Computer Fundamentals Questions and Answers

Answer: C

Correct answer: Machine Language

Machine language is the processor’s own binary code - the only form it can execute directly, with no translation of any kind. Assembly language is one step above it, replacing the binary with mnemonics that an assembler converts, and COBOL and Perl are high-level languages further removed still.

Answer: C

Correct answer: COBOL

Machine language and assembly language are low-level: they work in terms of the particular processor’s instructions and registers. COBOL is a high-level language whose statements are written in English-like sentences and are translated by a compiler, so it is independent of any one machine.

Answer: A

Correct answer: Magnetic card

A magnetic card carries a short stripe of magnetic material and so holds only a small quantity of data - an account number, an identifier, an expiry date. Tape holds vast amounts sequentially, and an optical mark reader is an input device rather than a storage medium.

Answer: B

Correct answer: Sentinel

A sentinel is a value placed in the data stream to mark a significant point - most often the end of a list or a record - so that a loop can stop when it meets the sentinel instead of counting items. The null terminator ending a C string is the familiar example.

Answer: D

Correct answer: Basic Input Output System

The BIOS is firmware held on the motherboard that initialises the hardware and hands control to the operating system loader. Modern machines have largely replaced it with UEFI, which serves the same purpose with fewer limits.

Answer: B

Correct answer: COPY

COPY takes a named file (or a group matched by wildcards) and writes it to another disk or directory. DISKCOPY duplicates a whole diskette track by track, RENAME only changes a name, and FORMAT erases the disk and prepares it for use.

Answer: A

Correct answer: Attributes

In a relational table each row is one record of the entity and each column is one attribute of it - a property such as name, date of birth or salary, with a fixed data type. The table as a whole represents the entity; the rows are its instances.

Answer: B

Correct answer: Analytical Engine

Charles Babbage’s Analytical Engine, designed from 1837, was the first design for a general-purpose mechanical computer: a mill for calculation, a store for numbers, and punched cards for both program and data - the elements of a modern machine. The abacus is a much older counting aid and was not designed by Babbage.

Answer: B

Correct answer: Digitizer

A digitizer converts information into digital form - a graphics tablet reporting the coordinates of a stylus, or a converter sampling an analogue signal into numbers. A modem converts between digital and analogue for transmission, and a mouse reports relative movement rather than digitising a source.

Answer: D

Correct answer: GFLOPS

Supercomputer speed is quoted in floating-point operations per second, and the practical scale runs from megaflops through gigaflops to teraflops and petaflops. Of the units offered, GFLOPS - \( 10^9 \) operations per second - is the largest and the one used for machines of this class.