Computer Science 306: Computer Architecture Ch. 1
_____ is used to plug peripherals into the system unit.
A USB port
What is a bit?
A single binary digit
Which is an example of internal computer hardware?
All of these are correct.
Choose the correct fact about the Von Neumann architecture:
It allows for developing operating systems.
What is the main function of the motherboard?
It ties together all of the functions of a computer
Which of the following is NOT considered an output device?
Keyboard
Brenda needs a _____ in order to see images on her computer screen.
video card
How many values can be represented with four bits?
16
What was the actual clock speed of the very first microprocessor created by Intel in the early 1970s?
740 KHz
What is a byte?
A byte consists of eight bits
How does the keyboard capture keystrokes?
A microprocessor inside of the keyboard continually scans each key for when it is pressed and released. It then sends the interpreted ASCII value to the serial input port one bit at a time.
What is binary code?
A system to represent numbers, text and other information in binary digits
Which of the following statements is FALSE?
ASCII and Unicode are both primarily used in the English language
Mainframe computers are large and require a computer room environment that might include:
All answers are correct
The Intel 4004 microprocessor from the early 1970s has which one of the following qualities?
All answers are correct
What is computer hardware?
All physical parts of a computer system
The first device that could be called a 'personal computer' was the _____, which debuted in 1975.
Altair 8800
In 1830, _____ designed an 'analytical engine' that performed calculations.
Charles Babbage
The real meaning behind Moore's law often gets confused and is sometimes overlooked. What did the law originally state about microprocessors?
Every two years the number of transistors would double
Which of the following is used to store programs installed on a computer?
Hard drive
The Nvidia CEO openly mentions that he opposes the idea of Moore's law and states that it is no longer relevant in today's society. What does he also say about the future of CPU technology?
He believes the GPU will ultimately replace the CPU in due time
Which of the following is TRUE of the Z3 developed by Konrad Zuse from 1935 to 1941?
It was the first working, programmable and fully automatic digital computer
What are some common input devices for a computer system?
Keyboard, mouse and image scanner
What is typically considered the most important hardware element of a computer system?
Motherboard with the central processing unit and main memory
How much data is the input/output serial port on a computer capable of transferring from the keyboard to the CPU at a time?
One bit of a character at a time.
A computing platform consists of hardware and one other key component:
Operating system
A tablet computer, like an iPad, is what kind of computing platform?
Personal computer
Rank the relative size of computer platforms from smallest to largest:
Personal computer, minicomputer, mainframe
The hardware portion of a computer platform has which components?
Processor, memory, storage
Where on the motherboard are the start-up instructions for the computer stored?
ROM memory chip
_____ is used when computer programs are turned on. It is cleared once the machine is shut off.
Random Access Memory (RAM)
Which computer component is responsible for moving a keyboard character to random-access memory (RAM)?
The CPU uses the system bus to move the keyboard character to RAM.
The system buses found in a computer are:
The control bus, the data bus and the address bus.
In our example, once it reaches the RAM, how is text displayed on the monitor?
The word processor copies it to the display bit-map.
How does the monitor control the color of the text displayed?
The word processor writes the desired color data to the bit-mapped array.
Intel's three newest processor architectures over the past few years are known as Skylake, Kaby Lake, and Coffee Lake. What one thing do they all have in common with each other?
They are all built using the 14nm FinFET process
The first generation of computers used vacuum tubes. Why were they replaced by the transistor?
Vacuum tubes consumed a lot of energy and generated excessive heat
Which architectural model is better?
We cannot say that one architecture is absolutely better than the other. It depends on the application.
The basic Von Neumann architecture is defined as one composed of _____.
a CPU, one memory space, an input unit and an output unit
Which of the following statements about motherboards is false?
a motherboard contains a hard drive to store files
While the basic functions of a motherboard have not changed over time, what has changed?
all of these have changed
In 1958, the first integrated circuit was created _____.
by combining components and the circuitry connecting them on a single piece of silicon
What do IDE and SATA stand for?
different types of connectors for hard drives
The Harvard architecture _____.
is a solution for the Von Neumann bottleneck problem
The Von Neumann bottleneck occurs because in that basic architecture, _____.
there is only one bus connecting the CPU to the memory
What do the electrical connections between the various components on a motherboard consist of?
thin and narrow pieces of metallic foil referred to as 'traces'
