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GCSE Computer Science > SLR 1.7 Systems software > Flashcards

SLR 1.7 Systems software Flashcards

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1
Q

What is an input device?

A

Any peripheral device that can accept data, presented in the appropriate machine-readable form, decode it and transmit it as electrical pulses to the CPU

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2
Q

Name three input devices

A

keyboard, mouse, keypad, card reader, barcode scanner, proximity sensor, foot-mouse, puff-suck switch,, etc.

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3
Q

What is an output device?

A

Any peripheral device that translates signals from the computer into a human-understandable form, into a physical action, or into a form suitable for reprocessing by the computer at a later stage.

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4
Q

Name three output devices

A

screen, printer, speaker, plotter, motor, actuator, etc.

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5
Q

What does OS stand for?

A

Operating System

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6
Q

What is an Operating System?

A

A collection of systems software that manages the computer. Usually supplied with the computer. Most common operating systems are Windows, Linux, Unix, MacOS, iOS.

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7
Q

What is ‘main memory’?

A

Random Access Memory (RAM)

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8
Q

What is memory management?

A

The process of organising the flexible use of the computer’s main memory (RAM).

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9
Q

What is a utility?

A

A systems program that performs some specific task in the operation of the computer, for example file backup, virus checking or a compression program.

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10
Q

What is the purpose of systems software?

A

To provide a platform on which users can run programs to accomplish tasks, and maintain the computer system.

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11
Q

What are the two types of systems software?

A

The operating system and utility software

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12
Q

What is a user interface?

A

A user interface is the means by which the user and a computer system interact, in particular the use of input devices and software.

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13
Q

What does GUI stand for?

A

Graphical User Interface

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14
Q

What are the features of a Graphical User Interface?

A 
Windows
Icons
Menus
Pointers
Easy to use
Visual
Intuitive
Optimised for mouse or touch gesture input
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15
Q

What is a natural language interface?

A

A spoke user interface such as those provided by Siri, Cortona, Alexa etc.

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16
Q

What are the features of a natural language interface?

A

Answer questions spoken in natural language.

Becoming (but not always) reliable.

17
Q

What does CLI stand for?

A

Command Line Interface

18
Q

What are the features of a Command Line Interface?

A 
Text based
Less resource heavy than a GUI
For advanced users
Efficient
More commands than a GUI
Automate processes using scripts
19
Q

What are the features of a menu interface?

A

Successive menus presented to the user

Single option chosen at each stage

20
Q

What is multitasking?

A

multitasking is running multiple applications at the same time by giving each a small time-slice of processor time.

  • Programs are loaded from secondary storage, usually a hard disk, into Random Access Memory.
  • Programs are held by the Operating System in a queue.
  • The program at the front of the queue runs its code on the processor.
  • After a small amount of time, the program stops running and is moved to the back of the queue.
  • The next program at the front of the queue then starts running.
  • The cycle continues with newly loaded programs joining the queue, and programs that are closed leaving the queue.
21
Q

What is fragmentation?

A

When programs are loaded into RAM and closed over time the memory become fragmented which means the sections of memory that programs are loaded into are split up into small sections.

22
Q

What is virtual memory?

A

When the main memory (RAM) becomes full programs which are loaded but not currently running are moved out into secondary storage (often the Hard Disk Drive) so that other programs can be loaded into RAM to run. This moving around of programs is slow.

23
Q

What are pages?

A

Memory that is used for programs is split into equal sized chunks called pages. This makes it easier to move the information between RAM and virtual memory.

24
Q

What are peripherals?

A

Devices such as printers that connect to the computer

25
Q

What are device drivers?

A

Device drivers are device specific software that translates commands from the operating system into hardware specific commands that only that device understands. For example each printer will have its own driver. Drivers also allow communication back from the device to the operating system.

26
Q

How does a laser printer work?

A

A laser printer attracts toner particles to magnetised areas of the paper. Heat is used to fuse the toner to the page.

27
Q

How does an inkjet printer work?

A

An Inkjet printer sprays different coloured inks onto the page one row at a time.

28
Q

What is user management?

A

User management allows different users to log in to a computer. The operating system will retain individual settings for each user.

Different users may have different access rights to files and peripherals.

29
Q

What is a file extension?

A

The file extension appears after the name in Windows e.g. file.txt is a text file, file.csv is a comma separated file, file.docx is a Word document and file.html is an HTML (HyerperText Markup Language) file which is a webpage.

30
Q

Name four types of utility software

A

Encryption, Data compression, Defragmentation, Backup

31
Q

What is the purpose of encryption software?

A

Encryption uses an algorithm to scramble plain text into cipher text. The text can only be decrypted and made readable again with a key.

32
Q

What is the purpose of compression software?

A

Compression software reduces the size of a file so it takes up less disk space, and is quicker to download over the internet. Compressed files must be extracted before they can be read.

33
Q

What is the purpose of defragmentation software?

A

Defragmentation reorganises files on a hard disk to put fragments of files back together, and to collect free space. This reduces the movement of a read/write head across the surface of the disk speeding up file access.

34
Q

Why should Solid State Drives (SSDs) never be defragmented?

A

Solid state drives do not need to be defragmented because they contain no moving parts. Defragmenting an SSD actually reduces their lifespan.

35
Q

What is backup software?

A

Backup software takes a copy of files to protect against data loss and malware attacks.

36
Q

Name two types of backup

A

Backups can either be full backups where every file is copied, or incremental where only the files that have changed since the last backup are copied.

GCSE Computer Science (14 decks)

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