Computer Fundamentals Questions and Answers

Answer: A

Correct answer: Output data

A report card and a merit list are what emerges when the marks have been processed - the results presented for use. That makes them output; the marks entered at the start were the input, and the calculation between them was the processing.

Answer: A

Correct answer: ROM

Firmware is the program a device needs the moment it is switched on - the BIOS that starts the machine, for instance - so it must survive with the power off and be present before any disk can be read. That calls for ROM, in practice flash memory that can be rewritten when the firmware is updated.

Answer: B

Correct answer: Interactive computer

In interactive working the user types at a keyboard, the machine responds at once, and the next entry depends on that response - a conversation. Batch processing accepts a job and returns results later with no dialogue at all, and time sharing describes how the processor is divided between users rather than the style of the exchange.

Answer: D

Correct answer: All of the above

Computer memory covers all three: RAM is the volatile working memory that holds what is running, ROM holds the firmware that survives with the power off, and PROM is a read-only memory written once after manufacture. All are forms of the machine’s memory.

Answer: B

Correct answer: Input, storage, manipulation and outputting of data

A computer is defined by the cycle it performs: it accepts data, stores it, manipulates it under the control of a program, and outputs the result. Fast arithmetic and repetitive accuracy are consequences of that ability, not the definition of it.

Answer: C

Correct answer: Input-Output device

A device that both feeds data in and accepts data out is an input–output device - a disk drive, a modem, a touch screen or a network card, each of which carries traffic in both directions. The ALU and the CPU process data rather than exchange it with the outside world.

Answer: C

Correct answer: CPU

The central processing unit fetches each instruction, decodes it, performs the arithmetic and logic, and directs every other unit - so it is the part that does the thinking, and is called the brain of the machine. The ALU and the control unit are components within the CPU, and memory only holds what the CPU works on.

Answer: B

Correct answer: L

Hexadecimal is base 16, so it needs sixteen digits: 0 to 9 for the first ten values and then A, B, C, D, E and F for ten to fifteen. The letters stop at F, so L can never appear in a hexadecimal number.

Answer: B

Correct answer: 128

Each bit is independently 0 or 1, so \( n \) bits give \( 2^n \) distinct patterns. With \( n = 7 \), \[ 2^7 = 128 \] patterns are available - which is exactly why 7-bit ASCII defines 128 characters. \( 2^6 = 64 \), \( 2^8 = 256 \) and \( 2^9 = 512 \) correspond to 6, 8 and 9 bits.

Answer: D

Correct answer: Small talk

Smalltalk, developed at Xerox PARC in the 1970s, was the first system built around a graphical user interface - overlapping windows, icons, pop-up menus and a mouse - and it ran on the Xerox Alto. The ideas it introduced were later taken up by the Apple Lisa and Macintosh. Ethernet, also from PARC, is a networking technology rather than an interface.