Hardware and Software

Question 1

Hardware

Answer 1

Physical component of a computer system

Question 2

CPU

Answer 2

Central processing unit

Consisted of “Control Unit” and “Arithmetic and Logic unit”

Question 3

Motherboard

Answer 3

Connects the main components within a computer

e.g. RAM, CPU, Display Card etc.

Question 4

RAM

Answer 4

Store currently active programs
Temporary storage
Volatile memory

Question 5

ROM

Answer 5

Store the BIOS, which is startup instruction for a computer
Data is “Permanent”, not rewrittable (under normal circumstances)
Non-volatile

Question 6

Graphics Card

Answer 6

A.K.A. Display Card, Video card, GPU

Question 7

Sound card

Answer 7

Refer to the module that output to speakers
Usually not a separate card nowadays

Question 8

Harddisk drive

Answer 8

HDD is magnetic storage
Secondary storage
Large capacity compare to RAM
(normally 2TB vs 8GB)

Question 9

Solid State drive

Answer 9

SSD is replacing HDD
More expensive, less capacity (The cost of a 2TB HDD you can get about 250GB SSD)
A few times faster compare to HDD

Question 10

MICR

Answer 10

Magnetic Ink Character Reader
Use in Bank Cheque
Very Fast and accurate compare to OCR
Dedicated Hardware to read
Special Ink required to print

Question 11

OMR

Answer 11

Optical Mark Reader
e.g. MCQ answer paper
Require specific paper format
Very Fast and accurate compare to OCR

Question 12

OCR

Answer 12

Optical Character Reader / Recognition
Turns editable text from Image
Not very accurate
May have issue when mixing languages or symbols

Question 13

Blu-Ray Disc

Answer 13

Use Blue Laser (vs DVD/CD, red laser)

25GB+ storage

Question 14

Cloud Storage

Answer 14

Cloud is a commercial term refers to online services
Cloud storage means data stored in hosting company which data can be accessed online
e.g. Google Drive, OneDrive etc.

Question 15

Input Device

Answer 15

Hardware that gathers data for computer, includes:

• Human Controlled Device (keyboard, mouse etc.)
• Direct Input Device (OMR, OCR etc.)
• Sensors (usually involved ADC)

Question 16

Output Device

Answer 16

Hardware that turns computer processed information into physical form
- includes Actuator (e.g. Motor, Light, Heat etc.)

Question 17

Types of printer

Answer 17

Laser
Inkjet
Dot matrix
Plotter

Question 18

Access Speed

Answer 18

How fast a storage device can locate and start transferring data, measure in time (ms)
e.g. Magnetic tape is very slow in access speed, since physical winding to where data stored is needed

Question 19

Transfer speed

Answer 19

How fast data is transferred from one medium. Usually measured in bps (bits per second).

Question 20

Software

Answer 20

Programs or instruction given to the computer

Question 21

User interface

Answer 21

Allows communication between human user and computer system. Usually refer to software

Question 22

System Software

Answer 22

Software that helps the computer to run smoothly.

Question 23

Operating System

Answer 23

Manages resources on the computer system, also act as interface between hardware and application software.

Question 24

Device Driver

Answer 24

Programs that allows operating system to work with specific type of hardware.
i.e. when attaching a new piece of hardware, OS will install device driver so that it knows “how” to communicate with it

Question 25

Interpreters

Answer 25

Translate a high-level programming language to machine code which computer can run.
Translate one line by one line
usually slower than compiler
Interpreters is required every time the program execute

Question 26

Compiler

Answer 26

Translate a high-level programming language to machine code which computer can run.
Translate a complete program at once
Usually faster than interpreters
Compiler is not needed once a program compiled

Question 27

Linkers

Answer 27

Combine modules of programming code into an executable program.

Question 28

Utility software

Answer 28

Perform functions which maintain the computer system.

e.g. Antivirus, backup, compression, formatting, HDD defragmentator, file management

Question 29

Application Software

Answer 29

Programs that are intended for productivity or carry out a task for the user.
incl. Word processor, Browser, even computer games

Question 30

Custom written software

Answer 30

Software developed on demand requested by client

When comparing with off the shelf software:

• Software is ensured to be compatible with the client’s setup
• Requirements is met precisely
• More likely will have bugs, developer need to constantly updating
• Expensive and time consuming to develop

Question 31

Command Line Interface

Answer 31

Text commands to control the computer
Results in text as well

• Need to memorize command
• Very fast to perform task (Expert)
• Allows repeatable and automated task (Expert)

Question 32

Graphical User Interface

Answer 32

Usually with Pointing device, control a screen pointer
With Icons, Menu and windows (WIMP)
Device with touch screen is also consider as GUI

• Easy to learn and use

Question 33

Dialogue interface

Answer 33

Speech controlled user interface

Question 34

Gesture-based interface

Answer 34

Control with human motion

incl. eye tracking, lips, body movement etc.