Fundamentals of computer systems

Question 1

Hardware

Answer 1

The physical components of a computer system, including both external (peripheral) and internal (processing and storage) parts.

Question 2

Software

Answer 2

Any program or collection of instructions and data that can be run and processed by a computer system.

Question 3

Application software

Answer 3

A program that can be run on a computer, allowing the user to carry out specific tasks.

Question 4

System software

Answer 4

A program designed to cover technical aspects of setting up, running and maintaining a computer system, and providing a platform for application software.

Question 5

Assemblers

Answer 5

A translator in low level language, which converts assembly language into machine code.

Question 6

Compilers

Answer 6

A translator that converts high level language to machine code.

Question 7

Interpreters

Answer 7

A translator which checks a source program for syntax errors line by line, translates it to machine code and executes the line.

Question 8

Libraries

Answer 8

A collection of programs which are already compiled and can be loaded into a program and run whenever required.

Question 9

Operating system

Answer 9

A set of programs managing the operation of the computer that is loaded into RAM every time the computer is turned on. It bridges the user to the hardware.

Question 10

Translator

Answer 10

A program which converts code from one computer language to another.

Question 11

Utility program

Answer 11

A program made to perform a generic or common task that is routinely executed by a user, related to analysing, configuring or optimising.

Question 12

Resource management

Answer 12

The collective efficient management of the available hardware and software to optimise the performance of the computer system.

Question 13

Scheduling

Answer 13

Allocating processor time to each application to ensure processor time is used as efficiently as possible when multitasking.

Question 14

Assembly language

Answer 14

A low-level programming language consisting of a set of mnemonic instructions that directly corresponds to the processor architecture’s machine code instruction set.

Question 15

High-level language

Answer 15

A programming language with a strong abstraction from a processor’s internal instruction set that is much more human-readable with natural-language keywords, such as Python or Java.

Question 16

Imperative language

Answer 16

A programming language built on the programming paradigm of using subroutines and procedures as instructions to change a program’s state and describe how a program operates.

Question 17

Low-level language

Answer 17

A programming language with little to no abstraction from a processor’s internal instruction set, such as machine code or assembly language.

Question 18

Machine code

Answer 18

A low-level programming language written in binary that is directly understood by the CPU.

Question 19

Bytecode

Answer 19

An intermediate instruction set used to write the final output of some compilers, since it can be executed on any computer via a virtual machine.

Question 20

AND

Answer 20

A logical operator which returns TRUE (or 1) if and only if all inputs are TRUE (or 1).

Question 21

D-type flip flops

Answer 21

A sequential logic circuit used to store a single bit. It has two stable states, which can be flipped between using an input signal.

Question 22

Full adders

Answer 22

A combination of two half adders that takes a carry bit and two other input bits and returns their sum and the new carry as two output bits.

Question 23

Half adders

Answer 23

A combinational arithmetic circuit that adds two numbers and produces a sum bit (S) and carry bit (C) as the output.

Question 24

NAND

Answer 24

A logical operator which returns FALSE (or 0) if and only if all inputs are TRUE (or 1). It is equivalent to an AND gate connected to a NOT gate.

Question 25

NOR

Answer 25

A logical operator which returns FALSE (or 0) if and only if at least one of the inputs are TRUE (or 1). It is equivalent to an OR gate connected to a NOT gate.

Question 26

NOT

Answer 26

A logical operator which returns TRUE (or 1) if and only if the input is FALSE (or 0), i.e. it returns the opposite of the input.

Question 27

OR

Answer 27

A logical operator which returns TRUE (or 1) if and only if at least one of the inputs are TRUE (or 1).

Question 28

XOR

Answer 28

A logical operator which returns TRUE (or 1) if and only if exactly 1 of the inputs are TRUE (or 1).