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Intro to Computer Science > Unit 1; HARDWARE COMPONENTS > Flashcards

Unit 1; HARDWARE COMPONENTS Flashcards

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1
Q

What happens when a computer gets an input?

A

it stores it, processes it, and creates an output.

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2
Q

Describe an input, storage, process, output diagram

A

.. Main memory
^
|
input devices –> CPU –> Output devices
|
v
.. Secondary storage

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3
Q

What is secondary storage?

A
  • a non-volatile storage (keeps it’s content when the power is switched off)
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4
Q

Uses of secondary storage

A
  • Programs and data are stored on the hard disk
  • Memory sticks may be used to transport data from one place to another
  • Magnetic tape or external hard drives may be used to backup
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5
Q

Types of primary memory

A

There are many types of primary memory in computers, the two main types are:
- RAM
- ROM

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6
Q

What is the RAM?

A
  • Random Access Memory

It can be referred to as:
- main memory
- primary memory
- core memory
- central memory

  • The computer stores running programs and data in the RAM when the computer is turned on
  • When applications or programs are loaded, they are copied into RAM from the hard disk
  • Documents (data) that are used with those programs are also opened by copying into RAM as the working memory
  • When your computer is turned off, the RAM is empty, because it is VOLATILE
  • All your programs and data are safe on your hard disk
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7
Q

What will the RAM contain at any one time?

A
  • The Operating System (or the part currently in use)
  • The software currently in use
  • The data which the software is using
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8
Q

What is the Operating system?

A
  • When you turn on your computer, the startup instructions load the Operating system from your hard disk into RAM
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9
Q

What is virtual memory?

A
  • When the RAM fills up, your computer begins to use virtual memory, which is part of the hard drive used as an extension to the RAM
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10
Q

What is the ROM?

A

Read Only Memory:

  • Some data needs to be permanently held in memory, even when the computer has no power.
  • The ROM contains the instructions the computer must instantly execute when you first turn it on.
  • The ROM is persistent memory, NOT volatile like the RAM
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11
Q

Fastest access speeds for MEMORY

A
  1. Processor
  2. Cache
  3. Main memory / RAM
  4. Virtual memory (on the hard disk)
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12
Q

What are internal hardware components?

A

Includes:
- CPU (what processes an input)
- Input, output, and storage devices

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13
Q

What is the CPU?

A

Central Processing Unit:

  • It’s like the brain of the computer, responsible for all of a computer’s processing
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14
Q

What factors affect a CPU’s performance?

A
  • Clock speed (Cycles per second measured in hertz)
  • Cache size (super fast working memory, 95% of the time, data needed by the CPU is accessed from the cache, so it’s size has a big impact on the CPU’s performance)
  • Number of cores (the number of duplicate processors linked together on a single chip)
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15
Q

What is clock speed?

A
  • Everything in the computer happens on the pulse of the internal clock
  • Therefore the faster the clock speed, the faster the instructions are processed.
  • One tick tock equals one cycle (in case you’re given the diagram)
  • Cycles per second measured in hertz.
  • 1 cycle per second = 1 hertz = 1 instruction carried out each second
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16
Q

What is cache memory?

A
  • Superfast working memory
  • The data most often used by the CPU is held in cache memory so it is almost instantly available.
  • In most systems, data needed by the CPU is accessed from the cache 95% of the time
  • This greatly reduces the time the CPU has to wait for data from the main memory
  • The size of the cache is a major factor in determining the performance of the CPU
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17
Q

What are cores (the on CPU)?

A
  • Found on the CPU
  • processors linked together on a single (CPU) chip
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18
Q

Processor speeds

A
  • 1 Hertz (Hz) = 1 (low-level) instruction per second
  • 1 Kilohertz (KHz) = 1,000 cycles per second
  • 1 Megahertz (MHz) = 1,000,000 cycles per second
  • 1 Gigahertz (GHz) = 1,000,000,000 cycles per second (approx. 1 billion!)
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19
Q

What are multi-core processors?

A
  • Dual-core processor has two processors linked together in the same integrated circuit
  • A quad-core processor has four linked processors
  • A dual-core processor means the CPU could theoretically run twice as fast as a CPU with only one processor, but typically it doesn’t, because the computer just doesn’t use it, or something like that.

ORDER:
- CPU Chip
- Dual-core processor
- Quad-core processor
- Six-core processor
- Octa-core processor
- Multi-core processor

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20
Q

Describe the diagram of fastest storage:

A

It’s in the shape of a triangle, where the bottom of the triangle has the most capacity, but the smallest cost per byte, and the slowest access speed.

Top to bottom of the triangle:
- CPU Registers
- Level 1 cache
- Level 2 cache
- Physical RAM (main memory)
- Disk storage (virtual RAM, and Hard Drive)

21
Q

What is connected directly to the motherboard (no wires)?

A
  • CPU
  • CPU cooler
  • RAM
22
Q

What is the GPU?

A

Graphics Processing Unit

23
Q

What is located on the CPU? And what do these things do?

A
  • Cache
  • Registers
    • A very fast memory location
  • ALU (Arithmetic-Logic Unit)
  • Control Unit
24
Q

What is the SSD?

A

Solid State Drive

  • A type of storage with no moving parts (hence the word solid)
  • a storage device containing nonvolatile flash memory, used in place of a hard disk because of its much greater speed.

Stores USB Flash Drives for example.
- At the bottom of the pyramid in speed because it’s a secondary storage device.

25
Q

What is a byte?

A

A collection of 8 bits.

  • Two or more bytes can be grouped together to hold larger values.
26
Q

What is ASCII?

A

American Standard Code for Information Interchange. It is a standard code used worldwide, for representing the English alphabet.
- Originally, only 7-bits were used, but now an eighth bit is used to represent extra characters (like the copyright symbol)

27
Q

What is Unicode?

A

Has 16 bits, meaning 65,536 different combinations, enough to represent every character in every language.

28
Q

What is the stored-program concept?

A

Computer programs and data the programs are using are stored in the same memory.

29
Q

What are the three operations the CPU operates by? Describe the cycle.

A

Fetch-Decode-Execute
… repeat.
(you can try to remember with FDE)

FETCH:
- The PC copies the address of the instruction to be executed to the Memory Address Register (MAR)
- The instruction at that address is fetched and copied to the instruction register (IR)
- the Control Unit decodes the instruction and decides is data needs to be fetched
- If so, the MAR is used to hold the address of the data to be used in the instruction

30
Q

Types of registers in the CPU:

A
  • Program counter (PC)
    • holds the address of the next instruction to be executed
  • (Current) Instruction register (CIR or just IR)
    • holds the current instruction to be decoded and executed, after having been fetched from memory
  • (Memory) Address register (MAR)
    • holds the memory address of the current instruction, and then the data that uses it, so that these can be fetched from memory
  • Accumulator
    • holds the result of an instruction before it is transferred to memory.
31
Q

What are (control) buses?

A

Buses in a computer consists of a series of wires that transfer data signals between internal components.
- They typically consist of 8, 16, 32, or 64 lines.

  • The control bus is used to send control signals between each I/O controller and processor
    (MEMORY READ REQUEST)
  • The data bus sends data between CPU components
    (ADDRESS LOCATION: 2048)
  • The address bus sends memory addresses from the processor to CPU components
    (DATA: 123)
  • Think FETCH, DECODE, EXECUTE. That’s essentially–I’m assuming–what the buses are for, what each bus is for that is.
32
Q

What is main memory?

A
  • Main memory stores data and instructions that are to be processed.
  • The number of memory addresses in constrained by the width of the address bus.
  • Each address can store a fixed number of bits determined by the type of processor
33
Q

What is the control unit?

A

The control unit coordinates all the activities taking place inside the CPU.
- Controls and monitors hardware attached to the system
- Controls input and output data
- Controls the flow of data within the CPU

34
Q

What is the ALU?

A

Arithmetic Logic Unit.

Performs 2 sorts of operations on data:
- Arithmetic operations
- Addition, subtraction, multiplication, division
- Logical operations
- Comparing one data item to another: is it smaller than, greater than, or equal to?

  • (There’s a diagram of this you can check on the CPU Slides, Slide 17)
35
Q

What is the MAR?

A

Memory Address Register.

During the FETCH stage:
- The PC copies the address of the instruction to be executed to the Memory Address Register (MAR)
- The instruction at that address is fetched and copied to the instruction register (IR)
- the Control Unit decodes the instruction and decides is data needs to be fetched
- If so, the MAR is used to hold the address of the data to be used in the instruction

36
Q

What is the PC?

A

Program Counter.

  • Holds the address of the NEXT instruction to be executed.
  • The Program Counter is incremented (increased) as soon as the address has been fetched.
37
Q

What is the Accumulator?

A
  • Where the arithmetic and logic results are temporarily stored, much like the M+ (Memory) function on a calculator.
38
Q

What does Assembly Instruction LDA mean?

A

LOAD the contents of a given memory address onto the Accumulator (calculator). Note: the contents of the RAM are not changed.

39
Q

What does Assembly Instruction STA mean?

A

STORE the contents of the Accumulator to the given memory address. Note: the contents of the Accumulator are not changed.

40
Q

What does Assembly Instruction ADD mean?

A

ADD the contents of the given memory address onto the Accumulator. Note: the actions of the Accumulator are not defined for add instructions that cause sums larger than three digits.

41
Q

What does Assembly Instruction SUB mean?

A

SUBTRACT the contents of the given memory address from the Accumulator. Note: the actions of the Accumulator are nt defined for subtract instructions that cause negative results–however a negative flag will be set so that BRP can be used properly (further explanation of CPU Slides, Slide 25)

42
Q

What does Assembly Instruction INP mean?

A

INPUT. Copy the value from the input box into the Accumulator.

43
Q

What does Assembly Instruction OUT mean?

A

OUTPUT. Copy the value from the Accumulator into the output box. Note: the contents of the Accumulator are not changed.

44
Q

What does Assembly Instruction HLT mean?

A

END. Cause the Little Man Computer to stop executing your programs.

45
Q

What is a round-off error?

A

In computing, a roundoff error, also called rounding error, is the difference between the result produced by a given algorithm using exact arithmetic and the result produced by the same algorithm using finite-precision, rounded arithmetic

OR SIMPLY PUT:
- It’s because the computer seems to think that there are an infinite numbers of zeroes behind a non-never-ending number, so at some point it has to round it.
E.G. Elections in Schleswig-Holstein, Vancouver stock exchange.

46
Q

What is an overflow error?

A

An overflow error occurs when a computer program or system tries to store more data in a fixed-size location than it can handle, resulting in data loss or corruption. It happens when the maximum limit of a particular variable or data type is exceeded.

E.G. The Ariane 5 crash, the Boeing 787 Dreamliners software bug

47
Q

What is the PSU?

A

Power Supply Unit.

  • Looks like a big box with the power supply built in on top
48
Q

What is an HDD?

A

Hard Disk Drive.

  • Non-volatile storage, a better choice if you’re dealing with data backups, data archives, etc.

Intro to Computer Science (4 decks)

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