WGU D322 Section 3

EDVAC

Electronic Discrete Variable Automatic Computer ; first-generation computer

UNIVAC

Universal Automatic Computer ; first-generation computer

IBM-701, IBM-650

notable first-generation computers

Transistors (1959 - 1965)

replaced vacuum tubes in the second generation of computers

Integrated Circuits (1965 - 1971)

The invention of what enabled the development of computer systems that were cheaper, faster, smaller, and more reliable. They miniaturized transistors and placed them on silicon chips called semiconductors.

Microprocessors (1971 - present)

Include thousands of integrated circuits on a single silicon chip.

More reliable than their predecessors, calculate in picoseconds (one trillionth of a second), use high-level languages, and are portable and economical.

IPOS

input-process-output-storage; explains what computer systems are used for. They take input, process it, and provide an output while using storage to keep intermediate and final results of the transformation of data

SRAM

Static Random Access Memory

DRAM

Dynamic Random Access Memory

BIOS

Basic Input Output System

UEFI

Unified Extensible Firmware Interface

SSD

Solid State Drive

PCIe

Peripheral Component Interconnect Express

ISA

Industry Standard Architecture

EISA

Extended Industry Standard Architecture

arithmetic logic unit (ALU)

contains circuitry that performs operations on data (such as addition and subtraction)

control unit

contains the circuitry coordinating the machine's activities

processor register

contains data storage cells called registers

Memory address register (MAR)

Holds the memory location of data that needs to be accessed

Memory data register (MDR)

Holds data that is being transferred to or from memory

Accumulator (AC)

Holds the ALU results

Program counter (PC)

Holds the address of the next program instruction to be executed

Current instruction register (CIR)

Holds the current instruction during processing

Buses or bus lines

wires that serve as electrical roadways, transmitting information between the CPU and other components. The size is related to the amount of data that can be transmitted at once. Instructions are sent through to the CPU and include how to process the data and which component to use

Address bus

Carries the destination address of where the data is assigned to be processed

Data bus

Carries data between the processor, the memory unit, and the input/output devices

Control bus

Carries control signals (commands) from the CPU (and status signals from devices); controls and coordinates all activities within the computer system

bit

the smallest unit of storage that is set to 0 or to 1

eight

A group of how many bits form a byte?

single

A byte contains enough information to store a _______ character

1 kilobyte (KB)

2^10 bytes

1 megabyte (MB)

2^20 bytes

1 gigabyte (GB)

2^30 bytes

1 terabyte (TB)

2^40 bytes

1 petabyte (PB)

2^50 bytes

Vacuum Tubes (1946–1959)

ENIAC emerged in 1946 as a 30-ton machine with 18,000 _______