Fundamentals of Computer Systems

Question 1

Define hardware and components

Answer 1

Hardware is a term for the physical parts of the computer, both internal and external.

Question 2

Define application software

Answer 2

Programs that perform specific tasks that would need doing even if computers didn’t exist e.g. editing text, carrying out calculations

Question 3

Define utility programs

Answer 3

Programs that perform specific common tasks related to running the computer, e.g. zipping files

Question 4

Define library programs

Answer 4

Code, data and resources that can be called by other programs

Question 5

Define operating system

Answer 5

A suite of programs designed to control the operations of the computer

Question 6

What do translators do and name 3 different types?

Answer 6

Software that converts programming language instructions into binary machine code. There are three different types: compilers assemblers and interpreters

Question 7

What are the differences between Compilers, Assembler and Interpreter?

Answer 7

Compiler: Translates a high-level language into machine code.

Assembler: Translates a program written in assembly language into machine code

Interpreter: Translates a high-level language by reading each statement and performing the action immediately

Question 8

Define virtual machine

Answer 8

the concept for all of the complexities of using a computer hidden from the user and the other software by the operating system

Question 9

Define Scheduling

Answer 9

A technique to ensure that different users or different programs are able to work on the same computer system at the same time

Question 10

Define processor

Answer 10

A device that carries out computation on data by following instructions, in order to produce an output

Question 11

Define resource, memory and file management

Answer 11

How an operating system manages:
- Hardware and software
- RAM
- storing and retrieving files
To optimise the performance of the computer

Question 12

Name the 3 types of programming languages

Answer 12

Machine code (binary)
Assembly Language
High-level languages

Question 13

Define bytecode

Answer 13

An instruction set used for programming that can be executed on any computer using a virtual machine

Question 14

Explain the two rules of De Morgan’s Law

Answer 14

Rule 1: NOT (A AND B) = (NOT A) OR (NOT B)
Rule 2: NOT (A OR B) = (NOT A) AND (NOT B)
So basically, split the line - change the sign

You can only apply De Morgan’s Law to one operator at a time
You must invert both the terms and the entire expression.
E.g. NOT (A AND B) becomes NOT(NOT(NOT A) OR (NOT B)) == (NOT A) OR (NOT B)