Computer Science Descriptions

Words/terms Definitions
HD High Definition
HDR High Dynamic Range
ASCII American Standard Code for
Information Interchange
IDE Integrated Developer Environment
URL Uniform Resource Locator
RLE Run Length Encoding
Compressions Lossy Compressions
Loss Less Compressions
MAC address Madia Access Control address
HTML Hyper Text Markup Language
IP Address Internet Protocol
Kbps Kilobits per second (103 ¿
Mbps Megabits per second (106)
Gbps Gigabits per second (109)
1 Byte 8 bits
Synchronous data transmission Data are being synchronized by clock
signal continuously in order
Asynchronous data transmission Data are being packed int packages
that are sent randomly
USB Universal Serial Bus
PCI Parallel Communication Interface
SCI Serial Communication Interface
HTTP (not encrypted) Hyper Text Transfer Protocol
HTTPS (encrypted) Hyper Text Transfer Protocol Secure
FTP File Transfer Protocol
SMTP Simple Mail Transfer Protocol
POP Post Office Protocol
TCP Transmission Control Protocol
DDE Direct Data Entry
Pixels The smallest unit of an image or a
display
Resolution Number of pixels
EAN13 International/European Article
Number 13
LCD Liquid Crystal Display
LED Light Emitting Diode
Server Service provided device
DNS Domain Name Server
Interface A device or program that allows the
user to communicate with a computer
PTR Positive Infrared Ray
PC (Program Counter) Holds the memory address of the next
instruction to be fetched from primary
memory
CU (Control Unit) Performs the task of controlling
functions of the computer
- Monitors and gives proper
instruction to all parts of
computer
ALU (Arithmetic-Logic Unit) Carries out arithmetic-logic/simple
addition, subtraction, multiplication
and logic operations (OR, AND gates)
ACC (Accumulator) - Holds the data being processed
and results of processing
- Intermediate storage for
arithmetic and logic data in CPU
CIR (Current Instruction Register) Holds the instruction that is currently
being decoded and executed
IAS Immediate Access Store
Buffer A temporary storage we use when a
component is feeding data to another
Hardware Physical components which build a
computer
Software Series of instructions to operate the
hardware components
Arithmetic Operations involving mathematical
operations such as +, -, x, ÷
Logical Operations involving logic gates
Sampling resolution The number of bits used to represent
 sound amplitude
Bandwidth The maximum rate of transfer of data
across a network (Kbps / Mbps)
Bit depth The number of bits used to represent
the smallest unit in sound file
Color depth The number of bits used to represent
the colors of pixel
Image resolution The number of pixels in the X-Y
direction of an image
RLE (Run Length Encoding) A lossless file compression technique
used to reduce the size of text and
photo files
Packet Switching A method of data transmission in
which message is broken up into
number of packets
Types Of Data Transmission

1. Serial
 The process of sending data in a specific order, one bit after
another
 Reliable because the data bit is only sent after the previous one
has been safely received.
 Suitable for long-distance data transmission, because it’s simple
and low cost
 Speed is slow

2. Parallel
 The process of sending multiple data bits at the same time
randomly.
 Data are sent much faster than Serial transmission
 Can be sent through short distance only (less than 10m)
 It can be costly for more wires, data skewing and more errors
 Example: PC communicating with printer
 Suitable for sending large volume of data in a shorter time

3. Simplex (one-way transmission)

 Unidirectional (data flows in ONE direction)
 Examples: Keyboard, mouse and radio
 Uses one whole channel of bandwidth

4. Half-Duplex (two-way transmission but not simultaneous)

 Bidirectional (data flows in TWO directions, but only one
direction at a time)
 Causes communication delays
 Examples: Walkie talkie, USB
 Uses one whole channel of bandwidth
 5. Duplex (two-way simultaneous transmission)
 Bidirectional (data flows in TWO directions, sends and receives data
at the same time)
 The fastest communication mode between devices
 Needs a dedicated path to ensure smooth activities
 Uses two channels of bandwidth
 Examples: telephone

7. Synchronous (duplex transmission)

 Data are being synchronized by the clock signal continuously in
order
 Sends data blocks instead of characters, so it’s fast
 Can be costly
 CPU (Central Processing Unit), RAM & network protocols use
synchronous transmission
 Example: Telephone conversation, video conferencing

8. Asynchronous (half-duplex transmission)

 Data are sent in bytes or characters, that uses start bit (binary 0)
and end bit (binary 1) to mark the beginning and ending of a
character
 Binary 0  arrival of data characters
 Binary 1  inactivity
 With no clock signals, asynchronous communication doesn’t send
and receive data at a steady pace
 Best for low-speed transmissions
 Can always compress data to boost speed
 E.g., Sending emails, texts, keyboards
 Types of Compressions
We use compression algorithm to reduce the amount of space the
files take up.
1. Lossless
2. Lossy
3. RLE (Run Length Encoding)
4. Huffman coding

Lossless Compression
 Reducing the size of files but when uncompressed, all the
information is restored and every bit of data in the file remains
 No loss of information or quality
 Saves less space
 Can recreate the original data from the compressed data
 E.g., Huffman coding, Run Length Encoding

Lossy Compression
 Compresses a file by permanently deleting certain information,
especially the unnecessary data
 Some loss of information or quality
 Saves you more space
 Affects image quality
 Cannot recreate the original data from the compressed data
 E.g., JPEG, MP3, MP4
Translators

Compiler
 Takes a program (source code) as a whole
 Convert high-level programming language to machine code
(all at once before the program runs)
 Occupies more memory
 Run time of the program is longer
 More intelligent
 Developer can run or troubleshoot the program ONLY when the
compilation ends
 Example: Java, C++, C#

Interpreter
 Take single lines of source code one by one
 Convert high-level programming language to machine code
(one by one, during the execution)
 Easy to use (user-friendly)
 Real-time translation
 Can get errors whilst running
 Example: Perl, Ruby, PHP

Assembler
 Low-level programing language to machine code
What is USB?
o A user-friendly device that allows the transferring of data between a host
device (computer) and peripheral devices (e.g. mouse, printers, keyboard,
data storage devices) [Plug and play]
o Designed for:
- faster transfer rates
- easy installation
- higher quality cabling
o Allows hot swapping, the USB is able to be removed or replaced without
interrupting the system
o Backward compatible
o USB 2.0  half duplex  480 Mbps  4 pins
- Power supply = Pine 1 & 4
- Data transfer = Pin 2 & 3
o USB 3.0  duplex  500 Mbps/5 Gbps  9 pins
o Transfer both data and power
o Industrial Standard Port

Name of Denary Based Name of memory size Number of bytes

memory size Prefix
Kilo Kibibyte (KiB) 2 (1024)
3 10
10
Mega Mebibyte (MiB) 2 (1048576)
6 20
10
Giga Gibibyte (GiB) 2 (1073741824)
9 30
10
Tera Tebibyte (TiB)
12 40
10 2
Peta
15
Pebibyte (PiB)
50
10 2
Exa Exbibyte (EiB)
18 60
10 2
Yota
21
10
Zeta
24
10
Error Checking Methods
 Parity Check (Even Parity & Odd Parity)
- Disadvantage: The check cannot detect when the bits are swapped
 Checksum
- Calculation is done by using an agreed algorithm
- After receiving the data, receiver re-calculates the check sum
- The check sum and recalculates check sum are compared, if they are the
same, then no transmission errors; otherwise, a request is made to re-sent
the data block
 Echo Check
1. Sender sends package
2. Receiver echo(resends) the received package to the sender
3. Sender compares two packages
 ARQ (Automatic Repeat Request)
- Acknowledgement (positive/negative)
- Timeout, for when an acknowledgement is not received from the receiver
- If no error detected, a positive acknowledgement is sent (vice versa with
negative acknowledgement)
- If no acknowledgement received during the timeout, the data will be
automatically resent until a positive acknowledgement is received
 Check Digit
- EAN13: European Article Number 13
1. Write down 1 and 3 for under every digit number (right to left but
skip the last check digit number, so start with 3)
2. Multiply the given digits with the 1s or 3s below it
3. Sum all the numbers
4. Divide by 10 (MOD 10)
5. Subtract the remainder from 10
6. Compare with the last digit
- Modulo 10
1. Write down left to right starting with 1 under every digit
2. Multiply the given digits with the 1, 2, 3s
3. Result MOD 10
 Computer Architecture
Operating System
- Registers
- Computer Bus

Features of an Operating System

The OS manages all the applications and programs in our computer. It allows
application to interact with a computer’s hardware.
Example: Windows, Android, iOS, MacOS

1. Memory Management
 OS manages data to be stored in the primary storage (RAM)
 Moves data from HDD/SSD to RAM during the execution of a program
temporarily
 Keep tracks of memory locations so that the apps we have opened at
the same time won’t be stored in the same memory location or else
data would be lost, security issues or computer could even crash

2. Hardware Management
 Communicates with all output and input peripheral devices using
device drivers
 The device driver takes data from files and translate it into a format the
output/input device can understand
 Prioritize hardware resource in order to be used and released when
required
 Manages output/input devices with queues and buffers
 4. File Management
 Manages the location, deletion, copy, move and storage of files in an
organized way
 Include file directory structure which protects the files from unauthorized
access
 Maintaing access control mechanisms
 Allowing file locations to be read from HDD/SSD and loading it into the
memory

3. Multitasking
 Allows the computer to execute more than one task
 Controls the specific time limit for the multitasking processes to operate so
that the programs don’t clash with each other
 Accessing the programs to be interrupted anytime while running
 Sometimes there may be data communication problems
 While multitasking, the OS operates with the virtual memory, main memory
and HDD/SSD

Bus
Buses are used to send control signals and data between the processor and other
components

1. Address Bus (unidirectional)

 Carries memory addresses from processor to primary storages or input/output
devices
2. Control Bus (unidirectional)
 Carries control signals and clock’s pulses from the processor to other
components
3. Data Bus (bidirectional)
 Carries data between the processor to other components
Examples: USB, HDMI (High-Definition Media Interface), VGA (Video Graphic Array), PCI
(Peripheral Component Interconnect)/Expansion slot
What is MAR?
 Also known as Memory Address Register
 Holds the address of the current instruction that is being fetched
from memory by Address Bus
 Address in memory to which data is transferred

What is MDR?
 Also known as Memory Data Register
 Holds the contents found at address in the MAR
 Data which is to be transferred to primary memory

What are the Primary Storages?

o Also known as the main memory, that holds data, programs and
instructions that are currently in use
o Located on the motherboard

There are 4 types of primary storages:

 Read Only Memory (ROM)  Non-volatile/ read only
 Random Access Memory (RAM)  Volatile/ read and write
 Flash memory
 Cache memory

Flash Memory
 Can be written and over-written
 Non-volatile, without power supplied, flash memory still contains
its data
 Also used as an external Secondary Storage
E.g., USB memory sticks, solid state drives
Cache Memory
 A type of high-speed volatile RAM, which is built into the
processor
 Data can be transfer to and from cache memory more quickly
than RAM
 Used to temporarily hold data and instructions that the user will
reuse
 Faster processing which doesn’t need to wait for the data and
instructions to be fetched from RAM
 The more cache memory a device has, the faster it runs
 More expensive than RAM
 There are Level 1 and Level 2 cache

Computer Interrupts
 A signal or response sent to the microprocessor when a program that
needs immediate attention
 It temporarily stops the current process or a service
 Used by both hardware and software to indicate any situation needs
required attention
 Allows the computer to multi-task, especially in real-time computing

Advantages
 A way of the computer multitasking, running over other
software/programs
 Can be used to break an infinity loop
 Gives user better control of the computer
Hardware interrupts
o An electronic signal from an external device that indicates that the OC
needs attention
o E.g.) Moving mouse or clicking keyboard keys
o The processor must stop to read where the mouse is pointing at or the
keystroke

Software interrupts
 Occurs when an application program terminates or requests services
form OS
 The processor requests software interrupts when functions like calls
are being made

Buffers
 Temporary storages we use when one component feeds data to
another, but the speeds are not the same
 Acts as intermediate storage
 Useful when there’s a mismatch between the data generation and data
processing rates
 Suffers from overflow & underflow
 Cache memory is smaller than buffers BUT reads and write faster
 Used when an application or software produces data faster/slower than
the one consuming the data
 Clock speed
 The speed at which the CPU can carry out instructions
 CPU can ONLY carry out one instruction at a time
 With every tick, the CPU fetches and executes one
instruction
 If you increase the clock speed, CPU can fetch & execute
faster
 Errors may occur
 Data clash if too fast
 Has maximum clock speed (rated clock speed) (over-
clocking)
 All system has clocks that control the speed of each fetch &
execute system

 File size of an image calculation:

Image resolution (pixels) x color depth (bits)

 Size of an audio file calculation:

Sample rate (Hz) x sample resolution (bits) x length of sample/time

(seconds)
Fetch (Decode) Execute System
The cycle of how computer (CPU) process instructions.
1. The memory address in the program counter will be copied into MAR by
Address Bus
2. Then the PC holds the memory address of the next instruction to be fetched
from the main memory
3. The data/contents found in the memory address that is held by MAR is held in
MDR sent by the Data Bus
4. The CIR (current instruction register) holds the instructions that is currently
being decoded and executed by CPU (Executing & decoding happens in the CIR)
5. ACC is used by ALU to hold the data being processed and the results of the
calculations
6. Cycle repeats