4.6: section 4: hardware and software

Question 1

what `is hardware

Answer 1

-the physical electrical and electro-mechanical components of a computer system

Question 2

what is software, name the 2 types

Answer 2

• the programs that make a computer function

- system and application

Question 3

what is system software, name the 4 types

Answer 3

• software needed to operates, controls and maintain the computer’s hardware and application programs
• operating systems, utility programs, libraries, translators

Question 4

what is the operating system

3 points

Answer 4

• a program or set of programs that manage the operations of the computer for the user
• manages and controls access to the computer’s resources.
• Acts as an interface between the user and the computer’s hardware
• uses a virtual machine to hide the true complexity of the computer from the user
• OS is held in permanent storage – e.g. on a hard disk

Question 5

what is utility software

Answer 5

-designed to carry out housekeeping tasks

-tasks include data backup, defragmenting hard drives (reorganising data on a hard drive in
order to improve speed of access), data compression and encryption.

Question 6

what are libraries

Answer 6

• collection of precompiled routines written to carry out common tasks for other programs
• libraries must be imported into program code in order to be used

Question 7

what are translators, name the 3 types

Answer 7

• software used to translate high level programming code into machine code
• complier, assembler, interpreter

Question 8

what are low level programming languages, name 2 types

Answer 8

• machine-oriented languages which have no built-in functions but can access specific registers in the processor.
• machine code, assembly language

Question 9

what are high level programming languages, name 1 types

Answer 9

• abstracted problem-oriented languages which need to be translated to be understood by computers
• imperative

Question 10

what is machine code, name 2 parts

Answer 10

• a programming language made of binary or hexadecimal instructions which a computer can respond to directly.
• Opcode (operation code)- the actual instruction
• all the instructions that a computer can understand and execute.

-Operand- the value that the instruction uses or manipulates.

Question 11

what is assembly language

Answer 11

• a low-level symbolic code converted by an assembler.
• Each opcode is replaced with mnemonic- made it easier to understand what the operator meant
• The operand was replaced by a decimal (hexadecimal) number

Question 12

what are the advantages of machine code

3 points

Answer 12

• fast as they don’t need to be translated
• memory efficient
• can directly communicate with hardware devices

Question 13

what are disadvantage of machine code

3 points

Answer 13

not portable

• difficult to debug and maintain as it is more error prone
• difficult for humans to understand

Question 14

what are imperative languages

Answer 14

• designed to solve specific problem types by writing a set of instructions that say how a problem should be solved
• the instructions are then translated from high-level source code into executable object code.

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Question 15

what are advantage of high level programming

Answer 15

• relatively easy to learn
• easier and faster to write compared to low level languages
• easier to understand, debug and maintain as code uses english
• machine independent so its portable
• many available built in functions

Question 16

what are disadvantage of imperative languages

Answer 16

• slow execution as they need to be translated with a compiler or interpreter
• cant communicate directly with hardware

Question 17

what are the functions of the operating system

Answer 17

• memory management
• Process scheduling
• Backing store management
• Peripheral management of all IO devices

Question 18

what is the role of the operating system

Answer 18

to hide the complexities of the hardware

Question 19

what is application software

Answer 19

o programs that
complete a specific task for the user.

Examples of application
software include word processors, web browsers and
spreadsheet software.

Question 20

what are the advantages of assembly language

Answer 20

• slightly easier to understand compared to machine code

- debugging is easier compared to machine code

Question 21

what are the disadvantages of assembly language

Answer 21

programs are processor specific

-assembler must be used before a program is excecated