unit 6 Fundamentals of computer systems

Question 1

what is hardware?

Answer 1

-electrical and electromechanical parts of a computer system
-physical, tangible parts of the computer and its input, output and storage devices

Question 2

what is software?

Answer 2

all programs that make the computer function

Question 3

what are the two categories of software?

Answer 3

system software and application software

Question 4

what is system software?

Answer 4

software required to run and manage the computer’s hardware and application programs

Question 5

what makes up the operating system?

Answer 5

-interface
-security
-device management
-application management
-memory management
-processor management

Question 6

what makes up system software?

Answer 6

operating systems, utility programs, library programs, translators

Question 7

what are the types of application software?

Answer 7

-general purpose
-special purpose

Question 8

what is API?

Answer 8

application programming interface

Question 9

what does API do?

Answer 9

-takes requests from end user and sends it to the OS

Question 10

what are the three languages?

Answer 10

machine code, assembly language , high-level language

Question 11

what is machine code?

Answer 11

-binary
-made up of opcode and operand

Question 12

what is assembly language?

Answer 12

-mnemonics

Question 13

what are the types of high-level languages?

Answer 13

-imperative: commands
-declarative: focuses on what the program should do without listing the steps

Question 14

why do people use high-level languages?

Answer 14

-easier to read/code
-allows for abstraction

Question 15

what is source code?

Answer 15

human readable program

Question 16

what is object code?

Answer 16

executable machine code

Question 17

what are the three types of translators?

Answer 17

-assemblers
-compilers
-interpreters

Question 18

how do assemblers work?

Answer 18

translates each assembly code to its corresponding machine code. each processor has its own assembly code and assembler program. the object code is saved and used when required

Question 19

how do compilers work?

Answer 19

translates high-level languages into object code. it translates the whole code at once. different hardware platforms require different compilers. it produces intermediate code, optimises it then generates machine code. it carries out semantic analysis, lexical analysis, and syntactical analysis.

Question 20

how do interpreters work?

Answer 20

translates high-level code into an intermediate form which it then executes. no object code is produced.

Question 21

what is bytecode?

Answer 21

some compilers produce an intermediate form of code known as bytecode. it is a portable file but needs a virtual machine to be created and run. the translation only has to be done once.