von Neumann architecture
computer system designed in which the program is stored in memory with the data.
Central Processing Unit (CPU)
Hardware device that carries out the processing in a computer
Random Access Memory (RAM)
a temporary store for data and instructions.
Read Only Memory (ROM)
Memory that cannot be altered and is not lost when the power is turned off
Cache Memory
used to make up for the difference in speed between two internal components
Arithmetic/logic unit
the part of the CPU that performs arithmetic computations and logical operations.
Control Unit
the part of the CPU that organizes the actions of the other parts of the CPU
The Address Bus
carries memory addresses between the CPU and the memory to identify uniquely a memory location.
The Data bus
carries the value to be read from or written to memory.
The Control Bus
carries signals to coordinate all the computer activities.
Secondary Storage
any kind of permanent storage to which the contents of ROM/RAM are copied.
Magnetic storage
Secondary storage that works by magnetising parts of a substance as north and south poles to represent binary 1s and 0s
Optical storage
Secondary storage that works using differences in light reflection from a material
Solid State Storage
Secondary storage that works by storing charge (electrons)
Cloud storage
secondary storage that is accessed via a network, usually the internet.
Software
the set of programs run by a computer.
Application Software
software program that performs a task that would otherwise be done by hand
Operating system
software designed for particular hardware and which manages other programs' access to the hardware.
Utility Software
provides additional functionality to the operating system
Low level programming language
a P.L that is closely related to the CPU's machine code.
High level programming language
for these programs to run on the CPU, the source code has to be translated into machne code.