Moodle Test Review: Computer Systems

These flashcards cover key concepts in computer systems, focusing on the Moodle test material.

What was the primary application for computers developed in the 1940s?

Calculating tables for military applications and decryption.

What fundamentally changes when moving from a mechanical processing system to an electronic one?

The technology used.

How many transistors can today be integrated on a single circuit?

Some billions.

What does Moore's Law predict?

The number of transistors on a single circuit doubles every 1.5 years.

What is a microprocessor?

A device that implements a CPU on a single integrated circuit.

What characterizes a microcontroller?

A device that integrates CPU, memory modules, and peripheral interfaces.

How does Harvard architecture differ from Von Neumann architecture?

Harvard architecture uses two separate memories for data and instructions, while Von Neumann uses one.

What defines a special-purpose system?

It is designed for a specific application.

What advantage does hardware generally have over software?

Higher performance.

What does SoC stand for?

System on Chip.

What does ISA (Instruction Set Architecture) refer to?

The specification set for the architecture and implementation of a processor.

What characterizes a RISC (Reduced Instruction Set Computer) processor?

The ability to complete an instruction in each clock cycle.

What defines a superscalar processor?

The capability to execute more than one instruction per clock cycle.

What is a multicore device?

A device that includes multiple CPUs on a single hardware component.

Which characteristic is NOT associated with a GPU?

Ease of programming.

How many user registers are present in the RISC-V architecture?

32.

What does each memory address correspond to in RISC-V architecture?

A byte.

What is the memory address accessed by the instruction 'lw t2, 80(zero)'?

80.

What is the hexadecimal value written to s0 after executing certain instructions with t0 = 0x12345678?

56.

What happens if you execute 'lb t0, 0(t1)' with the byte at the address in t1 being 0x85?

t0 will load 0xFFFFFF85.

What do the parameters passed to a procedure typically get written to?

Register a0.

What happens to the stack before writing two registers into it?

sp needs to be decremented by 8.

What reflects the return address of a procedure when executing the jal pseudo-instruction?

Register ra.

Is it possible to write recursive procedures in RISC-V assembly?

True.

How many bits does a RISC-V instruction occupy in machine format?

32.

How many bits are allocated for each operand in type R machine code instructions?

5.

What type does the instruction 'addi' belong to?

Type I.

What type of memory access does associative access represent?

Access based on content.

In memory systems, what kind of memory is volatile?

Dynamic RAM.

How many bits are necessary for a Hamming code on a 1 M 16-bit word memory?

21.

What type of errors can Hamming codes correct?

Errors that modify a single bit.