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Computer Science : Component 1 & 2 (Section 1 : Components Of A…
Computer Science : Component 1 & 2
Section 1
: Components Of A Computer System
Computer Systems
Computer Components
Power supply : supplies power to the motherboard, optical and hard drives, and other hardware.
Case cooling fan : extracts hot air from the computer case.
CPU heat sink and cooling fan : keeps the CPU at a steady temperature because they can get very hot.
CPU : the most important component. The CPU does all of the processing.
THE CPU
Von Neumann architecture:
describes a system where the CPU runs programs stored in memory. Programs consist of instructions and data which are stored in memory addresses.
Control Unit:
The program counter hold the memory ADDRESS of the instruction for each cycle
The memory Address register:
holds any memory ADDRESS about to be used by the CPU. The address might point to DATA or a CPU instruction.
The memory data register:
Holds the actual data or instruction. This may have been fetched from memory, or be waiting to be written to memory.
Computational Thinking
Abstraction: Picking out the important bits of information, from the problem, ignoring the specific details that don't matter. Will help the programmer focus on the important bits.
Algorithmic Thinking: A logical way of getting from the problem to the solution. If the steps you take to solve a problem follow an algorithm then they can be reused and adapted to solve similar problems in the future.
Decomposition: Breaking a complex problem down into smaller problems and solving each one individually
Binary
Binary only uses two different digits, zero and 1. This is called Base-2.
Counting in binary is similar to counting in denary, but the place values from right to left double each time. e.g 8,4,2,1 Rather than by 10. e.g 1000,100,10,1
Basic Information On Computers And Embedded Systems
Computers were created to help process data and complete tasks more efficiently than humans
A computer is a machine that processes data
Virtual Memory:
Virtual memory is secondary storage which is used as extra RAM, computers have a limited amount of RAM, as applications are opened, RAM fills with data. Virtual memory may be needed if too many applications are opened at once or if a particular memory sensitive application is being used.
An embedded system is a computer that is built into another device. Embedded systems are often used as control systems - they monitor and control machinery in order to achieve a desired result. They are usually easier to design because they are dedicated to a single task. They are also cheaper to produce and are more efficient at doing their task than a general purpose computer.