Data Representation

Question	Answer
Operand	tells the processor where to apply an instruction
Operator	tells the processor what to do in an instruction
CPU	Central Processing Unit where most calculations happen comprised of the ALU and the CU Arithmetic logic unit and control unit
Assembly code	slightly above machine code - usually mnemonics of words such as LOAD -> LDA
fetch-decode-execute cycle	The processor checks the program counter to see which instruction to run next. The program counter gives an address value in the memory of where the next instruction is. The processor fetches the instruction value from this memory location. Once the instruction has been fetched, it needs to be decoded and executed. For example, this could involve taking one value, putting it into the ALU, then taking a different value from a register and adding the two together. Once this is complete, the processor goes back to the program counter to find the next instruction. This cycle is repeated until the program ends.
Registry	ultra fast part of memory. a hierarchical database usually storing low level settings
Compiler	converts source code directly in to machine readable code
Interpereter	converts source code into machine readable code line by line
von Neumann architecture.	Computers store program instructions and data to be processed in the memory
Machine language	the code that the computer machine can read

Resource summary

	Created by James Swire about 8 years ago