Deck 5: Computer Systems Organization

Question 1

In a direct access storage device, every unit of information has a unique ____________________.

Answer 1

address

Question 2

As computers become faster, memory access speeds are not keeping pace.

Answer 2

True

Question 3

Examples of volatile memory are mass storage devices such as disks and tapes. _________________________

Answer 3

False

Question 4

Machines that use the simplified approach to designing instruction sets are known as ____________________ machines.

Question 5

In a two-level memory hierarchy, when the computer needs a piece of information, it looks in cache memory first, then RAM.

Question 6

The branch of computer science that studies computers in terms of their major functional units and how they work is known as computer organization.

Question 7

The memory data register contains the address of the cell being fetched or stored. _________________________

Question 8

Computer manufacturers use a standard cell size of ________ bits.

Question 9

The data path is the three parts of the _______ together.

Question 10

The instructions that can be decoded and executed by the control unit of a computer are represented in machine language.

Question 11

The first computer to achieve a speed of 1 million floating-point operations per second, also called 1 ____________________, was the Control Data 6600 in the mid-1960s.

Question 12

The sectors of a disk are placed in concentric circles called cells . _________________________

Question 13

Registers can be accessed much more quickly than random access memory.

Question 14

The principle of locality states that when the computer uses something, it will probably use it again very soon.

Question 15

Memory locations are stored in row minor order.

Question 16

The normal mode of operation of a Von Neumann machine is sequential . _________________________

Question 17

ROM is memory into which information has been prerecorded during manufacture.

Question 18

MIMD parallelism is not a scalable architecture. _________________________

Question 19

The Von Neumann bottleneck is the inability of the sequential one-instruction-at-a-time Von Neumann model computer to handle today's large-scale problems.

Question 20

The set of all operations that can be executed by a processor is called its I/O set.

Question 21

If a computer has a maximum of 2 ^N memory cells, then each address field in a machine language instruction must be ____ bits wide to enable us to address every cell.

A)N
B)2 N
C)N ²
D)2 ^N

Question 22

A(n)____ is a storage cell that holds the operands of an arithmetic operation and that, when the operation is complete, holds its result.

A)decoder
B)register
C)I/O controller
D)cache

Question 23

A cache is typically ____ times faster than RAM but possesses less storage capacity.

A)5 to 10
B)15 to 20
C)20 to 30
D)25 to 30

Question 24

To alert the computer that an input/output operation is done, a(n)____ is transmitted to the processor.

A)condition code
B)interrupt signal
C)broadcast
D)execution instruction

Question 25

It is the task of the ____ to fetch and execute instructions.

A)arithmetic/logic unit (ALU)
B)I/O controllers
C)memory
D)control unit

Question 26

The ____ operation in Von Neumann machines uses a special set of bits known as condition codes.

A)compare
B)addition
C)control
D)looping

Question 27

____ machines are designed to directly provide a wide range of powerful features so that finished programs for these processors are shorter.

A)MISC
B)SICC
C)SISC
D)CISC

Question 28

Cluster computing is an example of _________ parallel computing.

A)MIMD
B)quantum
C)SIMD
D)mainframe

Question 29

During the ____ phase, the control unit circuitry generates the necessary sequence of control signals and data transfer signals to the other units of the computer to carry out the instruction.

A)fetch
B)execution
C)store
D)decode

Question 30

The ____ of a disk is the time for the beginning of the desired sector to rotate under the read/write head.

A)latency
B)transfer time
C)frequency
D)seek time

Question 31

There are 2³⁰ bytes in a _______.

A)kilobyte
B)petabyte
C)gigabyte
D)terabyte

Question 32

The ____ holds the address of the next instruction to be executed.

A)status register
B)program counter
C)condition register
D)instruction register

Question 33

To solve the difficulty of scaling memory organization, memories are physically organized into a ____-dimensional organization.

A)one
B)two
C)three
D)multi

Question 34

In a ____, the original contents of the memory cell are unchanged.

A)nondestructive fetch
B)destructive store
C)random access memory
D)volatile storage

Question 35

The branch machine language instructions alter the normal _______ flow of control.

A)binary
B)bi-directional
C)sequential
D)MIMD

Question 36

The ____ of a disk is the time needed to position the read/write head over the correct track.

A)latency
B)frequency
C)transfer speed
D)seek time

Question 37

The acronym ____ is frequently used to refer to the memory unit of a computer.

A)ROM
B)CD
C)MDR
D)RAM

Question 38

The ____ are the devices that allow a computer system to communicate and interact with the outside world as well as store information.

A)registers
B)arithmetic/logic units
C)control units
D)input/output units

Question 39

To understand how computers process information, we must study computers as collections of ____ that perform tasks such as instruction processing, information storage, computation, and data transfer.

A)data types
B)functional units
C)hardware
D)memory units

Question 40

A(n)____ handles the details of input/output and compensates for any speed differences between I/O devices and other parts of the computer.

A)cache
B)I/O register
C)decoder circuit
D)I/O controller

Question 41

Draw an analogy between cache memory and a home refrigerator.

Question 42

When a computer needs a piece of information, does it immediately perform the memory fetch operation? If not, what does it do?

Question 43

What is random access memory, and what are its three characteristics?

Question 44

What are the four major subsystems of the Von Neumann architecture?

Question 45

What is the most fundamental characteristic of the Von Neumann architecture?

Question 46

Explain at length what scalability means.

Question 47

What is cluster computing?

Question 48

Other than clock speed, what is an accurate measure of machine speed?

Question 49

Explain what a register is and how it differs from random access memory cells.

Question 50

Describe at length what quantum computing is.