IB Computer Science Computer Organization Vocabulary

This is the list of all vocab needed for the IB exam WIP

Central Processing Unit (CPU)

The “brain” of the computer in charge of executing programs from the RAM

Control Unit (CU)

Part of the CPU that loads new commands and decodes them

Register

Fast circuits inside the CPU that stores calculations and instructions

Data Bus

The passageway between the RAM and the MDR. Usually has cache between it

Memory Address Register (MAR)

Part of the CPU that requests information from the RAM

Memory Data Register (MDR)

Part of the CPU that receives data from RAM

Address Bus

The passageway between the MAR and RAM that transports requests from the MAR

Machine Instruction Cycle

The process a computer does to fetch, decode, execute, and store information

Primary Memory

Stores information of immediate use to the computer. RAM and ROM

Secondary Memory

Stores information outside the computer’s hardware. Flash drive, hard drive

Random Access Memory (RAM)

Contains data that was loaded since the computer booted up. Volatile.

Read Only Memory (ROM)

Contains data needed to start up the computer. Stores BIOS. Non-volatile

Cache

Small, high-speed memory inside the CPU that stores frequently used memory

Bit

A unit of data

Byte

8 bits. How data is usually stored.

NOT

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AND

XOR

OR

NOR

NAND