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Computer Systems

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Total cards: 24•Content version: v4•Public deck•Updated: 8/1/2026

Card preview (24)

#1
Front (Question)

What is software?

Back (Answer)

Programs that the computer system runs

#2
Front (Question)

What is hardware?

Back (Answer)

The physical components that make up the computer

#3
Front (Question)

What is the function of system software?

Back (Answer)

system software manages the computer system resources and acts as a platform to run application software

#4
Front (Question)

What is the function of the application software?

Back (Answer)

application software is software that performs end-user tasks

#5
Front (Question)

What is the function of the operating system?

Back (Answer)

A collection of programs that manage and control the computer. Connects the hardware with the software

#6
Front (Question)

What are the main roles of the OS?

Back (Answer)

• oranising the CPU and it’s processing tasks • memory managment and allocation • communicating with input/output (I/O) devices • providing a platform for applications to run on • managing security security and user accounts

#7
Front (Question)

Describe what a processing manager does?

Back (Answer)

It allocates the times each program has with the CPU, it allows multi tasking

#8
Front (Question)

Describe what a memory manager does?

Back (Answer)

Paging - allocation of memory, what goes in the RAM or secondary storage

#9
Front (Question)

Describe what a device driver does?

Back (Answer)

Allows instructions to be exchanged within peripherals (input output devices) , the have different languages.

#10
Front (Question)

Describe what a security manager does?

Back (Answer)

Individual users can be created and deleted, Access levels to users Passwords and usernames

#11
Front (Question)

What is the function of the utility systems?

Back (Answer)

Helps to maintain the systems Utility programs help maintain or configure a computer

#12
Front (Question)

What does the utility system software include?

Back (Answer)

🟣encryption (security) 🟣defragmentation 🟣virus scanner 🟣back ups 🟣compression

#13
Front (Question)

Describe defragmentation

Back (Answer)

Takes fragmented files in the hard drives and puts them together, so that when the file is needed time won’t be wasted finding it. (Decreases time read/write head spends moving back and forth across the disk))

#14
Front (Question)

Describe the function of back ups

Back (Answer)

Made to high capacity secondary storage devices or the cloud, in case data is lost to hacker

#15
Front (Question)

Describe the control unit

Back (Answer)

It fetches , decides and executes instructions Controls hardware and moves data around the computer

#16
Front (Question)

Describe the ALU

Back (Answer)

The arithmetic logic unit does arithmetic and logical calculations

#17
Front (Question)

Describe the registers

Back (Answer)

Small amounts of High speed memory contained within the CPU. PC MAR MDR CIR

#18
Front (Question)

Cache

Back (Answer)

Small amount of high speed RAM. Temporarily holds data and instructions that the processor is likely to reuse

#19
Front (Question)

Clock

Back (Answer)

Co- ordinates all of the computer components by sending out regular electrical pulses which synchronises all the components. The frequency is known as the clock speed

#20
Front (Question)

What is the Von Neuman Architecture?

Back (Answer)

Data and instructions are stored together and have memory addresses

#21
Front (Question)

How does clock speed affect CPU performance

Back (Answer)

The more pulses per second , the more FED cycles can be performed. This could lead to over heating tho

#22
Front (Question)

How does cache size affects CPU performance?

Back (Answer)

The larger the chance is , the less time a processor has to wait for instructions to be fetched

#23
Front (Question)

How does the number of cores affect the CPU performance?

Back (Answer)

Then more instructions can process in a given space of time, but some instructions rely on the previous so is not proportional to speed.

#24
Front (Question)

The fetch decode execute cycle

Back (Answer)

🟣the CU reads the memory address of the next instruction 🟣this instruction is copied to the registers 🟣the address is incremented by 1 🟣the instruction is decoded by the CU 🟣the instruction is performed Eg: ALU performing a calculation, data being stored into memory