Revision Term 1 test Flashcards
Hardware
Any component you can physically touch
Software
Collection of programs and instructions that control the computer
Network
A group of computers connected together in some way to share resources
Peripheral
Device attached to the computer that allow it to interact with its environment and exchange information
Human Resources
Humans operating computers
CPU (Central processing unit)
Key component of computer system, which contains circuitry necessary to interpret and execute program instructions.
Von Neumann
Inventor of CPU and primary memory
Primary memory - RAM
random access memory: contains data and instructions computer has loaded since starting yet looses its contents of power is lost.
Primary memory - ROM
Read only memory: static, non-volatile, stores basic input output system that allows the computer to know what to do to find the operating system to boot after power restored.
Primary memory: Cache
Cache: High speed memory inside CPU which allows super fast read/write access.
Secondary memory
This is non-volatile m storage device used to store the operating system, applications and data in a computer system so that they are available the best time the system is started.
Registers
Registers all the data, addresses and program instructions go through there. Is temporary
Memory address register
Holds address of next value or instruction to be fetched or stored
Memory data register
Holds value and instructions
Current instruction register
Holds instructions to be executed
Accumulator
Temporarily stores data of currently running instructions
Arithmetic login unit
Performs arithmetic and logic calculations
Address bus
A data bus that is used to specify a physical address or memory location.
Control bus
Carries control signals from the processor to other components
Data bus
A connection between the different parts of a computer that information is delivered from the CPU to the main memory.
Control unit
The center of operations / Receives and decides instructions and send out commands
Bus
Connection between two or more components of a computer system used for transporting binary information
Machine instruction cycle
Basic operation cycle of a computer; the process by which a computer retrieves program instruction (fetch) from memory, determines what actions the instruction requires (decode), and Carrie’s out those actions (execute and optionally store).
Motherboard
Integrates all the physical components to communicate and operate together
GPU
Graphics processing unit - output - video or display card
(HDD) Hard disk drive
Store information for retrieval at any time
Solid state drive (SSD)
A hard drive, consisting of a bank of flash memory that can hold a reasonable amount of information
