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Computing > Paper 1 > Flashcards

Paper 1 Flashcards

1
Q

What are the advantages of wireless mesh networks

A
  1. Uses fewer cables means it costs less to set up
  2. the more nodes the bigger and faster the wireless network becomes
  3. If one node is blocked the network will automatically find another route
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2
Q

What is the difference between a full mesh network and a partial mesh network

A

Full mesh each node is connected to every other node

Partial mesh network, some nodes are not directly connected

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3
Q

What is a mesh network

A

There is no central connection point, instead each point of the network act as a node

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4
Q

What are disadvantages of star networks

A

Can be costly to instal since there is a lot of cables

If the server of central switch fails then the whole network goes down

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5
Q

What are advantages of a star network

A

If one cable fails the other workstations are not affected

Consistent performance even when the network is heavily used

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6
Q

What is a star topology?

A

All the computers have their own cable connecting them to a switch, which routes messages to the correct computer

A powerful computer called a server controls the network

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7
Q

What is cloud storage?

A

A method of storing data and software on offsite web servers.

They enable access to software on demand typically on a subscription basis

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8
Q

What is a DNS role

A

converting URL’s to IP addresses

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9
Q

What does a domain name server do?

A

It translates the domain name into an IP address

Takes the domain name typed into the browser and is sent to a DNS server on the internet which has a data base of all domain names and IP address to translate

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10
Q

What is a hosting, or an internet host

A

An internet host is a company that is able to store your files and make them available to you or others from other internet-connected computer

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11
Q

What is a wireless access point (WAP)

A

It receives data from a network via its physical connection, then a transmitter converts this data into radiowaves which are then transmitted

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12
Q

Which cable is better, fibre optic or copper

A

Fibre optic, greater bandwidth, transmission is faster and cables do not break as easily

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13
Q

What is ethernet?

A

It refers to a family of networking rules or protocols widely used in a LAN

-It describes how devices should format data ready for transmissions between computers on the same network

-All new computes have ethernet built in

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14
Q

What is a Network interface card (NIC)

A

Required to connect any network-enabled device.

Any device that connects to a network has an NIC

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15
Q

What is a switch?

A

A component of a LAN that knows the MAC address of each individual device connected to it.

Its function is to forward the inbound packets only to the intended recipient, using its MAC address

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16
Q

What are some tasks carried out by a router

A

Receives packets
Sends packets
Maintains a routing table

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17
Q

What are the characteristics of a peer-to-peer network

A
  • Security is not centrally controlled
  • Backups must be done separately for each computer
  • No central server
  • Easy to set up but most suited to homes and small businesses
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18
Q

What is a peer-to-peer configuration

A

Each computer is configured so it will share specified files and folders with other peer computers on the LAN.

ALL the computers have equal status and the same role in the network

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19
Q

What characteristics does a client-server network have?

A
  • Security is controlled by the central computer
  • Backup is done centrally on the server
  • All users are reliant on the central server
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20
Q

What is a client-server network?

A

The SERVER is a powerful computer which provides services or resources required by any of the clients

A CLIENT is a computer which requests the services or resources provided by the server

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21
Q

How does error in transmission affect network performance?

A

Due to noise or distortion mean that the data has to be retransmitted

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22
Q

How does latency affect the network performance?

A

Latency is the time delay between the moment that transmission of the first packet of communication starts and when it is recieved by its destination.

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23
Q

How does bandwidth affect the network performance?

A

The higher the bandwidth the faster data is transferred, and vice versa

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24
Q

What factors can affect the performance of networks

A
  • bandwidth
  • Latency
  • Errors in transmission
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25
Q

An example of where a LAN would be used?

A

within a home

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26
Q

What is a LAN

A

A network which connects computers over a small geographical area, hardware is owned and maintained by the organisation

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27
Q

What is a WAN

A

A network that connects computers over a wide geographical area, they can also link two or more smaller LANs

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28
Q

What is the most famous WAN in the world

A

The internet

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29
Q

What does WAN stand for?

A

Wide area network

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30
Q

What does LAN stand for?

A

Local area network

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31
Q

What is lossless compression?

A

Where files are compressed but no data is lost

Used for text and data files

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32
Q

What is lossy compression?

A

Where files are compressed by removing some of the detail

Used to compress images, audio files, video files

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33
Q

Why would compression be needed?

A

-To reduce the amount of storage needed on a computer to save files
-Allow large files to be transmitted as an email attachment
-Allow a file to be transmitted in less time

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34
Q

What is the sample rate?

A

The frequency with which you record the amplitude of the sound, measured in hertz

The more often you take a sample == smoother playback of sound

The number of samples you record in any given amount of time

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35
Q

What is the sample resolution?

A

Resolution is the amount of pixels so is the detail

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36
Q

What is a sample?

A

It is a measure of amplitude at a point in time

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37
Q

How does the ADC (analogue to digital converter) work

A
  1. analogue sound is received by a microphone
  2. This is converted into an electrical analogue signal
  3. The signal amplitude is measured at regular intervals
  4. the values are rounded to a level
  5. the values are stored as a series of binary numbers
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38
Q

How can we store sound on a computer

A

We have to convert the waveform into a numerical representation, the device that does this is the ADC, analogue to digital converter

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39
Q

What data does the metadata store

A

File size

Creator or author of the data

Image resolution

Colour depth

Dimensions of the image e.g. height or width

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40
Q

What is the effect of the resolution

A

The image will be sharper if there is a greater number of pixels and the file size will be larger

41
Q

What effect does the colour depth have

A

The higher number of colours the more faithful will be the image and the file size will get larger, more accurate depiction

42
Q

What effect does the colour depth have on the overall size of the file?

A

Increasing the colour depth means more bits are used to represent each pixel, then the overall size of the file will increase

43
Q

How do pixels affect the size of an image file?

A

More pixels increase the size of the image file

44
Q

How is an image represented?

A

As a series of pixels

a pixel is one specific colour

45
Q

What are some character sets?

A

ASCII and UNICODE

46
Q

How do you convert hexadecimal to denary?

A

Times the first number by 16 then plus the second number

47
Q

How do you convert a denary number into hexadecimal?

A

divide the number by 16 and then work out the remainder

48
Q

How would you covert this binary number

01011100

to hexadecimal

A

Break it up into 2 nibbles

0101 = 5

1100 = 12 so C

5C

49
Q

Why do we use hexadecimal?

A

Humans aren’t very good at remembering long strings of numbers so to make it easier we represent every 4 bits with a single digit

50
Q

What happens if you binary shift a number to the right?

A

equivalent of dividing the number by 2

51
Q

What happens if you shift a binary number to the left

A

equivalent of multiplying the number by 2

52
Q

How do you calculate a text file size?

A

bits per character x number of characters

53
Q

How do you calculate the image file size?

A

colour depth x image height x image width

54
Q

How do you calculate sound file sizes?

A

sample rate x duration x bit depth

55
Q

How do you convert binary to denary?

A

128, 64, 32, 16, 8, 4, 2, 1

56
Q

Why does data need to be stored in binary?

A

A computer is made up of circuits that either allow an electricity flow or not, a switch is either on or off so it only has two states

these are represented as 1 or 0

57
Q

What are the units of data storage?

A

Bits
Nibble (4 bits)
Byte (8 bits)
Kilobyte (1000 bytes)
Megabytes (1,000 Kilobytes)
Gigabytes (1,000 Megabytes)
Terabytes (1,000 Gigabytes)
Petabytes (1,000 Terabytes)

KMGTP

kiss my ginormous terrific pussy

58
Q

Disadvantages of cloud storage?

A
  • Dependent on having an internet connection to access your data
  • Some user are concerned about security in the cloud
  • May have to pay a monthly subscription
59
Q

Advantages of cloud storage?

A
  • Access data from anywhere in the world
  • Share the data with other people in different locations
  • Backup is no longer an issue, responsibility of the provider
60
Q

What is cloud storage?

A

Saving data in an off-site storage system maintained by a third party

61
Q

What is optical storage?

A

Examples == CD, DVD
Lasers write data to the disc and read data from it
Low capacity
Easily damaged
Good portability

62
Q

What is solid state storage?

A

Have no moving parts
They are reliable, less susceptible of damage
They are light, more suitbale for laptopd
Fast access times
Thin
Examples == Memory cards e.g. SD

63
Q

What is magnetic storage?

A

are read with a moving head inside the disk drive
SLOW + EASILY DAMAGED
Example == Hard disks
Hard disks huge capacity makes them very suitable for desktop purposes
Can be internal or portable

64
Q

What characteristics are secondary storage devices measured with

A

Capacity
Speed
Portability
Durability
Reliability
Cost

65
Q

What are types of secondary storage?

A

Optical
Solid State
Magnetic

66
Q

What is the purpose of secondary storage?

A

To store files for a long period of time

67
Q

Characteristics of ROM

A

NON-VOLATILE, data is not lost when power is turned off

Used to store the bootstrap loader which is required to start up the computer

Memory can only be read from and not written

68
Q

Characteristics of RAM

A

VOLATILE, data is lost when power is turned off

Stores user data of operating system which is currently in use

Memory can be written to or read from

69
Q

What is ROM

A

Stores the bootstrap loader which loads the operating system, and starts the computer

70
Q

Disadvantage of Virtual memory

A

It slows down the access speed of the computer
Thrashing

71
Q

What is virtual memory

A

When there isn’t enough main memory to store the whole of a large program computers can be configured so that part of the hard drive disk or solid state drive behaves like main memory

Sections are swapped between the virtual memory and the RAM depending on the sections of the program being executed

72
Q

What is the main purpose of RAM

A

To act as temporary storage for programs and data while the program is being executed

73
Q

What is RAM usually referred to as

A

Main memory

74
Q

What does primary memory usually consist of?

A

RAM and ROM

75
Q

Examples of an embedded system

A

Vehicles

Cameras

Ovens

Fridges

Clocks

TV

76
Q

What is an embedded system?

A

A device which uses CPU’s or microprocessors to control their functions, they usually only need one microprocessor stored within the device and don’t often need an operating system since the tasks are usually simple.
One Specific task

77
Q

How does the number of cores affect the CPU performance?

A

Dual-cores and quad-cores

Having two or more processors doesn’t always mean the computer can operate faster

Multiple cores could work on different programs that operate in parallel but unless the computer is designed to use multiple cores it isn’t necessary x times faster

BUT a PC with multiple cores executing many tasks at the same time will be quicker

78
Q

How does cache size affect the performance of the CPU?

A

Reading and writing to and from the main memory is much slower than the speed at which the processor can work.

Cache is a small amount of faster memory where frequently used instructions or data can be held temporarily

Having cache INCREASES the CPU’s performance

79
Q

How does the clock speed affect the CPU performance?

A

The faster the clock speed the more instructions are fetched, decoded and executed in a second.

This is because everything the processor does occurs on the ‘tick’ of the clock.

One clock cycle per second = 1 Hertz

Clock speed is measured in GigaHertz, which is one billion cycles per second

Just because you have an increased clock speed does not always mean the processor will operate faster, this is due to having many components which all contribute to the overall speed

80
Q

What factors affect the CPU performance?

A

Clock speed
Cache size
Number of cores

81
Q

What happens in the execute stage of the fetch-decode-execute cycle?

A

The instruction is executed

82
Q

What happens in the decode stage of the fetch-decode-execute cycle?

A

The control unit decodes the instruction in the CIR to see what has to be done

83
Q

What happens in the fetch stage of the fetch-decode-execute cycle?

A

Fetch an instruction from main memory

PC –> MAR –> MDR –> CIR

84
Q

What does the Current instruction register do?

A

holds the current instruction to be executed, which has been fetched from memory and is temporarily held in the MDR before copied to the CIR

85
Q

What does the accumulator do?

A

Data and results of many operations are temporarily stored

86
Q

What does the PC do?

A

Holds the memory address of the next instruction to be processed

87
Q

What does the MDR do?

A

Temporarily holds the data or program instruction which has been fetched from memory

88
Q

What does the MAR do?

A

Holds the address of the instruction of data to be stored or fetched

89
Q

What are some special purpose registers in the CPU

A

Memory address register (MAR)
Memory data register (MDR)
Program counter (PC)
Accumulator

90
Q

What is the function of the ALU (arithmetic logic unit)

A

Logical operations, AND OR NOT
Shift operations
Arithmetic operations

91
Q

What is the function of the control unit

A
  • Coordinates all activities taking place inside the CPU
  • Controls the execution of instructions in the correct sequence
  • Decodes instructions
92
Q

What are the components of the CPU

A

Control unit
Arithmetic logic unit
Cache
Registers

93
Q

What is the purpose of the CPU

A

Hardware that executes programs and manages the rest of the hardware
Performs the fetch, execute, decode cycle

94
Q

What is the difference between a router and a switch

A

A router connects networks together
A switch connects devices together

95
Q

Using ethernet divides streams of data into what…

A

frames

96
Q

What is different between IMAP and SMTP

A

Both receive emails from a mail server but
IMAP the email stays on the server and the user can manage a remote mail box

97
Q

What is an advantage of solid state over magnetic

A

It is generally more durable

98
Q

What is an advantage of Wi-Fi over wired networks

A

Useful for networking hard to reach places

Computing (9 decks)

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