DHA SUFFA UNIVERSITY

Department of Management Sciences

Sessional Assignment 01–FALL 2019

COURSE TITLE: Introduction to Computing

COURSE CODE: MS 1301

COURSE INSTRUCTOR: Rooh Ul Amin Shaikh

Class/Section: BBA 1A/1B

Deadline: 10 Nov 2019

Max Marks: 05

Student Names: Areeba Waqar Student IDs: bba 191078

Sariya Ahmed bba 191017
Hafsa Khalid bba 191053

Instructions for Submission

1. Use the first page as the front cover of your submission
2. The assignment should be submitted on LMS. Therefore, deadline needs to be strictly followed. After the
deadline has passed, you will not be allowed to submit any assignment on LMS.
3. No hand-written assignment will be accepted. All work must be done on MS Word [Font size: Time New
Roman, Pt 11].
4. Assignment must be done in a Group of 3 students maximum and should be an original work. If
plagiarized work is found (i.e., copying from other’s work, book or internet resources without
referencing), it will be marked zero.
5. You can use the following books as a reading guide to help you prepare answers to the following
questions.

i. Understanding Computers: Today And Tomorrow, D. Morley & Charles S. Parker

ii. B. Williams & S. Sawyer, “Using Information Technology”, McGraw-Hill.

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 Short Answer Questions

1. Describe some ways information technology can be used to help people find jobs and to help jobs find people?

2. What is meant by Cloud Computing?

3. What is the difference between a System Software and Application Software?

4. What is Information Technology, and How does it affect education, health, money, government, and careers?
Discuss in detail.

5. What are the distinguishing features of a Computer Technology and Communications Technology?

6. What is the meaning of the term Cyberspace?

7. What makes email distinctive from earlier technologies?

8. What’s the difference between Net, Web and Cyberspace?

9. Discuss various types of Computers?

10. What kind of services can we get from a mainframe computer?

11. Discuss some possible uses of work stations.

12. How does microcomputer differ from a work station?

13. Discuss the five basic operations of a computer? And what order does it follow to perform these operations?

14. What is meant by Pervasive Computing? Elaborate.

15. What are the main components located inside a system unit? Describe each one of these in short.

16. What kind of output hardware are standard with a PC? Discuss each briefly.

17. What is the purpose of a modem?

18. What are the three ways computers have developed?

19. Briefly discuss some recent developments in Communications technology?

20. Elaborate the difference between DATA and INFORMATION?

21. What are embedded computers? Where can one find their use?

22. What are the clients and servers? What do you understand by Thin Client and Midrange Servers?

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23. What are the benefits and risks of a computer oriented society?

24. What do you understand by the term Machine Language?

25. What is the function of Computer’s Power Supply?

26. Why is motherboard important? What are the various types of processor chips? List some known manufacturers
of microprocessor chips and their ratings?

27. How a system clock works in a computer? And How is its speed measured?

28. What is word size? What word sizes are now normally available for a CPU and RAM Architecture?

29. Describe the working of a CPU and memory?

30. What are various parts of a CPU and how do they work in coordination?

CPU consists of circuitry and components integrated into a chip. The main components of a CPU are the control unit,
arithmetic/logical unit, registers and the internal cache memory. These components work together to carry out the
four main functions of a CPU which are to:
1. Fetch
2. Decode
3. Execute
4. Store
The arithmetic/logical unit performs logical calculations and operations life addition, subtraction etc. The control unit
is in charge of the entire process and it instructs ALU and registers what to do. Registers hold the results of processing
and the data and instruction are stored in the internal cache memory.
31. Briefly discuss some important buses found inside the system unit?
Data bus: Helps the data to move between the RAM and the microprocessor CPU.
Address Bus: Holds the address of all the data in the memory.
Control Bus: Used by the CPU to communicate with the devices within the computer through circuits or cables.
32. Distinguish between four principal types of memory chips?

Random Access Memory (RAM): This is the computers main memory and it stores the essential parts of the operating
system, programs and data that the computer is currently using. RAM is volatile which means the data is lost as soon
as the computer is rebooted.
Read-only Memory (ROM): These are nonvolatile chips that store data and programs permanently. You cannot write
over or erase content, data and programs when you shut off the computer.
Registers: This is the fastest type of memory built into the CPU. Registers store data and intermediary results
temporarily during processing.
Flash Memory: It consists of nonvolatile memory chips that can be used or storage by the computer or the user.

33. Discuss various types of RAMS? Explain the difference between SIMM and DIMM?

Static RAM (SRAM): A volatile memory which requires a constant power flow in order to function.
Dynamic RAM (DRAM): A volatile memory that requires a periodic refresh of power in order to functions.
Synchronous RAM (SDRAM): Built to synchronize itself with the computers system clock in order to run more
smoothly and sync with the computers speed.
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The main differences between SIMM and DIMM are that SIMM can have a maximum 32-bit channel for data transfer
whereas DIMM support 64-bit channel, and SIMM modules can store at maximum 64 bits, whereas DIMM offer up
to 1 GB.

34. How Cache Memory works? What are its various levels, their speed and sizes?
Cache memory is used to speed up processing by storing the data and instructions that may be needed next. When
cache memory is full and the CPU calls for additional data or new instructions, the system overwrites as much data
in cache memory as needed to make space for the new data. The various level numbers of cache memory indicate
the order in which the various caches are accessed when needed. Level 1 > Level 2 > Level 3.
More cache memory mean faster processing.

35. Distinguish between Serial, Parallel, and SCSI ports?

A serial port transfers information and data bit by bit. A parallel port sends or receives information/data altogether as
a byte (8 bits) simultaneously by using more than one wire. This makes a parallel port faster than a serial port. A SCSI
port is used to connect and transfer data and information between computers and peripheral devices.

36. Discuss some specialized expansion ports?

PCI Express: This type of expansion port is the best type to have in a PC as it communicates with the motherboard
and therefore the microprocessor both quickly and efficiently.
PCI: The most common type of expansion port found in a PC.
AGP: This type of expansion port was designed to deal the graphic adapters and is now only found in older PC’s.
ISA: This is the oldest form of an expansion port and is only compatible with older expansion cards.

37. What are the features of Storage Devices?

The main features of storage devices are its volatility, portability and accessibility. Storage devices are non-volatile
which means data is stored permanently. Storage devices are portable which means the storage media can be carried
from one place to another e.g. USB, hard drive, DVD disc etc. Lastly, there are two ways data can be accessed on a
storage device, random access and sequential access. Random access is when data is retrieved directly from any
location in the storage medium. Sequential access is when the data can only be retrieved in order in which it was
physically stored on the storage medium.

38. What are the various components of a Hard-Drive? How does a hard drive work? Explain via suitable diagrams.

A hard drive is used to store most program and data and it can be internal or external. The various components of a
hard drive include:
1. Mounting shaft: Spins the hard disks at a speed of several thousand revolutions per second when the computer
is turned on.
2. Read/write heads: One for each surface and it moves in and out over the disks together.
3. Sealed drives: The mechanism and disks are sealed in here to keep them free from contamination.
4. Hard disks: There are usually several hard disk surfaces on which data is stored. Most hard drives store data
on both sides of each disk.
5. Access mechanism: Moves the read/write heads in and out to access required data.

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The hard disks are divided into track, sectors, clusters and cylinders. The read/write heads move over specific tracks
to access the required data.

39. How a machine cycle is executed by a CPU? Discuss its various steps

Step 1, Fetch: The instructions are fetched from the cache or RAM.
Sep 2, Decode: The instructions are then decoded into a language that the ALU or FPU can understand.
Step 3, Execute: Instructions are carried out
Step 4, Store: Data/results are stored in registers or RAM.

40. What are the advantages of flash memory cells over Optical and Magnetic Drives?

41. What is the access time of a Hard Drive? What is the purpose Hard Disk Caching?

The hard disk access time is the total time that it takes for a hard drive to read or write data. Hard disk caching is the
memory being used in conjunction with a magnetic hard drive to improve its system performance.

42. How data is represented on optical discs?

43. What coding systems are used to represent data and instructions for a computer system? Discuss them briefly.

1. Extended ASCII (American standard code for information interchange) and EBCDIC (Extended binary-
coded decimal interchange code): Represent each character as a unique combination of 8-bits. One group of
8-bits allows 256 unique combinations. ASCII is used for PC’s and EBCDIC is used primarily for mainframe.
2. Unicode: An international coding standard that represents text based data written in any ancient or modern
language. It can represent up to 1 million characters which is more than enough to represent all the worlds
written languages as well as thousands of mathematical and technical symbols.

44. What are the functions of an Operating System?

It manages all other programs in a computer, provides and performs services for application software and it acts as a
communication bridge (interface) between the user and the computer hardware.

45. Discuss various types of Operating Systems in use today for personal computers and servers?

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