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44 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
What does a computer system consist of?
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At least three elements:
Hardware Software Computer Users |
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What is hardware?
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The physical components of the machine
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What is software?
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The instructions that make the hardware work to solve problems.
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The organization of a computer includes at least 5 hardware components. What are these?
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Input Device
Central Processing Unit (CPU) Internal Memory Output Device External Memory or Storage |
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What does processing hardware include?
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The CPU and internal memory
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This piece of hardware is the brain of the computer. It consists of a control unit that directs the activities of the machine and an arithmetic-logic unit (ALU) to perform mathematical calculations and data comparisons.
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CPU
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What are the three categories of software?
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systems software
applications software software developmental tools |
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What is systems software?
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Programs that start up the computer and coordinate the activities of all hardware components and applications software.
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What is applications software?
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Programs developed by computer systems users to solve specific problems.
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What are software developmental tools?
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These include computer or programming languages such as BASIC, FORTRAN, COBOL, Pascal, DELPHI, C, and C++
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What are the characteristics of first generation computers?
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(1951-1958)
Used vacuum tubes Large and slow Air-conditioned environment |
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Characteristics of second generation computers?
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(1959-1963)
Solid-state devices Smaller than 1st Gen. More reliable Less heat Less power requirement |
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Characteristic of third generation computers?
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(1963-1970)
Integrated circuits etched onto silicon chips Magnetic disks for storage Smaller Faster |
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Characteristic of fourth generation computers?
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(1971-1987)
Thousands on integrated circuits on one chip Microprocessor introduced in 1971 |
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Characteristic of fifth generation computers?
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(Present)
"Intelligent" AI |
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What are the four types of computer classes?
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supercomputers
mainframe computers minicomputers microcomputers |
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What are supercomputers used for?
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Large, high-capacity computers that can process data at high speeds. They are used in oil exploration studies, weather forecasts, research, and scientific modeling.
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What are mainframe computers used for?
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Large, high-capacity capable of rigorous computations at high speeds.
They are used in banks, universities and colleges, large businesses, and governments. |
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What are minicomputers used for?
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CT and MRI.
Also referred to as Midrange computers |
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What are microcomputers used for?
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Also called PC's, are small digital computers available in a variety of sizes such as laptops or palmtops.
Workstations are commonplace in radiology and are in several digital imaging modalities such at CT and MRI. |
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How many bits can a microprocessor be?
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8-bit (256 or 2^8)
16-bit (65,536 or 2 ^16) |
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What are the two types of CPU architectures?
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Complex Instruction Set Computing (CISC)
Reduced Instruction Set Computing (RISC) |
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CISC are more ____-_____?
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Built-in
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Digital computers operate on ______ data (discrete units).
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digital
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What does an ADC do?
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converts the analog signal into a "sequence of numbers having finite precision".
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What are the parts of an ADC?
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Sample
Quantizer Coder |
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What is sampling in the ADC?
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the conversion of a continuous time signal into a discrete signal obtained by taking samples of the continuous-time signal at discrete time instants
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What is quantization in the ADC?
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The conversion of a discrete-time, discrete-valued (digital) signal.
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What is coding in the ADC?
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The assignment of a binary bit sequence to each discrete output from the quantizer.
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What is a DAC?
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It converts digital signals in analog signals needed operate devices like TV monitors.
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What is the DAC made up of?
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Solid-state electronics that generate an output voltage proportional to the input digital number.
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What is speed?
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how fast the computer processes data.
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What is power?
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Includes speed and other components such as storage capacity and memory size.
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What factors affect speed?
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microprocessor speed, bus line size, cache memory, flash memory, RISC architecture, and parallel processing of data.
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A computer may have three types of buses. What are they?
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data bus
address bus control bus |
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What is RAM?
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Random Access Memory
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What is ROM?
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Read-Only Memory
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What is cache memory?
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Very fast memory for the storage of information and data that are used most of the time.
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What is flash memory?
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Nonvolatile
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What is a soft copy?
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output "information that has been produced in a seemingly intangible form."
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What are the six steps in programming?
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1) Define the problem
2) Make or buy the decision 3) Design a program 4) Code the program 5) Debug the program 6) Document |
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What are some examples of applications software?
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Microsoft Works
First Choice Framework Symphony |
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What are some examples of systems software?
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Apple DOS
CP/M MS-DOS Mac DOS OS/2 UNIX |
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When was the internet developed?
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1959
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