Systems Architecture
Register that contains the memory address of the next program instruction to be executed.
What is the program counter / PC?
192.0.9.56 is an example of this type of address.
What is an IP address?
A type of interface where users interact with the interface using an mouse and on-screen pointer, and all objects are represented by icons.
What is a GUI (Graphical user interface)?
The process of removing specific details to create a general idea of what the problem is and how to solve it.
What is abstraction?
The use of comments, naming conventions and indentation help to ensure this in a program.
What is maintainability?
Python is an example of this type of language.
What is a high level language?
Measures the number of cycles a CPU executes per second in GHz
What is the clock speed?
Governs the sending of emails over a network to a mail server.
What is SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol)?
A system of memory management where memory is broken up into fixed-sized blocks.
What is paging?
In flowcharts, this is represented by the diamond symbol.
What is a decision?
A sub program that manipulates data and returns a result back to the main program.
What is a function?
The instructions that a processor understand and can act upon.
What is machine code?
A small amount of RAM located on the CPU.
What is the cache?
The process of scrambling data so that only users with a key can read it.
What is encryption?
A program used by the operating system to control a peripheral such as a monitor, printer or camera.
What is a device driver?
A searching algorithm that can only be carried out on a sorted list.
What is a binary search?
Testing that is carried out while a program is being developed.
What is iterative testing?
Takes source code as a whole and translates it to object code all in one go.
What is a compiler?
A small computer that forms part of a larger system, device or machine
What is an embedded system?
A standard collection of related protocols and hardware describing how networked devices can transmit data on a LAN.
What is Ethernet?
A type of utility that reduces the size of a file stored on secondary storage.
What is (data) compression?
A sorting algorithm that uses the divide and conquer technique.
What is a merge sort?
Using a variable before it has been declared is an example of this type of error.
What is a syntax error?
IDE stands for this.
What is an integrated development environment?
Manages and controls the flow of data and instructions among ALU memory, input/output devices and registers.
What is the Control Unit / CU?
What are application, transport, network and data link (network interface).
The term given to the ability of an operating system to run more than one program simultaneously.
What is multitasking?
What is six?
The type of test data that a program cannot process and should not accept.
What is invalid (erroneous) data?
This type of language sits between machine code and a high level language.
What is assembly language?