Computer Fundamentals Questions and Answers

Answer: C

Correct answer: Backing store

Storage added beyond the immediately usable main memory is the backing store: it is non-volatile and far larger, but the processor cannot address it directly, so its contents must be brought into main memory before use. Floppy disks, hard disks and punched cards are particular examples of it.

Answer: B

Correct answer: Plotter

A plotter draws by moving a pen (or the paper) along continuous paths, so it produces true line drawings - maps, engineering drawings and architectural plans - at any size the paper allows. A printer builds the same picture out of dots.

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: A

Correct answer: American Standard Code for Information Interchange

ASCII assigns a numeric code to each letter, digit and control character, using 7 bits for 128 characters. Unicode later extended the idea to the world’s scripts while keeping the original ASCII values unchanged.

Answer: A

Correct answer: Encoder

An encoder converts data from one code into another - for transmission, for compression, or to suit a device that expects a different representation. A decoder reverses the process; an emulator imitates one machine on another; a simulator models a system’s behaviour.

Answer: B

Correct answer: Badge reader

A badge reader reads the identification encoded on a small plastic card - on a magnetic stripe, in a bar code or in an embedded chip - and passes it to the system, which decides whether to open a door or start a session. It is the standard access-control input device.

Answer: C

Correct answer: Modem

In a hybrid installation the digital machine’s output has to be presented to the analogue side as a continuously varying signal, and the modem performs that conversion: its modulator turns the bit stream into an analogue waveform, and its demodulator turns the returning waveform back into bits.

Answer: B

Correct answer: Cluster

A cluster is a group of devices - tapes, terminals or drives - attached to and managed by a single controlling unit, which handles their addressing and buffering so the host deals with the controller rather than with each device. Cylinder, track and surface are divisions of a disk, not groupings of devices.

Answer: A

Correct answer: Modulator

A modulator impresses information on a carrier by varying its amplitude, frequency or phase - converting a signal from one form to another, which is what signal conversion means. A modem contains a modulator and a demodulator together, while a keyboard and a plotter convert between human action and data rather than between signal forms.

Answer: B

Correct answer: Bar code

A bar code encodes data in the widths of alternating dark bars and light spaces, which a scanner reads as a pattern of reflected and absorbed light and decodes into digits. It is what allows a product to be identified at a checkout in a single sweep.