CNIT 17600 Exam 1 Flashcards

A Model

One way of breaking down the layers of a computing system and thinking about how computers function

Task

Find something that we want to do

Algorithm

Break the problem down into steps

Program

This is the full set of instructions you write in a programming language (like Python or C++) to tell the computer what to do. Think of it like writing a recipe for making a cake. The program is the complete recipe with all the steps listed.*

Instruction Set Architecture

This is the limited set of basic commands that the computer's processor can understand directly. It's like a list of very simple tasks the processor knows how to do, such as "add two numbers" or "store this data

Microarchitecture

Connects all the small hardware components, like registers, memory units, and arithmetic units, to make sure those ISA instructions can be processed efficiently.*

Logic Gates

simplest building blocks of a computer, performing basic binary like 1s and 0s, so every component of the microarchitecture can be implemented using logic gates.

Devices

Computing system is a series of switches considered transistors. These transistors have a charge which is manipulated by electrons and can be interpreted as either 1 or 0.

An abstraction

 a mental model that removes complex details.

Top Down

Program that has a knight touch every square once, Kinda goes in a sequence-like motion

A system

 is a collection of components linked together and organized in such a way as to be recognizable as a single unit.

The boundary of a system defines

what is inside the system (the components like CPU, memory and hard drive) and what is outside (the environment). It helps us understand what belongs to the system.

The environment

 is anything outside of the system, like sound ways like your voice and hearing, stuff outside of the system things will affect it heat, how much space does it have and other computers in its enviornment that it can talk with

System Architecture

The fundamental properties, and the patterns of relationships,connections, constraints, and linkages among the components and between the system and its environment are known collectively as the architecture of the system

Client server computing

 A program on a client computer requests services from a program on a server computer

Distributed Processing Systems

2-tier,3-tier,N-tier

Cloud computing

the cloud is someone else's computer

Peer to peer computing

client-server computer must request a computer

Centralization of services permits

easier administration of services by IT
professionals
easier availability and location by
users
consistency of resources, such as files
and data, can be managed and assured
more efficient and cost-effective
hardware procurement through purchasing
a small number of very powerful
computers

Two-tier architecture

Two computers are involved in a service

Three-tier architecture

Three computers are involved in a service

N-tier architecture

Extends the three-tier model by adding more layers (or tiers) to separate different functions further.

Software as a Service (SaaS)

applications run on a server or processing may be divided on server and client.

Platform as a Service (PaaS)

tools for a developer to create and run applications

on a cloud platform

 Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)

cloud-based hardware emulation of virtual

machines and networking

Cloud Computing Advantages

• Client’s datacenter needs are simplified; reduced costs

• Supports collaboration

• Scalable to a variety of host platforms

• Reduced maintenance downtime

• Lower investment for short-term projects

Cloud computing disadvantages

• Quality of security is critical and questionable

• Outages or loss of connectivity may prevent users from

working

• Requires long-term commitment and viability of cloud

service

• Changes in operating procedures can result in data loss

PEER-TO-PEER COMPUTING advantages

• Sharing files between personal computers

• Internet file sharing

PEER-TO-PEER COMPUTING disadvantages

• Difficult to establish centralized control of services

• Difficult to locate services

• Difficult to synchronize versions of files or software

• Difficult to secure network from unauthorized access

and from viruses

Gen 0: Hobbies, What were the first devices

Mechanical Calculating Machines

What years was Gen 0

1642-1945

Who made the calculating clock

Wilhelm Schinckard

Who made the pascaline

Blaise Pascal

Who made the difference Engine

Charles Babbage

Who made the punches card tabulating machine

Herman Hollerith

Who was the first programmer?

Ada Lovelace

What is a pascaline

Adds and subtracts only, you have to manually control the switches

What is a difference engine

A comples design of gears and pulleys that does manual calculations

What was the punched card tabulating machine built for?

The census

What did Alan turning do?

developed many core concepts to computing as we understand it today.

First generation was

More of a university project

First generation had

vaccum tube computers

Vaccum computer years

(1945-1953)

What did the Atanasoff Berry Computer Do

solved systems of linear equations

what did ATANASOFF BERRY COMPUTER (ABC) implement

There were vacuum tubes - electron tubes, thermionic valves, or simply valves, are electronic devices that control the flow of electric current in a vacuum.

Magnetic drum for kilobytes

Not random access, have to turn them until you get the bits and turn to the right spot

What was the first general computer?

The ENIAC

The second generation device

Transistorized Computers

Second generation years

(1954 - 1965)

What did Transistorized computers have

small vacuum tubes, smaller transistors, nanometers, so small for electrons then get confused and not get over them

Transistorized computer example

univac 1100

What is a transistor

Replaced vacuum tube, fast, small,

More durable, cheap

What is a magnetic core

Replaced magnetic drums, information available instantly, replace our drums and first ability to have random access

what is Magnetic Disks

Replaced magnetic tape, data can be accessed directly, can go backwards and forward

what is core memory module

sewing like project - thread put in it, expensive to produce

The third generation…

integrated circuit computers

Third generation years

1965-1980

The third generation had

hundreds of transistors smashed together 

Did the third generation have short or long term storage

short term

What are Integrated Circuits

Replaced circuit boards, smaller, cheaper, faster, more reliable

what are transistors now used for

memory construction

What is a terminal

An input/output device with a keyboard and screen

What is the IBM 360

Typewriter like 

Using paper as our screen

Fourth generation years

1980-??

Fourth generation had

large scale integration, advances in chip technology

Fourth generation computer

VLSI computers

Moores law

The density of transistors in an integrated circuit will double every year

Floppy disks

used for storage, 1.22 gb, larger and hold less for floppy disks,

Moore's Law means that…

computers get better and cheaper over time because we can fit more tiny switches (transistors) onto computer chips

Rock's law

The cost of capital equipment to build semiconductors will double every four years

Quantum Computing

Not very well researched- will likely be in the next generation

Optical Computing/Photonic Computing is

Moving data at the speed of light

With this new tech, we have the potential to

upgrade from gigahertz speeds of CPUs to terabits speeds (1000x faster)

Definition of an Operating
System

A collection of computer programs that
integrate the hardware resources of the
computer and make those resources
available to a user and the user’s
programs, in a way that allows the user
access to the computer in a productive,
timely, and efficient manner.

How did users interact with the ENIAC?

plugboards

Signed and Unsigned Binary numbers

Signed binary starts with a 1 unsigned starts with 0

Bit

(short for binary digit) is the smallest unit of data in a computer.

Nibble/Nybble

a four-bit aggregation, or half an octet. It is also known as half-byte or tetrade.

Byte

a group of binary digits or bits (usually eight) operated on as a unit.

A gibibyte is most accuratley used to measure what

data storage

how does rgb define a color

using floating point representation

What is the main memory?

RAM

A hardware platform may support …

a variety of operating systems

An operating system may support…

many platforms

integrated computer enviroment

Simplified Diagram of
Operating System Services

memory resident

Always loaded in memory
• Commonly called the kernel
• Contains essential services required by other
parts of the operating system and applications.
• Typically responsible for managing memory,
processes and tasks, and secondary storage

memory non resident

Infrequently used programs
• Software tools
• Commands

unix has what kind of configuration

Monolithic configuration

windows has qhat kind of configuration

Hierarchical (layered) configuration

MAC OS has what kind of configuration

microkernal

monolithic kernal

monolithic drawbacks

stability and integrity must be
managed carefully

hierarchical model of an OS

microkernal

microkernal has

minimum essential functionality

operating systems can …

Manages, loads, and executes programs

CLI

Command Line Interface

GUI

graphical user interface

what is a shell?

User interface and command processor that
interacts with the kernel

File

local unit of storage