Fundamentals of Computer Systems – Review Flashcards

A comprehensive set of question-and-answer flashcards covering hardware, software, computer architecture vs. organization, abstraction layers, functional units, and key performance metrics.

What are the two main categories of components in a computer system?

Hardware and software.

What is the primary role of the CPU in a computer system?

Executing instructions, performing arithmetic and logic operations, and controlling data flow.

Which CPU sub-unit directs and coordinates most operations?

The Control Unit (CU).

Which CPU sub-unit performs arithmetic calculations and logical comparisons?

The Arithmetic Logic Unit (ALU).

What are registers in the context of a CPU?

Small, fast storage locations inside the CPU used to hold data temporarily during processing.

How does RAM differ from secondary storage?

RAM is volatile and fast, storing data currently in use; secondary storage is non-volatile, slower, and stores data permanently.

Give two examples of secondary storage devices.

Hard Disk Drive (HDD) and Solid State Drive (SSD).

What hardware accelerates image and video rendering and is used increasingly in machine learning?

Graphics Processing Unit (GPU).

What component allows a computer to connect to a network?

Network Interface Card (NIC).

What does a Power Supply Unit (PSU) do?

Converts AC from the wall outlet into DC power usable by computer components.

What is an operating system?

The master control program that manages hardware resources, provides a user interface, and enables other software to run.

Name three categories of software other than the operating system.

Application software, utility software, and programming languages.

Define data in computing.

Raw facts, figures, or symbols processed by a computer.

What is the stored-program concept?

The idea that program instructions and data reside in the same memory space.

List the four basic steps of the Von Neumann cycle.

Input, storage, processing, and output.

In the Von Neumann processing step, which unit decodes instructions?

The Control Unit.

Name three types of computer systems optimized for large-scale data processing.

Servers, mainframes, and supercomputers.

What is an embedded system?

A computer system designed to perform a specific function within a larger device.

Which field focuses on the functional behavior of a computer as seen by a programmer?

Computer architecture.

What does ISA stand for?

Instruction Set Architecture.

Give two examples of widely used ISAs.

x86 and ARM.

What is the key difference between RISC and CISC ISAs?

RISC uses fewer, simpler instructions; CISC uses more numerous, complex instructions.

Which discipline explains the physical implementation of architectural specifications?

Computer organization.

What is microarchitecture?

The internal organisation of CPU components that implements the ISA.

Arrange these memory types from fastest to slowest: Cache, RAM, HDD.

Cache (fastest), RAM, HDD (slowest).

What does an address bus carry?

Memory addresses from the CPU to memory or I/O devices.

Which I/O technique allows hardware to transfer data directly to memory without CPU intervention?

Direct Memory Access (DMA).

What performance issue arises because instructions and data share one bus in Von Neumann machines?

The Von Neumann bottleneck.

How does Harvard architecture mitigate the Von Neumann bottleneck?

By using separate memory and buses for instructions and data, enabling simultaneous access.

At which abstraction level do users interact with icons and menus?

The User level (highest abstraction).

Which abstraction level consists of high-level languages like Python or Java?

High-Level Programming Language level.

What is machine code?

The binary instructions directly executed by the CPU.

Name the fundamental building blocks of digital logic circuits.

Logic gates (AND, OR, NOT, XOR, NAND, NOR).

What electronic component underlies logic gates?

The transistor.

List the five basic functional units of a computer.

Input unit, Output unit, Memory unit, Arithmetic Logic Unit, Control Unit.

Which unit converts user data into binary signals the computer can process?

The Input unit.

Which unit presents processed results to the user?

The Output unit.

Why is primary memory called volatile?

It loses its contents when power is removed.

What two categories of operations does an ALU perform?

Arithmetic operations and logical operations.

What is the main role of the Control Unit during program execution?

To fetch, decode, and orchestrate the execution of instructions.

What is the fetch-decode-execute cycle?

The repeating process where the CPU fetches an instruction, decodes it, executes it, and stores the result.

Define throughput in computing performance.

The total amount of work a system completes in a given time period.

Give one common unit for measuring network throughput.

Bits per second (bps) or bytes per second (Bps).

Define latency.

The time delay between issuing a request and receiving the first response.

Why is low latency crucial for online gaming?

Because delays (lag) disrupt real-time interaction, making the game unplayable.

What does CPU clock rate measure?

The number of cycles the processor performs per second.

State the CPU performance equation involving instruction count, CPI, and clock rate.

Execution Time = (Instruction Count × CPI) / Clock Rate.

What does CPI stand for?

Cycles Per Instruction.

How is IPC related to CPI?

IPC is the inverse of CPI; higher IPC means lower CPI.

What performance metric measures the maximum data transfer rate?

Bandwidth.

Name two common methods for evaluating system performance.

Benchmarks and profiling.

What is power efficiency often expressed as?

Performance per watt.

Why can a 2 GHz modern CPU outperform a 3 GHz older CPU?

Architectural improvements give the modern CPU a lower CPI/higher IPC, so it does more work per cycle.

What does scalability describe in system performance?

The ability of a system to handle increasing workloads by adding resources.

What kind of software helps maintain or manage a computer system?

Utility software.

Which memory contains firmware needed for booting and is non-volatile?

ROM (Read-Only Memory).

What communication pathways connect CPU, memory, and I/O devices?

Buses (address, data, and control).

What is the role of cache memory?

To provide small, very fast storage close to the CPU to speed up data access.

In abstraction, why can a web developer ignore transistor physics?

Because each abstraction layer hides lower-level details, enabling focus on higher-level tasks.

What is Direct Current (DC) in the context of computer power supplies?

The form of electrical power that computer components use, provided by the PSU after conversion from AC.