Computer System Architecture Page 1 of 4

01 CSA Computer History and Overview

SECTION A
Multiple Choice Questions

1. The hardware components of a system refer to.

a) Provides the physical mechanism to process data into information
b) Provides the physical mechanism to get data into the system
c) Comprises all the physical components; those that you can touch
d) Parts of the computer inside the box

2. The CPU, Memory, I/O interface and ____________, form the hardware part of the
system
a) all input and output devices
b) the motherboard storage devices are included in the CPU
c) peripheral devices peripheral devices are devices that are plugged in externally
d) storage devices

3. The ____________ component controls the arithmetic and Boolean logical

calculations.
a) CPU
b) ALU
c) CU
d) RAM

4. The ____________component controls the processing of instructions and the

movement of internal central processing unit data
a) CPU
b) ALU
c) CU
d) RAM

5. The ______________ component consists of hardware and software to transport

programs and data from one interconnected computers
a) CPU
b) ALU
c) CU
d) RAM
e) communications

6. Which of the following devices is NOT an OUTPUT device?

a) the CPU
b) the monitor
c) the printer
d) the speaker

7. Which of the following devices is NOT an INPUT device?

a) the floppy disk
b) the monitor
c) the communication interface
d) the hard disk star

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8. Which of the following is NOT an input and output device:

a) the floppy disk
b) the tape drive
c) the communication interface
d) the hard disk

9. What is NOT another name for the computers temporary storage?

a) RAM
b) Main storage sometimes refer to primary storage
c) principle memory
d) Main memory

10. The typical unit of measure for temporary storage is

a) bits
b) Mhz
c) MB
d) GHz

11. The prefix 'K' means _________ and has the value ___________
a) Mega, 1,000,000
b) Kilo, 1,024
c) Kilo, 1,000
d) Kilo, 1024x1024

12. The abbreviation 'MB' means _________ and has the value ___________
a) MegaBits, 1,024x1024
b) MegaBytes, 1,024x1,000
gigabytes three times 1024
c) Mega Bits, 1,000,000
d) Mega Bytes, 1,024x1024
CPU convert, ALU does
not do translation, only
13. Program instructions
excecution
a) are run directly by the CPU
b) are translated into machine readable code before executed by the CPU
c) are typically coded by programmers to run in the CPU
d) are decoded by the ALU first, then run by the CPU

14. The stored program concept is

a) is a new idea, developed by for use in today's modern computers
b) is an old idea but still in use today
c) developed by George Boole
d) a consequence of the old punch card input device

15. Storing data and instructions in Main Memory is

a) known as the Englander Idea
b) an International Standard developed from the US Military
c) known as the stored program concept
d) Primarily designed for use on personal Computers

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16. The Operating System is

a) a combination of HW and SW to run operating programs
b) the software that manages your files, memory, loads and executes programs
c) the collection of HW and SW that runs the API
d) consists of file services and data communications
e) none of the above
Application Program Interface
17. The part of the operating system that interfaces with the API, file system, networking
and I/O is known as:
a) the kernel module
b) the primary OS component
c) the Hardware OS component
d) the Application OS component

18. For computers to communicate with each other they need

a) the communications kernel
b) Internet Connection
c) a modem and or NIC card
d) both hardware and software communication components

19. A NIC card

a) establishes a protocol with International Communication Standards
b) provides the hardware and software communication components
c) interfaces the computer and communications channel the medium used to transport
d) used to connect computers at long distances information from one network device
to another.
20. What is the biggest difference between large computer systems and smaller personal
computers system.
a) speed of the CPU, size of the memory and number of users that can connect
b) differences in the architecture
c) differences in the organization
d) there is no difference

21. Distributed computing has to do with multiple computers involved in

a) size and locations of the computers that are distributed the same task
b) comparing the capabilities of the computers that are distributed
c) placing computers over a wide geographic area
d) allowing different computers to perform processing for a common task

22. Most of the persons contributing to the development of modern computers had a
background in
a) mathematics
b) computer science specialists
c) electronics
d) Boolean logic

23. John von Neumann proposed the ___________ concept

a) central processing unit
b) arithmetic unit
c) punch card
d) stored program concept

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24. The computer that was credited for being the first all electronic digital computer was
the
a) ENIAC
b) ENIAC I
c) IAS
d) TCPIP

25. Which of the following statements is FALSE?

a) Each byte of main memory has a unique address.
b) Main memory consists of a very long list of bytes.
c) Each memory location can store any number of bits.
d) Memory addresses are positive integers starting at zero.

26. Match the following terms to their meanings

RAM A. stores the computer date & time

CMOS B. small memory space by the CPU to eliminate bottlenecks in
processing
DIMM C. contains start up instructions
ROM D. 32 or 64 bit space included with the ALU
register E. volatile memory
cache F. board with RAM
serial port G. a port used more in the past than the present for scanners and
transmits external drives
more parallel port H. until more recently, when USB ports are used, a printer was
than one always hooked to this
bits data
USB I. a flash memory keychain device can be hooked into this
at one
time SCSI J. monitor plug-in
video port K. a mouse uses this transmit one bits data

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