TOPIC(S) TEST

Question 1

What are buses?

Answer 1

A physical set of parallel wires connecting and carrying groups of bits between several components of a computer

Question 2

What is pipelining?

Answer 2

The process of completing the FDE cycles of three separate instructions simultaneously

Question 3

What is the address bus?

Answer 3

Carries the memory address to identity where data is read from or written to

Question 4

What is an instruction set?

Answer 4

A set of instructions written in machine code that can be recognised by a given processing unit/CPU

Question 5

What is the purpose of the MDR?

Answer 5

• Used to temporarily store data which is read from or written to memory
• All data to and from memory must travel down the data bus and pass through the MDR

Question 6

What is a GPU?

Answer 6

A co-processor which has lots of independent processors working parallel making it efficient at tasks

Question 7

What is a co-processor?

Answer 7

• Any additional processor used for a specialised task

Question 8

Features of CISC

Answer 8

• Aims to complete a task in as few lines of assembly code as possible
• Complicated hardware and circuitry so it can understand and execute a series of operations
• Makers efficient use of RAM
• Used in laptops and desktop computers

Question 9

What is the purpose of the CU?

Answer 9

• Controls and coordinates all activities of the CPU
• Directs the flow of data between the CPU and other devices

Question 10

What is the process of the Simple Instruction Multiple Data SIMD?

Answer 10

Parallel processing is where a processor carries out a single instruction on multiple data items at the same time

Question 11

What are the differences between GPUs and CPUs?

Answer 11

_ CPUs are generic processing units / GPUs are highly specialised
- CPUs excel at performing complex operations on small data sets (Vice versa)
- GPUS are designed so a single instruction can work over a large block of similar data

Question 12

Von Neumann architecture

Answer 12

• Shared space for data and instruction (same format)
• A single CU/processor follow a linear FDE cycle
• One instruction at a time

Question 13

What are the features of Reduced Instruction Set Computer (RISC?)

Answer 13

• Uses simple instructions which is executed within one clock cycle
• Uses less complex hardware so there’s more space for cache and registers
• Used in smartphones and embedded systems
• Heavy use of RAM (bottlenecks if limited)

Question 14

What is an output?

Answer 14

Any device that can take data stored in digital form and convert it into a form that humans can process e.g. sound

Question 15

What is parallel processing?

Answer 15

The process of program instructions by dividing them between multiple processors or processor cores

Question 16

What is optical storage?

Answer 16

Data is stored in the reflectivity (pits and lands) of a surface and is read from and written to by a laser

Question 17

What is the purpose of the MIMD?

Answer 17

multiple instructions carried out on multiple data across several cores

Question 18

What is magnetic storage?

Answer 18

Relies on the polarisation of magnetic particles to store bits on a magnetic material which is typically moved mechanically

Question 19

What is a multicore processor?

Answer 19

• Single chip containing two or more independent processing units
• Each core can fetch, decode and execute its own instructions

Question 20

What is an input?

Answer 20

Any device that allows you to pass information from the outside world into a computer system

Question 21

Harvard architecture

Answer 21

• Instructions and data stored in separate memory unit (own bus)
• Reading and writing an instruction can be done at the same time as fetching an instruction
• Used by RISC processors

Question 22

What is a Power On Self Test?

Answer 22

Sends signals to all connected components and makes the CPU aware that they all exist

Question 23

What is solid state/flash storage?

Answer 23

Solid state technology that stores data on a collection of memory chips
- No moving parts as data is accessed by software

Question 24

What is cloud storage?

Answer 24

The concept of receiving and retrieving data on the internet in the cloud instead of a local storage device

Question 25

What is the purpose of thinking ahead?

Answer 25

• Allows developers to consider problems or difficulties which may arise when the software is used

Question 26

What are pre-conditions?

Answer 26

• Conditions that already exist which may affect how you devise a solution to a problem
• Requirements which must be met before a program is executed

Question 27

How is caching used in storing web pages?

Answer 27

• Web pages a user frequently uses will be cached so the next time it’s needed, content can be loaded without delay
• Reduces the requests from the client to the web server and vice versa

Question 27

What are the advantages of caching web pages?

Answer 27

• Content can be loaded without delay
• Images and texts do not have be downloaded multiple times
• Frees bandwidth for other tasks on a network
• Less time is spent waiting

Question 27

What is pre-fetching?

Answer 27

Involves data being requested from RAM by the processor before it is required

Question 28

Give limitations of caching

Answer 28

• Accuracy of algorithms used in prefetching/wrong data is often fetched and cached which then has to be removed
• Maintaining correct sequence of data is problematic
• Predictive logic - caching algorithms are complicated to implement

Question 28

State some advantages of using reusable program components

Answer 28

• Shortens development time
• Saves systems resources
• Lowers development costs
• Reduces redundant code

Question 29

What is an advantage of caching?

Answer 29

• Faster retrieval times as fetched data from secondary storage is much slower than fetching from RAM

Question 30

What are the advantages of pre-written routines?

Answer 30

• Already compiled, tested and error free
• Use of libraries aves development time
• May have been written indifferent source language
• Programmers can take advantage of other programmers’ expertise

Question 31

What are the advantages of decomposition?

Answer 31

Makes problems easier to solve
Different people can work on different parts of the problem at the same time (reducing development time)
Program components developed in one program can easily be used in other programs

Question 32

What are the advantages of procedural programming?

Answer 32

• Easier to test and debug code
• Subroutines can be called many times, reducing the amount of repeated code
• Subroutines can manipulate shared data

Question 33

What does it mean to be pre-emptive?

Answer 33

Changing what processing state is in the running state to the waiting state, ready for another process