Quiz 2 Flashcards
Digital Devices
A digital device processes electronic signals into discrete values, of which there can be two or more. In comparison analog signals are continuous and can be represented by a smooth wave pattern. You might think of digital (discrete) as being the opposite of analog.
Many electronic devices process signals into two discrete values, typically known as binary.
On vs off state
It is commonly accepted to refer to the on state as representing the presence of an electronic signal. It then follows that the off state is represented by the absence of an electronic signal.
Bit vs Byte
Word size
Each one or zero is referred to as a bit (a blending of the two words “binary” and “digit”). A group of eight bits is known as a byte.
The number of bits that can be processed by a computer’s processor at one time is known as word size
What base system do computers use and how does it work
Base 2
A “bit” is the lowest level of data storage, stored as either a one or a zero. If a computer wants to communicate the number 15, it would need to send 1111 in binary. This is four bits of data since four digits are needed. A “byte” is 8 bits. If a computer wanted to transmit the number 15 in a byte, it would send 00001111.
CPU
It can be thought of as the “brains” of the device. The CPU carries out the commands sent to it by the software and returns results to be acted upon.
Moore’s Law
Moore’s Law: chip performance per dollar doubles every eighteen months
Moore’s Law has been generalized into the concept that computing power will double every 18 months for the same price point. Another way of looking at this is to think that the price for the same computing power will be cut in half every 18 months.
Limits: size, heat, and power
As chips get smaller and more powerful, they get hotter and present power-management challenges. And at some, point Moore’s Law will stop because we will no longer be able to shrink the spaces between components on a chip.
Motherboard
The motherboard is the main circuit board on the computer. The CPU, memory, and storage components, among other things, all connect into the motherboard.
Bus of the computer
The motherboard provides much of the bus of the computer (the term bus refers to the electrical connections between different computer components). The bus is an important factor in determining the computer’s speed – the combination of how fast the bus can transfer data and the number of data bits that can be moved at one time determine the speed.
Random Access Memory
This working memory, called Random- Access Memory (RAM), can transfer data much faster than the hard disk- chip based memory. Any program that you are running on the computer is loaded into RAM for processing. When the computer is turned off, any data stored in RAM is lost.
The RAM inside your personal computer is volatile memory, meaning that when the power goes out, all is lost that wasn’t saved to nonvolatile memory (i.e., a more permanent storage media like a hard disk or flash memory)
Hard Disk
Most of today’s personal computers use a hard disk for long-term data storage. A hard disk is considered non-volatile storage because when the computer is turned off the data remains in storage on the disk, ready for when the computer is turned on.
Solid State Drives
The SSD performs the same function as a hard disk, namely long-term storage. Instead of spinning disks, the SSD uses flash memory that incorporates EEPROM (Electrically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory) chips, which is much faster.
Integrated Circuits
Since the early 1970’s engineers have constantly worked to figure out how to shrink these circuits and put more and more circuits onto the same chip – these are known as integrated circuits. And this work has paid off – the speed of computing devices has been continuously improving.
Hardware components that relate to speed of the computer
The hardware components that contribute to the speed of a personal computer are the CPU, the motherboard, RAM, and the hard disk.
The Internet of Things
The Internet of Things (IoT) is a network of billions of devices, each with their own unique network address, around the world with embedded electronics allowing them to connect to the Internet for the purpose of collecting and sharing data, all without the involvement of human beings
Differentiation vs commoditization for computers
As commodities, there are essentially little or no differences between computers made by these different companies. Profit margins for personal computers are minimal, leading hardware developers to find the lowest-cost manufacturing methods.
Because Apple does not make computers that run on the same open standards as other manufacturers, they can design and manufacture a unique product that no one can easily copy. By creating what many consider to be a superior product, Apple can charge more for their computers than other manufacturers- differentiation to avoid commoditization
Microprocessor
The microprocessor is the brain of a computing device. It’s the part of the computer that executes the instructions of a computer program, allowing it to run a Web browser, word processor, video game, or virus.
Flash Memory
Cameras, MP3 players, USB drives, and mobile phones often use flash memory (sometimes called flash RAM). It’s not as fast as the RAM used in most traditional PCs, but holds data even when the power is off (so flash memory is also nonvolatile memory). You can think of flash memory as the chip-based equivalent of a hard drive.
Chips are solid state electronics (meaning no moving parts), so they’re less likely to fail, and they draw less power.
Semi conductors
a substance such as silicon dioxide used inside most computer chips that is capable of enabling as well as inhibiting the flow of electricity
Performance / $
Optical fiber- doubles 9 months (Bits per second)
Data Storage- Doubles 12 months (bits per square in)
Moore’s Law- Doubles 18 months (number of transistors)
Price elasticity
Tech products are highly price elastic, meaning consumers buy more products as they become
cheaper . And it’s not just that existing customers load up on more tech; entire new markets open up as firms find new uses for these new chips
Five waves of computing
First wave- computing was limited to large, room-sized mainframe computers that only governments and big corporations could afford.
Second wave- minicomputers were a hit. These were refrigerator-sized computers that were as speedy as or speedier than the prior generation of mainframes, yet were affordable by work groups, factories, and smaller organizations.
Wave three- PCs, and by the end of the decade nearly every white-collar worker in America had a fast and cheap computer on their desk.
Wave four- Internet computing—cheap servers and networks made it possible to scatter data around the world, and with more power, personal computers displayed graphical interfaces that replaced complex commands with easy-to-understand menus accessible by a mouse click.
Wave five- computers are so fast and so inexpensive that they have become ubiquitous—woven into products in ways few imagined years before.
Moore’s Law and competition/business
Moore’s Law rewrites the boundaries of competition—bringing a firm that started as a computer retailer and a firm that started as an online bookstore in direct competition with one another.
If you are producing products with a significant chip-based component, the chips inside that product rapidly fall in value. That’s great when it makes your product cheaper and opens up new markets for your firm, but it can be deadly if you overproduce and have excess inventory sitting on shelves for long periods of time- carry as little inventory as possible, and to unload it, fast!
Multicore microprocessors
made by putting two or more lower power processor cores (think of a core as the calculating part of a microprocessor) on a single chip.
Multicore operating systems can help achieve some performance gains.
in order to take full advantage of multicore chips, applications need to be rewritten to split up tasks so that smaller portions of a problem are executed simultaneously inside each core.
stacked or three-dimensional semiconductors
engineers slice a flat chip into pieces, then reconnect the pieces vertically, making a sort of “silicon sandwich.”
Both faster and cooler since electrons travel shorter distances. What was once an end-to-end trip on a conventional chip might just be a tiny movement up or down on a stacked chip.
3-D semiconductors are tougher to design and manufacture.
