Week 3 Tutorial 2 Questions

Tech Guide 1


Question One. What is computer hardware and what are the major hardware components?

Hardware is the physical equipment used for the input, output and storage activities of a computer system. Its components include a CPU (central processing unit), primary and secondary storage, input and output technologies as well as communication technologies.

Question Two. What is Moore's Law and what does it mean in relation to computers?

Moore'e Law stated that microprocessor complexity would double every two years. In relation to computers this means that every 2 years the speed of a computer processor would increase.


Question Three. In basic terms, describe how a microprocessor functions.

A microprocessor or CPU (central processing unit) functions by interpreting program instructions and processing data.

Question Four. What factors determine the speed of the microprocessor?

microprocessor speed was predicted by Moore to double around every two years. This was such because of the increase in miniturisation of transistors, the compact and more efficient nature of the physical layout of a chip, the use of materials that improve conductivity of electricity and by targeting the amount of basic instructions programmed into the chip.


Question Five. What are the four main types of primary storage?

Registers

RAM

ROM

Cache Memory

Question Six. What are the main types of secondary storage?

Magnetic tape

Magnetic Disks

Thumb drives/USB drives

Hard Drives

optical storage devices



Question Seven. How Does Primary storage differ from Secondary storage in terms of speed, cost and capacity?

Primary storage is faster because it is closer to or intergrated into the CPU; it is also more expensive and has a smaller capacity. Secondary storage is cheaper and larger however because it connects to the CPU externally.

Question Eight. What are enterprise storage systems?

Enterprise storage systems an independent, external system with intelligence that includes two or more storage devices. e.g. storage area network.

Question Nine. Distinguish between human data input devices and source data automation.

human data-entry devices include keyboards, mouse, trakball, joystick, touchscreen, stylus and voice recognition while source data automation devices are input devices with little human intervention.