Computing Year 10 Mid Years Spec

What base is decimal?

10

What base is binary?

2

What base is hexadecimal?

16

What is binary?

a system where numbers and values are represented as 0 or 1

Why do computers use binary?

To represent all data and instructions

Why is hexadecimal often used in computer science?

-Large numbers can be represented in fewer digits

-it is easier for humans to understand, write and check than binary.

How many columns on a nibble table?

4

How many columns on a byte table?

8

What does a small b represent?

bit

What does a big B represent?

byte

What range can represented in 8 bits?

0 to 255

What is a bit?

fundamental unit of information

1KB/kilobyte is

1000 bytes.

1MB/megabyte is

1000 kilobytes

1GB/gigabyte is

1000 megabytes

1TB/terabyte is

1000 gigabytes

What is a character set?

A collection of characters that a computer recognises from their binary representation

What is ASCII?

7 bit code that can hold 128 characters

What is Unicode?

16 bit code that can hold 65,536 characters

Advantage of ASCII over Unicode

Takes up less storage

Advantage of Unicode over ASCII

Has more characters

Unicode uses the same codes as ASCII up to ...

127

What are embedded systems?

Computers built into other devices

Name 5 high-level languages.

-Java

-VB

-Python

-C++

PHP

Name 2 low-level languages.

-assembly code

-machine code (binary)

Data Bus

Transporting physical data, bits and bytes of information between memory and the CPU

Control Bus

Carries command and control signals to and from every connected device

Address Bus

Communicating physical addresses of computer memory elements that the CPU wants to access

System Bus

Collective name for the 3 types of buses

Control Unit

Co-ordinates and controls all operations carried out by the computer

Clock

Controls the timing of the processor

ALU (Arithmetic Logic Unit)

Arithmetic operations and logic operations

General Purpose Registers

A set of registers which act as a working area, often storing numbers and results of calculations.

Von Neumann Architecture

-stored program concept

-both programs and data are stored together in the same memory

Why doesn't the CPU access programs and other data from the hard drive directly?

Hard drives have a slow access speed compared to RAM

RAM is volatile. Explain what this means.

The data stored in RAM will be lost when there is no power.

Cloud Storage

-uses magnetic/solid state storage

-at a remote location

land

1

pit

0

What is meant by an interpreter?

translates source code into machine code one instruction

What is meant by an compiler?

-translates it into machine code all in one go

-once converted, the machine code can be run at any time.

What is meant by an assembler?

translate assembly language into machine code.

Fetch

CPU receives information from system hard drive

Decode

CPU determines which system components are required in the execution of the instructions

Execute

CPU assigns the actions to the relevant components in order to carry out the instructions

How does clock speed affect CPU performance?

The higher the clock speed, the greater the number of instructions that can be carried out per second

How does cache size affect the performance of the CPU?

The larger the cache the more instructions can be queued and carried out

How does the number or cores affect the performance of the CPU?

The more cores the more instructions can be processed at a time

It is easier to program _____ cores.

less