STUDY GUIDE FOR CHAPTERS 3 & 4 – HARDWARE & SOFTWARE

 

You should make sure you understand…

 

CHAPTER 3

(1)         The factors that must be traded off when assembling a computer system

(2)         The basic operations and components of a computer

(3)         The components of a CPU and what they do

(4)         How electrical signals are converted into characters

(5)         How to convert decimal values into binary and vice versa

(6)         What happens during a machine cycle

(7)         The meaning and types of multiprocessing

(8)         Bit, byte, megabyte, etc.

(9)         The factors that impact the speed of a computer

(10)     The different types of ROM

(11)     The various types of input and output devices

(12)     The names, characteristics, relative costs, and pros and cons of the different types of internal (memory) and external storage

(13)     The various computer system types and how they are used

(14)     The meaning of terms such as:

hertz, megahertz, server, ASCII, peripherals, ALU, control unit, registers, clock speed, pipelining, word(length), RAM, ROM, iComp, Moore’s Law, superconductivity, cache, volatile, nonvolatile, bus(width), RISC, RAID, mirroring, optical disk, DVD, MIPS, data entry, data input, source data input, refresh rate, dot pitch, pixel, resolution, LCD, direct/random access, sequential access, indexed sequential access, SAN

 

 CHAPTER 4

(1)       What software is

(2)       The functions of an operating system

(3)       Issues surrounding software upgrades

(4)       The different types of OLE and how they function

(5)       The difference between application and system software

(6)       Examples of software in each sphere of influence category

(7)       The advantages and disadvantages of proprietary/custom and

        off-the-shelf /packaged software

(8)       The purpose, functions, and types of operating systems

(9)       The benefit of hardware independence

(10)    The functions of memory management

(11)    How virtual memory works (and the related terminology)

(12)    The role of the operating system in a multi-user environment

(13)    The definition, advantages, and downsides of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)

(14)    Ernst & Young’s “Three C’s” rule for groupware

(15)    Examples of utility programs

(16)    The purpose of programming languages

(17)    The different types of translators and what they do

(18)    The various generations of programming languages, their characteristics, and examples of each

(19)    The key features of object-oriented languages

(20)    How to convert a decimal value into hexadecimal and vice versa

(21)    The methods of preventing unauthorized software use

(22)    The meaning of terms such as:

program, programming, compiler, procedural, source code, object code, debugging, syntax errors, text-based interface, GUI, API, user interface, multitasking, multithreading, time-sharing, groupware, algorithms, syntax,  plug-and-play, proprietary code, open source code, SPA, bugs, software piracy, kernel, shell, scalability, application service provider, software suite, query language