Hardware and communication

Question 1

Cache

Answer 1

Cache is a small sized type of volatile computer memory that provides high-speed data access to a processor and stores frequently/recently used programs and data.

Question 2

Parallelisation

Answer 2

Parallelisation is technique used to break down large tasks into smaller sub-task to be executed simultaneously on multiple processors or cores

Question 3

Control unit

Answer 3

coordinates all activities of the CPU

Question 4

Clock

Answer 4

synchronises related components by generating pulses at a constant rate

Question 5

ALU

Answer 5

performs arithmetic and logical operations on data (calculations)

Question 6

Program counter

Answer 6

holds the address of the next instruction to be executed

Question 7

MAR

Answer 7

holds the address of the memory location from which data or an instruction is to be fetched or to which data is to be written

Question 8

MDA

Answer 8

used to temporarily store the data which is read from or written to memory

Question 9

CIR

Answer 9

holds the current instruction being executed

Question 10

Fetch process

Answer 10

the address of the next instruction is copied from PC to MAR and is then sent through the address bus to RAM. The instruction/data is copied to the MDR and the PC in incremented.

Question 11

Decode process

Answer 11

the contents of MDR are copied into the CIR and the instruction/data is decoded

Question 12

Execute process

Answer 12

the instruction is carried out, if it is calculation or logical operation the ALU will process the instruction, the results are stored in the accumulator.

Question 13

Magnetic storage

Answer 13

Magnetic storage devices store data using magnetic fields which include magnetic tapes, floppy disks and hard drives with magnetic storage.
Advantages: it is one of the cheapest forms of storage and the capacity is very large
Disadvantages: access times can be slow because they are very delicate.

Question 14

Optical storage

Answer 14

Optical storage devices store data using markers which can be read and written by a laser, it is the best option for music, films and games.
Advantages: it is quite cheap to make and is very lightweight, portable and resilient.
Disadvantages: it tends to have slower access times than most modern magnetic and solid-state hard drives.

Question 15

Solid state drives

Answer 15

SSD stores data directly onto the silicon microchips electrically rather than magnetically which includes USB, SD cards and portable hard drives.
Advantages: no moving parts so it is much more durable than magnetic hard drives which makes it great for mobile devices and tablets, the access times on SSD drives are a lot faster.
Disadvantages: storage is a lot more expensive than the magnetic and optical alternatives. SSD can only be
written to a limited number of times, they have a limited lifespan.

Question 16

Storage in the cloud

Answer 16

Storage in the cloud is a contemporary data storage facility that allows users to store their data on third party servers.

Question 17

Internet

Answer 17

Internet is a world-wide communication of networks; a network of networks.

Question 18

Network

Answer 18

Networks consist of two or more computers, a shared network medium, which may be wired or wireless, and a communication agreement or protocol and allows for communication and sharing of resources.

Question 19

LAN

Answer 19

LAN is a small network, usually within one building and owned by one organisation.

Question 20

WAN

Answer 20

WAN is a larger network, which can span a whole country or even the entire globe, and may be owned by many organisations.

Question 21

Client

Answer 21

A client is a computer that accesses network services.

Question 22

Server

Answer 22

A server is a computer that provides network services.

Question 23

Peer-to-peer network

Answer 23

In a peer-to peer network, each computer can provide or receive network services.

Question 24

Protocol

Answer 24

A protocol is a set of rules that allow devices to communicate with each other.

Question 25

HHTP

Answer 25

transfers web pages from a web server to a client computers web browser.

Question 26

FTP

Answer 26

transfers files between server and client.

Question 27

SMTP

Answer 27

a protocol for sending emails from a client to a server and for relaying between servers.

Question 28

IP

Answer 28

delivers data packets

Question 29

TCP

Answer 29

adds reliability to packet delivery

Question 30

IMAP

Answer 30

allows for downloading or retrieving emails from a server

Question 31

DHCP

Answer 31

dynamically allocates IP addresses to host computers

Question 32

UDP

Answer 32

an alternative transport layer protocol to TCP that delivers packets quickly but unreliably as it does not use acknowledgements and connectionless.

Question 33

Hand shaking

Answer 33

Hand shaking is where sending and receiving devices check each other’s readiness to begin sending data.

Question 34

Networking standards

Answer 34

to ensure that hardware and software produced by vendors can work together.