Sheet 1

I. What is the difference between Cache memory and Main memory?

II. What are the four main types of the system software?

III. What types of transfers must a computer’s interconnection structure (e.g., bus)
support?

IV. Illustrate the instruction cycle.

V. What is an interrupt?

VI. Choose the correct answer

1. What characteristic of memory makes it not suitable for permanent storage?
i. Too slow iii. Unreliable
ii. Volatile iv. Nonvolatile
2. The physical components of a computer are called
i. Software I ii. CPU
ii. Transistors iv. Hardware
3. The ___ of a computer consists of a collection of programs whose purpose is
to make more effective use of the computer.
i. Instruction set iii. Software
ii. Program code iv. Application
4. ___ performs the calculations on the input data.
i. Control unit iii. Instruction set
ii. Registers iv. Arithmetic logic unit (ALU)
5. A device through which the computer is fed information.
i. Output device iii. Digital device
ii. Input device iv. Analogue device
6. Devices which are used to receive data from CPU are classified as
i. Input/Output devices iii. Output devices
ii. Input devices iv. Digital devices
7. Which of the following is correct about memory and storage?
i. Memory is temporary, Storage is temporary
ii. Memory is temporary, Storage is permanent
iii. Memory is permanent, Storage is temporary
iv. Memory is slow, Storage is Fast
8. Components that provide internal storage to the CPU are ______
i. Registers iii. Program Counters
ii. Controllers iv. Internal chips
9. Which of the following is used to hold running program instructions?
i. Registers iii. Virtual memory
 ii. Secondary memory iv. Primary memory
10. Which of the following is non-volatile storage?
i. Backup iii. Secondary
ii. Primary iv. Cache
11. _________ is the sequence of operations performed by CPU in processing an
instruction.
i. Execute cycle iii. Decode
ii. Fetch cycle iv. Instruction cycle
12. _________ is the step during which a new instruction is read from the
memory.
i. Fetch iii. Execute
ii. Decode iv. None of these
13. _________ register keeps tracks of the instructions stored in program stored in
memory.
i. AR (Address Register) iii. XR (Index Register)
ii. PC (Program Counter) iv. AC (Accumulator)
14. A group of bits that tell the computer to perform a specific operation is known
as
i. Instruction code iii. Micro-operation
ii. Accumulator iv. Register
15. The memory unit that communicates directly with the CPU is called the
i. Main memory iiii. Secondary memory
ii. Shared memory iv. Auxiliary memory
16. A byte is a group of 16 bits.
i. True ii. False
17. The load instruction is mostly used to designate a transfer from memory to a
processor register known as________.
i. Accumulator iii. Instruction Register
ii. Program counter iv. Memory address Register
18. The register that holds an address for the memory unit is usually called a ___.
i. Memory address register (MAR) iii. Accumulator (AC)
ii. Program counter (PC) iv. Address bus
19. Which register example holds the address of the current instruction being
processed?
i. Program Counter iii. Instruction Register.
ii. Control Unit iv. Arithmetic Logic Unit.
20. Main Memory holds data and instructions being processed by the computer
and is this memory is directly accessible by the CPU.
i. True ii. False
21. Where is the decoded instruction stored?
i. Registers iii. MAR
ii. PC iv. IR
22. The ALU gives the output of operations and the output is stored in the ________
i. Primary Memory iii. Secondary memory
ii. Registers iv. Output Unit
 23. The processing required for a single instruction is called a(n) __________
cycle.
i. execute iii. fetch
ii. instruction iv. Packet
24. ___ is a register that temporarily stores the data that is to be written in the
memory or the data received from the memory.
___ identifies the address of memory location from where the data or
instruction is to be accessed or where the data is to be stored.
i. Memory Address Register, Instruction Register
ii. Memory Buffer Register, Memory Address Register
iii. Memory Address Register, Memory Buffer Register
iv. Instruction Register, Memory Address Register
25. An interface that provides I/O transfer of data directly to and from the
memory unit and peripheral is termed as
i. DDA iii. Serial interface
ii. BR iv. DMA
26. While CPU is executing a program, an interrupt exists then it
i. follows the next instruction in the program
ii. jumps to instruction in other registers
iii. breaks the normal sequence of execution of instructions
iv. stops executing the program
27. An interrupt breaks the execution of instructions and diverts its execution to
i. Interrupt service routine iii. Counter word register
ii. Execution unit iv. Control unit
28. The method of synchronizing the processor with the I/O device in which the
device sends a signal when it is ready is
i. Exceptions iii. Signal handling
ii. Interrupts iv. DMA
29. ________ are responsible for suspending the user program and then resuming
it at the same point.
i. the processor and interrupt service routine
ii. the processor
iii. the operating system
iv. the processor and the operating system
30. In _______ the processor issues an I/O command on behalf of a process,
continues to execute subsequent instructions and interrupted by the I/O
module when the latter has completed its work.
i. Programmed I/O iii. Interrupt driven I/O
ii. Direct Memory Access iv. Virtual Memory Access

31. A ………………. module controls the exchange of data between main

memory and an I/O module.
i. Programmed I/O iii. Interrupt driven I/O
ii. Direct Memory Access iv. Virtual Memory Access
VII. The hypothetical machine has both instructions and data of 16 bits long. The
instruction format provides 4 bits for the opcode. It has also the following
instructions:
0001 = Load AC from memory
0010 = Store AC to memory
0101 = Add to AC from memory
0011 = Load AC from I/O
0110 = Store AC to I/O
Show the program execution for the following program:

1. Load AC from device 5.

2. Add contents of memory location 940.
3. Store AC to device 6.
Assume that the next value retrieved from device 5 is 3 and that location 940
contains a value of 2.

VIII. What is the difference between a multiprocessor and a multicore system?

IX. What are the three modes of I/O data transfer?

X. What are the advantages of SMP?

XI. What is SMP?