Fundamentals Of Computer Systems Flashcards
Hardware
Physical component of a computer system
Software
Instructions that tell a computer what to do
System software
Allows the user to operate a computer
Application software
Used to carry out tasks that are user oriented
Example of system software
Compiler
Operation system
Example of application software
Web browsers
Database software
Role of an operating system
To hide the complexities of the hardware from the user
What does the OS handle
Resource management
Managing hardware to allocate processors
Memories
I/O devices
What are Low level languages considered to be
Machine code
Assembly language
Machine code language
Written in binary and can be executed without needing to be translated
Assembly Language code
Written using mnemonics and needs to be translated in order to be executed
What does high level language include
Imperative high level language
Advantage and disadvantage of machine code
Doesn’t need a translator to translate code
Harder to find or amend errors and all the memory addresses have to be remembered which leads to program errors
Advantage and disadvantage of using assembly language code
Easier to correct errors and amend instructions
More compact
It’s machine dependant and you must directly control the exact instruction sequences the processor executes
Imperative high level language code
When instructions are executed in a programmer defined order
Interpreter
A program translating high level language by reading each statement in the source code and immediately performing the action
Compiler
A program that translates high level language into machine code by translating all of the code
Assembler
Program that translates from code written in assembly language code into machine code
Difference between interpreter and compilation
compiler - produces machine code and translates the whole source code into machine code
Interpreter - does not produce any object code and translates the source code one at a time into machine code
Difference between source code and object code
Source code - written in high level language code and east to modify and read
Object code - written in machine language and difficult to read and modify
relationship between high-level language and low level language
high level languages require the use of a compiler of an interpreter for their translation into the machine code.
low level language requires an assembler for directly translating the instructions of the machine language.
