Other

Question 1

Define the term ‘system software’

Answer 1

Software used in the management of a computer system

Question 2

Describe two functions of an operating system

Answer 2

1. To hide the complexities of the hardware from the user
2. To handle interrupts
3. To decide which process to carry out / manage the execution of multiple processes
4. To allocate memory to processes
5. To manage communication between processes and I/O devices
6. To allocate space on a storage device to files
7. Installation of a new software
8. To manage power consumption (e.g controlling lock speed, brightness of screen)

Question 3

State two reasons why values stored using a floating point representation are usually stored in normalised form.

Answer 3

1. It maximises precision within a given number of bits
2. It ensures there is one unique representation for each number, making it simpler to test two numbers for equality.

Question 4

What is the stored program concept

Answer 4

Machine code instructions stored in main memory are fetched and executed serially by a processor that performs arithmetic and logical operations