when computer boots (BIOS) which loads OS from storage into RAM
3 types of Secondnary storage + examples
Magnetic - HDD
Optical - DVD
Solid state - SSDs
explain 3 types sec storage work
Magnetic - uses different levels of magnetic polarity
Optical - uses diff refl. of light
Solid state uses electronic circuitry
Magnetic adv and disadv
Reliable, cheap (cheapest gb/$, with large capacity
Not very durable and the spinning disk makes noise.
Optical adv and disadv
Portable & reliable but not durable, low capacity/disc
Solid state adv and disadv
Fastest read/writespeeds and very durable. Very expensive
A binary shift to the left of 1 would?
Double the value
A binary shift 1 to the right would?
Halve it and loses least important bit
Character set is? (W examples)
A group of character codes
ASCII, Unicode
Room for ASCII/Unicode
ASCII has 8 bits per character, room for 2^8 which is 256 diff characters.
Unicode has atleast 16 bits / character, can represent thousands of characters.
What is resolution?
num of pixels
What is colour depth? what is the color depth for an image with 256 dff colors?
Bits/pixel
2^8 = 256
8 bits/pixel
How do computers record sound?
They record samples of the amplitude taken at regular time intervals. (256Hz, 444Hz, etc etc)