Hardware and software - 100 - 107

Question 1

meaning of hardware

Answer 1

any physical parts of a computer

Question 2

what is software

Answer 2

programs that are run by the computer

Question 3

examples of internal and external hardware

Answer 3

internal - Motherboards, hard drives, RAM

external - mouse, printers, webcam

Question 4

what is system software

Answer 4

software that is used in the management of a computer system

Question 5

what is application software

Answer 5

programs that allow a user to carry out a specific task, eg spreadsheet software or web browser, word processor

Question 6

examples of operating systems

Answer 6

Windows,IOS, Linux

Question 7

examples of utility programs

Answer 7

virus checkers, firewalls, device drivers

Question 8

examples of translators

Answer 8

compilers
assemblers
interpreters

Question 9

why might one application be recommended over another

Answer 9

• speed
• cost
• hardware
• memory requirements
• compatibility with device
• convenience

Question 10

what are utility softwares

Answer 10

: (Software that) performs a non-core / specific
management function for a computer
- eg antivirus, programs that help detect and remove malicious programs
- disk defragmentation
- file managers
- firewalls

Question 11

what is a translator

Answer 11

any program that converts source code into machine code

Question 12

what are the different types of translators

Answer 12

• compilers
• interpreters
• assemblers

Question 13

what do assemblers do

Answer 13

they convert low level assembly languages directly into machine code

Question 14

what do compilers and interpreters do

Answer 14

they convert high level programming languages into object code (compilers) or machine code (interpreter)
- each line of code written by a programmer translates into many lines of binary code

Question 15

difference between interpreters and compilers

Answer 15

• interpreters take one line of high language programming code and convert it directly into machine code and then run it
• compilers takes the entire program from start to finish and first converts it into object code, then distributes to anyone with a compatible system
• compiler produces object code, interpreter doesnt produce object code
• a compiler will not produce executable code if an error is encountered, interpreted code will run the program up to the first error
• you dont always need a compiler to execute a compiled program, when running interpreted code, the interpreter needs to be present
• once compiled, source code is no longer to run the program, an interpreter always needs source code at runtime
• compiled code can only be executed on a machine with the same processor type, interpreted code is more portable

Question 16

advantages of interpreters

Answer 16

• useful when writing programs as there is no need for lengthy, time consuming recompilation every time an error is found
• makes it easier to partially test and debug programs
• a program run using an interpreter can execute on a computer with any type of processor

Question 17

disadvantages of interpreter

Answer 17

-program may run slower because each statement has to be translated into machine code each time it is encountered

Question 18

advantages of compilers

Answer 18

• compiled object code will run faster than interpreted code
• generated object code is kept on disk, it can be run when needed without needing to recompile it
• the object code can be distributed to others and will execute without the presence of the compiler
• object code is relatively secure, hard to read it and work out what the source code wouldve been

Question 19

what are libraries

Answer 19

pre compiled, pre tested sets of code that can be run when needed, that developers can reuse to perform common tasks

Question 20

uses of libraries

Answer 20

• data manipulation
• math functions

Question 21

What is an operating system?

Answer 21

a program or set of programs that manages the operations of the computer for the user

Question 22

purposes of operating systems

Answer 22

• to handle interrupts when an interrupt occurs
• to hide the complexities of the hardware from the user
• to allocate cores to processes
• to allocate RAM to processes
• to allocate I/O devices to processes
• to allocate space on a storage device to files
• installation of new software
• manage power consumption

Question 23

Describe the chain from user to hardware

Answer 23

User, application, operating system, hardware

Question 24

what are translators

Answer 24

• a term that refers to any software that takes code which has been written by a programmer then converts it into machine specific binary code

Question 25

what do interpreters do

Answer 25

An interpreter translates high-level languages into machine code line-by-line

Question 26

what do compilers do

Answer 26

translates high level language source code into machine code

Question 27

what is intermediate code

Answer 27

a generic “half way” standard language between high-level programming languages and machine code which can then be translated to computer specific machine code eg bytecode a representation of a program generated by a compiler during translation from a high-level language to machine code

Question 28

what is the intermediate code used for

Answer 28

to run on a virtual machine

Question 29

what does the virtual machine do

Answer 29

performs the job of taking generic intermediate code and translating it into specific machine code

Question 30

benefits of byte code

Answer 30

- can send it and distribute it to whoever u like -Bytecode is not human-readable like source code → Harder for people to reverse-engineer or tamper with - you can achieve platform independence, eg any computer that runs java programs has a JVM - Allows for intermediate error checking

Question 31

what do windows JVM, Linux JVM etc do

Answer 31

- translates byte code into machine code

Question 32

what is general purpose software

Answer 32

a type of application software that can be used for many different purposes

Question 33

what are special purpose software

Answer 33

a type of application software that performs a specific task or set of tasks

Question 34

why might a company buy a bespoke software

Answer 34

- will satisfy their particular requirements - will be able to be installed immediately - Integration with existing systems/better scalability - Control and security

Question 35

how does an operating system disguise from the user

Answer 35

via the application programming interface API

Question 36

what is virtual memory

Answer 36

when the RAM isn’t big enough, so a hard disk is used as an extension of memory

Question 37

what is multitasking

Answer 37

the processor carrying out several tasks simultaneously

Question 38

what is the scheduler

Answer 38

the operating system module responsible for making sure the processor time is used as efficiently as possible

Question 39

objectives of the scheduler

Answer 39

- maximise throughout - be fair to all users on a multi - user system - provide acceptable response time to all users - ensure hardware resources are kept as busy as possible

Question 40

what is the operand

Answer 40

- the data to be operated on - the address where the data is held

Question 41

why is machine code considered low level

Answer 41

- because it is directly executed by the CPU and consists of binary instructions (1s and 0s) that the hardware understands

Question 42

what is source code

Answer 42

the input to the translator

Question 43

what is object code

Answer 43

the output code which is executable

Question 44

what are compilers

Answer 44

a program that converts high level language such as c# into object code

Question 45

object code for compilers can be....

Answer 45

saved and run whenever needed without the presence of the compiler

Question 46

what is bytecode

Answer 46

the intermediate code compiled and executed by a virtual machine (VM) to ensure platform independence

Question 47

when would it be appropriate to use a compiler

Answer 47

- when the program needs to run efficiently and quickly, such as in production environments, as the program runs faster. - It is also useful when you want to distribute software without exposing the source code, since the compiled version is in binary form.

Question 48

What do virtual machines do

Answer 48

they execute bytecode by interpreting or compiling it into machine code, allowing programs to run on any platform with a VM, making it platform-independent.

Question 49

disadvantages of compilers

Answer 49

if an error is found, the whole code needs to be recompiled

Question 50

when would an interpreter be used

Answer 50

Interactive Coding: For quick testing and prototyping, like in Python, where code can be written and executed line by line in an interactive shell. - in a student environment where students are learning code, as they can test parts of a program before coding it all