Computer Fundamentals Questions and Answers

Answer: B

Correct answer: Static memory

Static RAM holds each bit in a flip-flop, which keeps its state as long as power is supplied and needs no attention from outside. Dynamic memory stores each bit as a charge on a tiny capacitor that leaks away, so it must be refreshed every few milliseconds or its contents change on their own.

Answer: B

Correct answer: Two

A binary choice is by definition between two possibilities - yes or no, on or off, 1 or 0 - which is why a single bit is enough to record one. That is the smallest unit of information there is.

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: Humanware

Humanware is the people side of a computing installation - the operators, programmers, analysts and managers who run and use the system - set alongside hardware (the machinery), software (the programs) and firmware (programs held permanently in a chip).

Answer: C

Correct answer: Hierarchical

Windows organises files as a tree: each drive has a root, folders may contain files and further folders, and the path names the branch to follow - C:\Users\Documents\report.doc. That is a hierarchical structure. A flat structure would allow only one level of names, with no folders inside folders.

Answer: B

Correct answer: Mask

A mask is a bit pattern combined with another value to control its form: ANDing with a mask clears the bits that are 0 in it, ORing sets the bits that are 1, and XORing inverts them. It is how individual flags are read and written inside a word.

Answer: B

Correct answer: New

File → New creates a fresh, empty document to work in. Open loads a document that already exists, Save writes the current one to disk, and Close puts it away.

Answer: B

Correct answer: Coroutine

Ordinary procedures follow a strict call-and-return discipline. A coroutine instead suspends itself and hands control to another coroutine, later resuming exactly where it left off with its state intact, so two routines can advance in step - a structure that does not fit the usual hierarchy of calls.

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: 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.