Systems Architecture
What is the program counter / PC?
Register that contains the memory address of the next program instruction to be executed.
What is an IP address?
192.0.9.56 is an example of this type of address.
What is a GUI (Graphical user interface)?
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 abstraction?
The process of removing specific details to create a general idea of what the problem is and how to solve it.
What is maintainability?
The use of comments, naming conventions and indentation help to ensure this in a program.
What is a high level language?
Python is an example of this type of language.
What is the clock speed?
Measures the number of cycles a CPU executes per second in GHz
What is SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol)?
Governs the sending of emails over a network to a mail server.
What is paging?
A system of memory management where memory is broken up into fixed-sized blocks.
What is a decision?
In flowcharts, this is represented by the diamond symbol.
What is a function?
A sub program that manipulates data and returns a result back to the main program.
What is machine code?
The instructions that a processor understand and can act upon.
What is the cache?
A small amount of RAM located on the CPU.
What is encryption?
The process of scrambling data so that only users with a key can read it.
What is a device driver?
A program used bye the operating system to control a peripheral such as a monitor, printer or camera.
What is a binary search?
A searching algorithm that can only be carried out on a sorted list.
What is iterative testing?
Testing that is carried out while a program is being developed.
What is a compiler?
Takes source code as a whole and translates it to object code all in one go.
What is an embedded system?
A small computer that forms part of a larger system, device or machine
What is Ethernet?
A standard collection of related protocols and hardware describing how networked devices can transmit data on a LAN.
What is (data) compression?
A type of utility that reduces the size of a file stored on secondary storage.
What is a merge sort?
A sorting algorithm that uses the divide and conquer technique.
What is a syntax error?
Using a variable before it has been declared is an example of this type of error.
IDE stands for this.
What is an integrated development environment?
What is the Control Unit / CU?
Manages and controls the flow of data and instructions among ALU memory, input/output devices and registers.
The four layers in the TCP/IP stack or Four Layer model.
Application, transport, network and data link (network interface).
What is multitasking?
The term given to the ability of an operating system to run more than one program simultaneously.
With a data set of [0, 1, 5, 3, 8, 9, 7] number of values a linear sech would examine before it found the value 9.
6
What is invalid (erroneous) data?
The type of test data that a program cannot process and should not accept.
What is assembly language?
This type of language sits between machine code and a high level language.