Hardware and Communication

The electronical/ physical components of a computer system

The programs, routines and procedures that run on a computer system

Programs need to be resident in memory to be executed. It processes by fetching the machine code instructions in sequence from main memory and executing them one at a time in the processor.

Programs, data and instructions are stored in on single store.

The main chip on the motherboard. It consists of registers, ALU and control unit. CPU fetches instructions from memory in sequence, decodes and executes it.

Holds the programs currently being run, data being processed and is directly addressable by the processor. Volatile

Holds recently used data and instructions for quickly access at a later time.

Area of microprocessor that contains cache memory.

Area of very fast memory between RAM and hard drive

Area of very fast memory between CPU and main memory (sometimes referred to as L2 or L3 cache)

File containing recently accessed web pages

Data and instructions are fixed onto the ROM chip during manufacture. It s permanent, cannot be deleted or amended.

(Electronically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory) A type of read only memory whose contents can be erased or reprogrammed using pulsed voltage.

A unit of very small but fast memory on the processor used to temporarily store data/ control information.

A piece of equipment that can be attached to the CPU

Memory that is not directly addressable by the CPU but uses I/O channels

The frequency at which the clock pulse occurs

A group of bits that can be addressed, transferred and manipulated as a single unit.