CXC Information Technology Unit 1

Fundamentals of Hardware and Software

Homework 1
Answer all 7 uestions! Total of "# marks!

$1
%hen a &rogram makes a read reuest to the hard disk' the
de(ice which reads data from the disk is mo(ed along the radius
to the &articular concentric circle on which the data is stored!
%hen the rele(ant &art of the concentric circle of the disk
arri(es under the de(ice which reads the data' the data is read
and stored in a s&ecial area of memory from which it could )e
accessed!
State the &ro&er technical term for *ACH of the F+U,
underlined &hrases in the &assage a)o(e! -. marks/
$0
*1&lain the meaning of these terms -1# marks/
a/ 2yte!
)/ Al&hanumeric characters!
c/ Seuential access!
d/ ,A3!
e/ 2ar code!
f/ *4+S!
g/ ,esolution!
h/ Sign and magnitude!
i/ 3achine reada)le!
5/ Command dri(en!
1
$6
7ame the hardware com&onent that &erforms *ACH of the
following functions8
a/ Stores &rograms and data that are currently )eing used )y
the C4U! -1 mark/
)/ 4erforms the logical o&erations within the C4U! -1 mark/
c/ Stores &rograms and data that are not currently )eing used
)y the C4U! -1 mark/
d/ 3odulates and demodulates signals! -1 mark/
e/ ,eads from disks! -1 mark/
f/ 9irects internal o&erations within the C4U! -1 mark/
$.
a/ Con(ert the decimal num)er "" into its )inary eui(alent! -0
marks/
)/ Con(ert the )inary num)er 1#11#1# to its decimal eui(alent!
-0 marks/
c/ Add the )inary num)ers 11#1# and 1##11! -0 marks/
d/ The ASCII code for the letter H has a decimal eui(alent
of 70! %hat is the ASCII code for the letter 4! -0 marks/
$"
State +7* difference )etween *ACH of the following8
a/ Command:line interface and gra&hical user interface! -0
marks/
)/ Im&act &rinters and non:im&act &rinter! -0 marks/
c/ Character &rinter and line &rinter! -0 marks/
d/ ;eneral &ur&ose software &ackage and s&ecialised software
&ackage! -0 marks/
2
$<
9raw a la)elled diagram showing the main com&onents of a
com&uter system' indicating clearly the direction in which data
flows! -< marks/
$7
a/ =ohn recei(ed com&uter hardware from a friend who li(es in
the United States of America' )ut the software was
missing! He' therefore' decided to &urchase the necessary
software! In order for his system to run he realises that he
would ha(e to &urchase software to manage the resources
of the com&uter as well as software which could &ro(ide for
his &articular &rocessing needs! For )oth ty&es of software
he had a choice of two styles of interface> one of which was
command dri(en or the other which &ro(ided screen listing
with o&tions from which the user could select a&&ro&riate
functions! Some software &ro(ides user interfaces which
dis&lay small gra&hic images that can )e selected when the
functions they re&resent is reuired! Since =ohn intended
to use the com&uter in his family )usiness' he had a choice
of acuiring software written es&ecially for his )usiness or
general &ur&ose software! He noted' howe(er' that he would
ha(e to do some modifications to allow it to meet his
s&ecific need!
State the &ro&er technical term for *ACH of the SIX underlined
&hrases in the a)o(e &assage! -< marks/
)/ State T%+ functions of an o&erating system! -0 marks/
3