Fundementals Of Computer Systems

Question 1

What is a computer system

Answer 1

Something made up of hardware and software that works riverbed to create a working g solution to a problem

Question 2

What is the basic model of any computer system

Answer 2

Input –> CPU –> Output
|
Storage

Question 3

What do input devises to

Answer 3

Take real life/ world data do convert it into a form that a co outer can understand and store

Question 4

What does output do

Answer 4

Converts digital data into something real life such as making a door open or changing the pixels on a monitor

Question 5

What is storage for

Answer 5

Storing data which may need to be used to process and perform certain action

Question 6

Why must computers be robust and reliable

Answer 6

If they break, all sorts of problems can occur such as no cs or bank security may be compromised

Question 7

How is reliability measured

Answer 7

Manufacturers often give a percent of the time the device works for during period of time. E.g. 99 hours working and down for 1 hour. System availability is 99%
Another way is MTBF, mean time between failures, this can also be used to measure reliability

Question 8

What is a robust system

Answer 8

A system that won’t fail due to a single fault.this kind of system is described as fault tolerant

Question 9

What is hardware redundancy

Answer 9

Having extra redundant backup systems in case one fails, e.g. Backup hard drives

Question 10

What are disaster recovery plans

Answer 10

They are used by companies that totally rely on their computer systems. They are used so if there computer system fails, they can switch to a completely new one with all the important data on within hours

Question 11

What is the data protection act

Answer 11

Any personal details on a computer must be kept secure and any personal data on company computers must have security mechanisms in place

Question 12

What does the health and safety at work at mean for computers

Answer 12

Screen layout and software use must be safe, e.g. Won’t cause seizures
There should be appropriate desks, ventilation, lighting and adjustable chairs

Question 13

The copyright, designs and patents act

Answer 13

It’s illegal so copy other people’s work, plagerism

Illégal to use software thats not yours without the appropriate licence

Question 14

Benefits to society with computers

Answer 14

Lot easier and faster to communicate with people all over the world
Lots more jobs and people get things done much faster such as company payrolls, they used to be done manually but now it can be don’t automatically
Social interaction, meet people from all over the world, however some argue people are losing the ability to interact face to face

Question 15

How have computers benefited shopping

Answer 15

People who struggle to go to shops such as the disabled and elderly can now order almost everything they may need online including food

Question 16

Benefits of computers for manufacturing

Answer 16

Things can be made much cheaper and faster as less handmade low less human error. However, there has been a reduced market in handmade products

Question 17

Safety

Answer 17

Lots of dangerous jobs can now be dont using computer systems such as bomb disposal or volcano activity data collections

Question 18

What are system buses

Answer 18

Internal connections in the cpu that moves data from the main memory of it and the processing part

Question 19

What are the three parts of a cpu

Answer 19

Processor
Cache memory
Main memory

Question 20

What happens in the cpu when a program is to be run

Answer 20

First it is loaded onto the main memory
Then it can be accessed by the processor which then executes each instruction 1 at a time
Once they are all done and the program is loaded, the processor is given the start address of where the program is in the main memory
To run the program, the processor fetches an instruction, decodes and executes it
The processor fetches one instruction at a time

Question 21

What is a fetch execute cycle

Answer 21

The cycle of running a program in which the processor fetches an instruction from the main memory, decodes it, executes it, fetches another instruction

Question 22

What is the clock speed of a processor

Answer 22

The amount of times per second electrical currant is cycled/ changes. Usually measured in GHz

Question 23

What is a “bottleneck”

Answer 23

It’s something that occurs when there is a slow component in the computer system that ends up slowing down the whole thing, only go as fast as the slowest component. E.g. Main memory works much slower than the processor can so faster more expensive memory needs to be used, cache

Question 24

Why is cache so important

Answer 24

It is a lot faster than main memory, although much smaller. Cache means the processor has to access the main memory much less often so it can work faster without being slowed.

Question 25

What is level one cache

Answer 25

This is the cache built onto the processor chip and is the most expensive and fastest. It stores the most recently used or most frequently used instructions from the main memory

Question 26

Where is level two and three chiche located

Answer 26

Sometimes lvl 2 cache is on the motherboard, other times it’s on the processor. If lvl2 cache is on the processor, the cache on the motherboard is called lvl3 cache

Question 27

What is the effect of a multi core processor on a multi program computer

Answer 27

Should run faster ad there are two processing units that can run separate programs as the same time

Question 28

What is the effect of s multicore processor on a single program computer

Answer 28

Doesn’t run any faster as the instructions have to be excecuted in order, so 2. Can’t be run before 1. Is finished

Question 29

What does an address bus do

Answer 29

The cpu sends the address on the instruction needed along the one way address bus to the main memory (ram)

Question 30

What happens at the data bus

Answer 30

The instruction asked by the processor is sent along the data bus to the processor from the main i

Question 31

What do control buses do

Answer 31

Carry signals to show whether a data bus or an address bus is already in use or not