Computer Systems

A two-state system, where only 1 or 0 can be used

Our number system that uses 10 digits

A binary digit

Method a computer uses to store real numbers

Two parts of a floating point representation number

Standard code that all computer systems use to represent text

ASCII codes that are used to perform actions rather than display a character e.g. delete and tab etc.

ASCII codes that are used to display characters on the screen e.g. A, ! etc.

A method of representing graphics that stores information on each individual pixel

A method of representing graphics that stores shapes as list of attributes e.g. coordinates of corners, line thickness, fill colour etc.

Can be resized without loss of quality and have a smaller file size than bit mapped graphics

Can be edited at pixel level and can display more realistic images than vector graphics

The part of the computer system that handles the instructions used to ensure that hardware and software respond as expected

Part of the processor that performs calculations and makes decisions

Referred to as Clock Speed and is measured in Megahertz (MHz) or Gigahertz (GHz).

Part of the processor that temporarily stores data

Part of the processor that fetches and executes instructions

Consists of RAM (Random Access Memory) and ROM (Read Only Memory)

Volatile memory that stores the programs and data currently being used

Non-volatile memory

Collection of wires used to transmit information in a computer system

Main memory consists of millions of these

Each memory location has a unique address

A uni-directional bus that holds the address of the memory location being accessed