Flashcards
IGCSE ICT
Cards in this deck (21)
- 1What is hardware?Hardware is the physical parts of the computer system – the parts that you can touch and see.
A motherboard, a CPU, a keyboard and a monitor are all items of hardware. - 2What is software?Software is a collection of instructions that can be ‘run’ on a computer. These tell the computer what to do.
An operating system such as Windows XP or Microsoft are all examples of software. - 3What is the CPU?CPU is the central processing unit. It is the device that carries out software instructions.
- 4What is main memory?Any data or instructions that are to be processed by the CPU must be placed into main memory (sometimes known as primary storage).
- 5What is RAM?Random Access Memory (RAM) is the part of the computer that temporarily stores the instructions of the computer.
RAM is a volatile storage device. This means that if the computer’s power is turned off the contents of RAM disappear and are lost. - 6What is ROM?Read-Only Memory (ROM) is used in most computers to hold a small, special piece of software: the 'boot up' program.
ROM is non-volatile storage. This means that the data it contains is never lost, even if the power is switched off. - 7What are Peripheral Devices?Other devices need to be connected to allow data to be passed in and out of the computer.
The general name for these extra devices is ‘peripheral devices’. They are usually categorised into input devices, output devices and storage devices. - 8What are Input Devices?The devices that are used to send data into a computer.
- 9What are Output Devices?Devices that take data out from the computer.
- 10What are the two main User Interfaces?Graphical user interface and command line interface.
- 11What are the main features of Graphical User Interface?It consists of windows, icons, menus and pointer.
GUIs are quite easy to use due to the visual nature of the interface – the user has lots of visual clues as to what things do. - 12What are the characteristics of a Command Line Interface?A command line interface is just a black screen with listed commands. The user would have to remember these specific commands and it is not aesthetic.
- 13What are the characteristics of a mainframe computer?Mainframe computers are typically:
•Powerful - they can process vast amounts of data, very quickly
•Large - they are often kept in special, air-conditioned rooms
•Multi-user - they allow several users to use the computer at the same time. - 14What is a PDA?A Personal Digital Assistant is compact, and typically has no keyboard, using a touchscreen for all data input. Since the screen is so small, many PDAs have a small stylus (plastic stick) that is used to press things on the screen.
- 15Name some Input DevicesKeyboards, Tracker ball, Joysticks, Touch Screens, Numeric pads, PIN pads, Sensors and Microphones.
- 16Name some Output Devices.Monitors, Printers, Plotters and Speakers.
- 17What is Backing Storage?Backing storage (sometimes known as secondary storage) is the name for all other data storage devices in a computer: hard-drive, etc.
Backing storage is usually non-volatile, so it is generally used to store data for a long time. - 18What is Serial/Sequential Access?A serial (or sequential) access storage device is one that stores files one-by-one in a sequence.
- 19What is Direct/Random Access?A direct or random access memory is one in which you can instantly access the file you want without having to search through the others.
- 20What is the order of data storage capacity?
- 21What are the data access speeds?
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- Flashcards on IGCSE ICT, created by charlottec1999 on 29/04/2015.
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