The Need For RAM

The Need For RAM

1. State what the initials RAM stand for:

Random Access Memory

2. Explain why this type of memory is called ‘random access’ and how this affects the
speed at which data can be retrieved from it.

You can read data that is stored in RAM and you can change/write data stored in RAM at any point-randomly without needing to start at the first memory location.

3. What is the main function of RAM in a computer?

It saves data by randomly saving it somewhere on the RAM and then clearing the space. This makes it able to save information quickly.

4. (a) In what form is data saved in RAM?

It is saved in binary
(b) How much data can be saved in each memory location?
It is in 1 byte or 1 bit

You can think of a bus as a highway on which data travels within a computer. When used in reference to personal computers, the term bus usually refers to internal bus. This is a bus that connects all the internal computer components to the CPU and main memory.

ROM

Read-only memory (ROM) is a class of storage medium used in computers and other electronic devices.
Short for Read-Only Memory, ROM is a type of "built-in" memory that is used with computers and other electronic devices. As the name indicates, data stored in ROM may only be read; it is either modified with extreme difficulty or not at all.

Enhancement day- My handout

Components in a computer:

Hard Drive

The hard drive’s job is to store everything you keep on your computer. Including documents, pictures, music, videos and even programs. Hard drives are very important and need to be kept safe. This is why most people have a backup system which is where they get another hard drive and copy all important files onto that. If a hard drive is damaged, everything is lost.

CPU/Processor

CPU stands for Central Processing Unit, which is also called a processor. It is located inside the computer case on the motherboard and its job is to carry out commands. Whenever you press a key, click the mouse or start and application you are sending instructions to the CPU. As the CPU carries put so many instructions so quickly it heats up. To make sure the CPU does not over heat, on top of it is a heat sink. This heat sink absorbs the heat from the CPU. A processor's speed is measured in megahertz (MHz), or millions of instructions per second; and gigahertz (GHz), or billions of instructions per second.

Motherboard

The motherboard is a computers main circuit board. It is a thin plate that holds the CPU, memory, connectors for the hard drive and optical drives, expansion cards to control the video and audio and connections to your computer ports, for example, USB ports. The motherboard connects directly or indirectly to every part of the computer.

RAM

RAM stand for Random Access Memory. RAM is your system's short-term memory. Whenever your computer performs calculations, it temporarily stores the data in the RAM until it is needed. The short-term memory disappears when the computer is turned off. In order to keep your document of file you need to save it. When you save a file the data is written to the hard drive as long-term memory. RAM is measured in megabytes (MB) or gigabytes (GB). The more RAM you have the more your computer can do, which is why people add extra RAM to improve performance.

Heat Sinks

Without heat sinks modern computers wouldn’t be able to run at the speed that they do. Heat sinks are very important as they stop the CPU from overheating. If they do over heat it can destroy the entire system which would cost a lot of money.  The heat sink cools down the processor after it runs multiple programs at once.

Enhancement Day Powerpoint

What is a character set?

What is a character set?

Character set is a group of unique symbols used for display and printing

 

What is ASCII? What do the initials stand for?

ASCII uses 8 bit. In an ASCII file, each alphabetic, numeric, or special character is represented with a 7-bit binary number.

American Standard Code For Information Interchange.

Explain how ASCII is used to represent text in a computer system.

ASCII is a code for representing English characters as numbers, with each letter assigned a number from 0 to 127.

ASCII was based on an earlier code from 1963. What was this?

ASCII developed from telegraphic codes. Its first commercial use was as a seven-bit teleprinter code promoted by Bell data services.

What is UNICODE?

Unicode uses 16 bits, which means that it can represent more than 65,000 unique characters.

Explain the difference between the character sets of Unicode and ASCII

Unicode is a 16 bit and ASCII is 8 bit, therefore more symbols can be shown using Unicode.

Storage Devices

1. List of some computing devices that are available on today’s market. For each one explain the main storage device/method used.

Laptop- Memory Cards and Flash Drive

Phone- Memory Cards and Micro SD Cards

Ipad- Icloud and SSD cards

2. Complete the table below.

Device	Capacity	Speed of access	Portable?	Durable?
USB Memory Stick	16GB/32GB/64GB...	80MB/s	Yes	yes
HDD - Hard Disk Drive	30/40TB Large Capacity	fast	only external hard drives are	yes
CD	700MB/80 mins music time	quick	yes	not really
DVD	4.7GB typically	quick	yes	not really
Memory Card	can go up to 32GB and more	fast	yes	sort of
SSD - Solid State Drive	up to 1.7TB. large	fast	yes, external ones are	yes

3. Suggest an appropriate storage device for each of the following applications.

 Store a high definition movie

Blue ray/DVD

 Distribute some software that you've written

A computer

Transfer GCSE Media coursework between home and school

Memory stick/Flash drive/Floppy disk

 Storage area on a college network

Memory stick

4. Describe two factors that should be considered when selecting a suitable storage medium to use in a given situation.

5. Name one device that makes use of solid state memory storage.

6. Describe one benefit of using a magnetic storage device like a HDD compared to a

solid state device, such as an SSD for storing files on a network.

Fetch-Execute Cycle

1(a) What do the initials CPU stand for?

C: Central

P: Processing

U: Unit

(b) List three components of the CPU.

CPU, ALU (arithmetic logic unit) and registers

(c) In relation to computer architecture, what are buses?

Communication system that transfers data between components inside a computer. 

2(a) Program counter

Is a register in a computer processor that contains the address of the instruction being executed at the current time. 

(b) The address bus

An address bus is a computer bus (a series of lines connecting two or more devices) that is used to specify a physical address.

(c) The data bus

Is a computer subsystem that allows the transferring of data from one component to another.

(d) The decoder

Undoes the encoding so that the original information can be received.

 (e) The Arithmetic and Logic unit

In digital electronics, an arithmetic logic unit (ALU) is a digital circuit that performs integer arithmetic and logical operations. The ALU is a fundamental building block of the central processing unit of a computer, and even the simplest microprocessors contain one for purposes such as maintaining timers.