4112407
Description
Flashcards by Ruth Hyndman, updated more than 1 year ago
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Created by Ruth Hyndman
about 9 years ago
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| Question | Answer |
| What is systems software and what does it do? Give examples of its tasks. | > Low level software concerned with the more technical aspects of setting up and running the computer system. > Provides an interface between the user and the hardware, this is a platform for app running > Memory management and virus detection |
| Give examples of system software other than the OS. | Utility programs, compiler/assembler, interpreter software. |
| What does CPU stand for and what does it do? | - Central Processing Unit -Controls and sequences all input/output operations - Carries out simple logical and arithmetic operations very quickly (>billions/s) |
| What is Hardware and what are the two types? | - The physical components of the computer that you can touch. 1. The system consisting of the CPU 2. The other hardware e.g. HHD, RAM, optical drive, other circuit boards (e.g. graphics and sound cards). |
| What does OS stand for, what is it and give examples of them? | - Operating System - The part of the systems software which provides between the user and the hardware. - - E.g. Android, OS x, Windows |
| What are the 5 main functions of the OS? (Mnemonic: Mermaids Can't Date PrinceS) | 1. Memory Management 2. Communication 3. Data Transfer 4. Processor Management 5. Security |
| Explain the OS function, Memory Management | > Manages system resources which involves: - allocating memory space to programs and data - tracking which parts of the memory have already been allocated and which parts are still free. |
| Explain the OS function, Communication. | Provides a HCI and deals with any errors that occur while a program runs or data is being transferred. It will inform the user if necessary. |
| Explain the OS function, Data Transfer. | Deals with accepting input and transferring it to the computer memory. It will ensure any output is sent to the correct output device. It also manages data transfer between the computer's memory and the backing storage devices. |
| Explain the OS function, Processor Management. | Provides a way for the application's software to communicate with the computers hardware and deals with loading application software into the processor and controls it's execution. |
| Explain the OS function, Security. | Manages system security which involve: - monitoring and restricting access to programs and data - preventing unauthorised access to the system. |
| What is an HCI? | Human Computer Interface |
| What is source code? | - Human-readable programming language - Written in a text editor or IDE and saved to a storage device as encoded text. |
| Give an example of a text editor. | NotePad++ |
| Give an example of a storage device. | A Hard Disk Drive (HDD). |
| What does IDE stand for and what is it? | > Integrated Development Environment > A program that provides comprehensive facilities to a programmer for software development. > At least 3 parts: - A library of objects - A set of development tools - An OOP language and support library |
| What does an IDE normally include? | > A source code editor with: - Syntax errors highlighting features, - Compilation automation tools - Debugging aids. > Can also contain: - Single step operation - Watch - Breakpoints |
| What do the following debugging tools do? > Single step operation > Watch > Breakpoints | > > > |
| Give an example of an IDE. | > Microsoft's Visual Studio range (supports Visual Basic, Visual C++, Visual C# and Visual Web Developer). > Principal elements are a code editor, a debugger, and a designer. > Each of these has many lower level features to help the Software Systems. |
| What does ASCII stand for and what is it? | > American Standard Code for Information Interchange. > This was the standard way to encode keyboard characters for storage on a digital storage device. It defines a 7-bit digital code for every character on the standard computer keyboard. |
| How many possible encodings are there in ASCII? | It has 127 possible encodings, The first 32 of which are non-letter characters, other characters cannot be represented by ASCII as there are not enough possible encodings. |
| What is unicode and why do we use unicode instead of ASCII? | > A more modern way of encoding for keyboard characters. > Unicode is more modern and flexible and upper and lower case letters use different codes. |
| What is an executable file? | A file which is no longer legible for the programmer as it contains a series of operation codes for CPU instructions and the memory locations of the data. An executable file (or program) can be created by compiling the source code. AKA binary files or "machine-code" files. |
| How are executable files created? | After code is written in a text editor and saved to the HDD it can be compiled into a file that has the program instructions in a form which can be understood by the CPU. |
| What is a bit, nibble, byte and what can they be used for? | > Bit - 0 or 1 (BInary digiT) > Nibble - 4 bits. > Byte - 8 bits or 2 nibbles > To represent characters/text |
| What does XML mean and what is it? | > Extensible Markup Language. > A more structured way to store data, created as a standard means to store and transport data, not to do anything to it. > Closely related to HTML > It is the most common mechanism for data transfer between software systems. |
| What does HTML stand for? | > HyperText Markup Language. |
| What are the similarities and differences between HTML and XML? | SIMILARITIES: - Are intuitively readable - Use tags to identify data types. DIFFERENCES: - HTML tags are built-in whereas XML tags are user-defined. - HTML is for displaying data whereas XML is just for storing data. |
| What is Application Development / Software Systems Design? | The process of designing and developing software systems. |
| What activities are included in Software Systems Design? Robot Pandas Try Maliciously Robbing Microwave And where do many of them take place? | > 1. Research 2. Prototyping 3. Testing 4. Modification 5. Re-engineering 6. Maintenance > Within an IDE. |
| How does an object-oriented approach to Application Development affect programs? | > Makes programs: - More intuitive to design - Faster to develop - More amenable to modification - Easier to understand. |
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