The Mechanics of How Computers Work

Question 1

what is virtual memory?

Answer 1

a memory management capability of an operating system (OS) – which uses hardware and software to allow a computer to compensate for physical memory shortages, by temporarily transferring data from RAM to disk storage.

the computer looks at RAM for areas that have not been used recently and copies them onto the hard disk. This frees up space in RAM to load the new application.

It allows users to load multiple applications simultaneously.

Question 2

what is a CPU’s job?

Answer 2

to execute programs.

Question 3

what’s a bit?

Answer 3

(short for binary digit) is the smallest unit of data in a computer.

A bit has a single binary value, either 0 or 1

Question 4

what’s a byte?

Answer 4

a group of binary digits or bits

usually 8 bits

Question 5

what does RAM stand for?

Answer 5

random access memory

Question 6

what is RAM?

Answer 6

A computer’s short term memory.
It stores data as long as the power is running.

A memory module that lies outside the CPU.
The CPU accesses RAM via a BUS.

RAM memory can be accessed randomly via memory addresses. Any byte of memory can be accessed without touching the preceding bytes.

Question 7

what is the clock part of a CPU?

Answer 7

A microchip that regulates the timing and speed of all computer functions.

it triggers an electrical signal at regular intervals which signals the control until to advance internal operations of the CPU.

LIke a drummer on a rowing ship.

Question 8

How many bits is 8 bytes?

Answer 8

80 bits

Question 9

how many bytes is 1 kilobyte (KB)?

how many bits is that?

Answer 9

1000 bytes

8000 bits

Question 10

how many bytes is 1 megabyte (MB)?

Answer 10

1 million bytes

Question 11

how many bytes is 1 gigabyte (GB)?

Answer 11

1 billion bytes

Question 12

how many bytes is 1 terabyte (TB)?

Answer 12

1 trillion bytes

Question 13

what is 32-bit or 64-bit computers?

Answer 13

computers that operate using chunks of 32 or 64 bits.

Question 14

What is ASCII?

Answer 14

7 bit code used for allowing computers to represent text as numbers encoded in binary to it can store text.

It can encode characters, upercase, lowercase, symbols, numbers etc.

Question 15

What does ASCII stand for?

Answer 15

American Standard Code for Information Interchange

Question 16

what is Unicode?

Why was it created?

Answer 16

ASCI only worked for encoding english languages. So Unicode was built as a 64 bit universal encoding scheme for text, chinese, emojis, video, audio, etc.

Question 17

Why was ASCII created?

Answer 17

It allows computers to store and exchange text (E.g. your name) that allows different computers built by different companies to exchange information.

Before then, only computers could store and calculate numbers.

Question 18

what is persistent memory?

Answer 18

keeps data stored even if the power if not flowing.

Question 19

what is CPU cache?

Answer 19

memory built into the CPU which allows it to store small bits of data so it can be retrieved faster by the CPU than the time it would take to fetch data from RAM.

Question 20

what was virtual memory created?

Answer 20

So users could run multiple programs simultaneously