Week 1 Flashcards by Luis Schaviano

a computer is a device that does what ?

stores & processes data by performing calculations

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in the world of technology & in life, it is important to know what ?

it is important to know where we have been, in order to understand where we are & where we are going

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what is an abacus ?

it’s one of the earliest known computers, it was invented in 500BC to count large numbers like a calculator.

it looks like a wooden toy that a child would play with

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what cards had holes in them that were historically used to store data ?

punch cards

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what is an algorithm ?

a series of steps that solves specific problems

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who was the first person to realize the true potential of the analytical engine & to recognize that the machine could be used for more than pure calculations ?

woman mathematician, Ada Lovelace

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who developed the first algorithm for the analytical engine?

Ada Lovelace

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what was the very first example of computer programming ?

when Ada Lovelace developed the first algorithm for the analytical engine

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when did the analytical engine become the first general purpose machine in history ?

when Ada Lovelace discovered that algorithms could be programmed into analytical engines

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what was used as a popular way to store data up until the 1950’s ?

punch cards

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what is cryptography ?

art of writing & solving codes

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how did magnetic tape work ?

by magnetizing data onto a tape.

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what relics are examples of how magnetic tapes can store information & run that information from a machine ?

vinyl records & cassette tapes that people listened to music on back in the 1970s & 1980s

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The development of computing has been steadily growing since the invention of what ?

analytical engine, but things didn’t take a huge leap forward until world War 2

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a group of 8 bits is referred to as a what ?

byte

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what is a byte ?

a group of 8 bits

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how many characters can a byte store ?

one

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what is the communication that a computer uses ?

Binary System

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what is known as a base-2 numeral system ?

Binary System

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what is used to assign our binary values to characters so that we as humans can read & understand them ?

Character Encoding

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what is the oldest character encoding standard?

ASCII

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what does ASCII represent ?

english alphabet, digits, & punctuation marks

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what is the most prevalent character encoding standard used today ?

UTF-8

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how many possible values can there be with 8 bits in a byte ?

256

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What is the highest decimal value a byte can represent ?

255 There are 256 values in a byte but the lowest decimal value is 0 and not 1

Why did UTF-8 replace the ASCII character-encoding standard?

it can store a character in more than one byte

what is abstraction ?

when you take a complex system and simplify it for use

what it is called when you take a relatively complex system and simplify it for use ?

Abstraction

In computing we use abstraction to do what ?

taking very complex problems, like how to make computers work, & make it easier to think about by breaking it apart into simpler ideas that describe single concepts or individual jobs that need to be done, then stacking them into layers.

what are the four main layers that a computer can be cut into ?

hardware, software, operating system, & user

what is the hardware layer made up of ?

physical components of a computer. Objects you can physically hold laptops, phones, monitors, keyboards

what does the operating system do ?

allows hardware to communicate with the system Hardware is created by different manufacturers, so the operating system allows them to be used with our system regardless of where it came from.

what does the user layer do ?

interacts, operates, maintains, and even programs the computer.

what is the software layer ?

mobile apps, web browsers, word processors, or the operating system itself Its how humans interact with computers. When you use a computer, you are given a large amount of software that you can interact with,

what are desktops ?

computers that can fit ontop or under our desks.

what are some physical components that we call hardware ?

a monitor, a keyboard, a mouse, a desktop, a webcam, speakers, a printer set up.

what are connection points that we can connect devices to that extend the functionality of our computer ?

ports

what is considered the brain of the computer?

the CPU

what does all the calculations and data processing ?

CPU

what communicates heavily with RAM ?

CPU

what is our computers short term memory?

RAM is our computer's short-term memory.

what component do we use when we want to store data temporarily ?

RAM

What does RAM stand for ?

Random Access Memory

what component do we use when we want to store anything in long-term memory ?

hard drive

The hard drive holds all of our data which can include what ?

music, pictures & applications

what are basic instructions that tell the computer what to do ?

programs

We typically store programs on durable media like what ?

hard drives

You can think of programs like cooking recipes. We get these recipes all stored together in a cook book, just like apps stored in a what ?

hard drive

what is a row of wires that interconnect the parts of our computer, kind of like the veins in our body ?

External Data Bus, EDB

what are the components inside the CPU that let's us store the data that our CPU works with ?

Registers

Since we can only send one line of data through the EDB at the time, we need the help of which component ?

MCC

what is the MCC ? & what does it do ?

a bridge between the CPU and the RAM. like a nerve in your brain connecting to your memories.

what is concerned with passing an address one way, from the CPU to RAM.

address bus

what is the sole purpose of an address bus?

identify the address of the location in cache or main memory, that is to be read from or written to.

Each location in memory will have its own unique address, this is known as what?

addressability

RAM isn't the fastest way we can get more data to the CPU for processing, The CPU also uses something known as what ?

Cache

Think of RAM like a refrigerator full of food. It's easy to get into, but it takes time to get something out. On the flip side Cache is like what ?

the stuff we have in our pockets. It's used to store recently or frequently accessed data.

The EDB comes in different sizes, what are they ?

8 bit, 16 bit, 32, even 64.

transistors help us to send what ?

voltages

what do registers let us do ?

store data that the CPU works directly with

Since we can only send one line of data through the EDB at the time, we need the help of another component called what?

Memory Controller Chip or MCC.

programs are copied into what, for the CPU to read.

Ram

is Cache or RAM smaller

Cache

There are three different cache levels in a CPU, what are they ?

L1, L2, and L3.

which cache level in a CPU is the smallest & fastest ?

how does our CPU know when a set of instruction ends, and a new one begins ?

the CPU has an internal clock that keeps its operations in sync. It connects to a special wire called the Clock wire. When you send or receive data, it sends a voltage to the clock wire to let the CPU know it can start doing calculations

When you send a voltage to the clock wire, it's referred to as a what ?

clock cycle

when you see a CPU in the store and it has something labeled 3.4ghz, what does this number 3.4ghz refer to ?

Clock speed of the CPU.

what is the clock speed of a CPU ?

the maximum number of clock cycles that it can handle in a certain time period

how many cycles per second is 3.40ghz ?

3.4 billion cycles

There's a way you can exceed the number of clock cycles on your CPU on almost any device. What is this process called ?

Overclocking it increases the rate of your CPU clock cycles in order to perform more tasks

what is commonly used to increase the performance in low-end CPUs ?

Overclocking

Let's say you're a gamer and you want to have better graphics and less lag while playing, You might want to do what with your CPU when you play the game ?

Overclock it

what are some cons of Overclocking ?

overheating your CPU.

Where does the CPU store its computations ?

Registers

Which mechanisms do we use to transport binary data and memory addresses?

The External Data Bus & Address Bus

what is the lowest decimal value a byte can represent ?

Right now, you're probably using a web browser, music player, text editor or something else in your computer. We interact with these applications on a daily basis.They are referred to as what ?

Programs

What do we store programs/applications on ?

Hardrives

The instructions that a CPU is constantly taking is written in what ?

binary

How do the instructions given to a CPU travel around the computer ?

external data bus

If you have lots of data you need to process in a command, you need to run what?

clock cycles

what does the CPU use to translate and perform functions on data ?

"translation book" called an "instructions set"

what is a list of instructions that the CPU is able to run ?

instruction set

what are some example of functions that the CPU can carry out ?

adding, subtracting, & copying data

every program on your computer, while extremely complexed, is broken down into very small & simple instructions found in where ?

instructions set

instruction sets are hard coded into the what ?

CPU

There are lots of types of RAM, & the one that is commonly found in computers is what ?

DRAM or dynamic random access memory.

When a one or a zero is sent to DRAM, it stores each bit in a what?

microscopic capacitor stored as a charge or discharge represented by a one or zero

what does DIMM stick stand for?

Dual Inline Memory Module

The more modern DIMM sticks have different sizes of what on them?

pins

After DRAM was created, RAM manufacturers built something called what? & what does it stand for?

SDRAM which stands for Synchronous DRAM.

What type of RAM is synchronized to our systems' clock speed allowing quicker processing of data?

SDRAM

In today's system, we use another type of RAM, called what?

double data rate SDRAM, or DDR SDRAM, or Most people refer to this RAM as DDR, even shorter.

There are lots of iterations of DDR, what are they?

DDR1, DDR2, DDR3 and now, DDR4.

How does DDR compare to earlier SDRAM versions?

faster, takes up less power, & has a larger capacity

How would you describe the latest version, DDR4?

fastest type of short term memory currently available for computers

faster RAM means what?

more programs can run at the same time & can run faster

What is an application?

a program or a collection of programs that have been designed for the end-users They help you to perform a set of coordinated tasks, functions, or activities.

what is the main task of the memory controller chip?

read, write & refresh the RAM by sending the current through the whole system