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what is hardware
the physical stuff that makes up your computer system
give some examples of hardware
CPU
motherboard
monitor
printer
what is software
the programs or applications that a computer system runs
give some examples of software
operating system
a word processor
video game
what is an embedded system
computers built into other devices which perform a specific task
what are the benefits of embedded systems
as they are dedicated to a single task they are
usually easier to design
cheaper to produce
more efficient
what does CPU stand for
central processing unit
what does the CPU do
processes all the of the data and instructions that make the system work
what are the 3 main parts of the CPU
control unit
arithmetic logic unit
cache
what is the control units main job
to manage the fetch decode execute cycle
what does the ALU do
performs all the calculations in the CPU
what is the cache
very fast memory in the CPU that is slower than the registers but faster than RAM
what is the function of the program counter
hold the memory address of the instruction for each cycle
what is the function of the accumulator
stores intermediate results of calculations in the ALU
what is the function of the memory address register
holds the memory address of the next instruction or data to be used by the CPU
what is the function of the memory data register
holds the actual data or instruction being used
what is The Von Neumann architecture
a system where the CPU runs programs stored in memory
what do the programs in the von neumann architecture consist of
instructions and data which are stored in memory addresses
what happens in “fetch” in the fetch decode execute cycle
Copy memory address from the program counter to the MAR
Copy the instruction stored in the MAR address to the MDR
increment the program counter
what happens in "decode” in the fetch decode execute cycle
the instruction in the MDR is decoded by the CPU
what happens “execute” in the fetch decode execute cycle
the instruction is performed
give some examples of embedded systems
dishwasher
microwave
TV
what does RAM stand for
Random Access Memory
what is RAM
high speed volatile memory which can be read or written to
what is main memory
where all data, files and programs are stored while they’re being used
what happens when a computer boots up
the operating system is copied from secondary storage to RAM
RAM is slower than … but much faster than …
the CPU cache secondary storage
what happens when RAM is full
the computer moves data that hasn’t been recently used to virtual memory
what is virtual memory
secondary storage used as extra RAM
What does ROM stand for
read only memory
what is ROM
non-volatile memory the cannot be written to
What is the BIOS
contains all the instructions a computer needs to properly boot up
what 3 factors does the CPU performance depend on
clock speed
number of cores
cache size
what is the clock speed
the number of instructions a single processor core can carry out per second
what is the unit for clock speed
hertz
the more cores a CPU has the …
more instructions it can carry out at once
what is the benefit of a larger CPU cache size
gives the CPU faster access times to more data it needs to process
what does GPU stand for
graphics processing unit
what do GPUs do
help the CPU process images
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