Computer Fundamentals Questions and Answers

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.

Answer: B

Correct answer: Microwaves

Coaxial cable, twisted pair and optical fibre are all guided media - the signal travels inside a physical conductor or fibre laid between the two ends. Microwaves travel through open space between antennas, so they are the unguided, wireless medium in the list.

Answer: B

Correct answer: Printer

A touch screen, a mouse and a keyboard all carry information into the computer, so they are input devices. A printer takes results out of the machine and puts them on paper, which makes it the output device in the list.

Answer: D

Correct answer: an algorithm

An algorithm is a finite, ordered set of unambiguous steps that solves a problem or computes a result, each step being effective and the whole terminating. It is written before any code and can be expressed in words or a flowchart; a compiler is the program that translates the code that later implements it.