Computer Fundamentals Questions and Answers

Answer: A

Correct answer: defines the fundamental method of determining effective operand addresses

The addressing structure of a machine is the set of rules by which an instruction’s address field is turned into the effective address of its operand - direct, indirect, indexed, base-relative, immediate. Addressing modes are the individual variations within that structure.

Answer: B

Correct answer: compaction does not involve relocation of programs

Compaction moves all the occupied blocks of memory to one end so that the free space collects into a single usable hole - and moving a program necessarily means relocating its addresses. So the statement that compaction does not involve relocation is the false one. The other three are true: it is also called garbage collection, and the system must halt while it runs.

Answer: A

Correct answer: Computer program

A computer program is the list of coded instructions the machine executes. An algorithm is the method it implements, expressed independently of any language, and a flowchart is a picture of that method - neither can be run.

Answer: C

Correct answer: Tron

Disney’s Tron, released in 1982, was the first feature to make extensive use of computer-generated imagery, with about fifteen minutes of fully computer-rendered scenes including the light-cycle sequence. Star Wars (1977) and Forbidden Planet (1956) came earlier and relied on models and optical effects.

Answer: B

Correct answer: spreadsheet program

A spreadsheet arranges data in a grid of lettered columns and numbered rows, and each cell may hold a value or a formula that refers to other cells - so changing one figure recalculates everything that depends on it. A word processor handles running text and a graphics package handles images.

Answer: A

Correct answer: Transmission control protocol

TCP is the Transmission Control Protocol, the transport-layer half of TCP/IP. It turns the unreliable packet delivery of IP into a reliable ordered byte stream by numbering the bytes, acknowledging what arrives, retransmitting what does not, and controlling the rate of sending.

Answer: D

Correct answer: PASCAL

Pascal was designed by Niklaus Wirth expressly to teach structured programming: it provides block structure, strong typing, procedures and functions with proper parameter passing, and the control constructs (if…then…else, while, repeat, for, case) that make GOTO unnecessary. FORTRAN, BASIC and PL/1 of that era all leaned on line numbers and jumps.

Answer: C

Correct answer: Mouse

The mouse lets a user point at and select what is on the screen instead of typing commands, which is what made the graphical interface possible. A light pen and a touch screen also point, but the mouse is the device that replaced keyboard-driven operation in general use.

Answer: A

Correct answer: Algorithmic language

An algorithmic language - pseudocode or a formal notation such as ALGOL - states an algorithm precisely without tying it to any machine, so the logic can be set out and checked before it is coded. Assembly and machine languages describe a particular processor’s operations instead.

Answer: B

Correct answer: Plotter

A plotter draws on paper, so it is an output device. Scanners, keyboards and microphones all carry information into the computer, which is what defines an input device.