Fluency with Information Technology, 6e (Snyder)
Chapter 9 Principles of Computer Operations: Following Instructions
9.1 True/False Questions
1) Rerunning a program with the same data produces exactly the same result every time.
2) Memory has a finite capacity.
3) Every memory location in the computer is numbered, starting at 0.
4) Each byte in memory is limited in size.
5) A megabyte is exactly one million bytes.
6) The ADD instruction adds the values, not the address numbers of the memory locations.
7) The ability to store different values in its memory locations makes the computer a flexible
tool.
8) A single device driver will generally work with several different peripheral devices.
9) Blocks of four bytes are called words.
10) The Fetch/Execute Cycle consists of 4 steps.
11) The gate is the part of a transistor which either conducts and connects the circuit, or insulates
and breaks it.
12) A field effect transistor is a connector between two wires that can be controlled to allow a
charge to flow between the wires (conduct) or not.
13) A branch or jump instruction can cause the processor to execute instructions out of memory-
address order.
14) The instruction ADD 3000, 2000, 3080 adds the values 2000 and 3080 together, and places
the result (5080) into the memory location having address 3000.
15) The PC always contains the location in memory of the first instruction in the current
program.
1) How many instructions do computers know?
A) only one
B) a few
C) a lot
D) more than humans can count
2) In the Fetch/Execute Cycle, the action of retrieving the instruction’s operands from memory
occurs during the:
A) Data Fetch (DF) step
B) Instruction Fetch (IF) step
C) Instruction Execute (EX) step
D) Instruction Decode (ID) step
3) The hardware implementation of the Fetch/Execute Cycle is the:
A) control unit
B) input/output (I/O) ports
C) peripherals
D) RAM
4) The peripheral used by the computer for both input and output is the:
A) printer
B) mouse
C) hard disk
D) keyboard
5) Computer instructions are:
A) 1 byte long
B) 2 bytes long
C) 4 bytes long
D) 8 bytes long
6) The program counter keeps track of the:
A) number of programs the computer is running
B) number of memory addresses used
C) next instruction to be executed
D) current instruction in Fetch/Execute
7) In the Fetch/Execute Cycle, the action of retrieving a machine instruction from the memory
address given by the program counter occurs during the:
A) Data Fetch (DF) step
B) Instruction Fetch (IF) step
C) Instruction Execute (EX) step
D) Instruction Decode (ID) step
8) On the computer, one billion clock ticks per second is called:
A) megahertz
B) gigahertz
C) nanohertz
D) terahertz
9) A program form directly executable by a computer is the:
A) assembly file
B) high-level language file
C) binary object file (binary)
D) device driver file
10) A computer system’s software stack:
A) is analogous to house construction when replicating the software
B) makes a programmer’s job much more complex
C) is comprised of layers which do not interact
D) features layers of software of increasing generality and sophistication
11) In the Fetch/Execute Cycle, the action of determining which operation is to be performed and
computing the addresses of the operands occurs during the:
A) Data Fetch (DF) step
B) Instruction Fetch (IF) step
C) Instruction Execute (EX) step
D) Instruction Decode (ID) step
12) An advantage of integration in creating integrated circuits is that:
A) active and connective parts of a circuit are kept as separate components
B) more space between components prevents overheating
C) costs do not increase as wiring complexity increases
D) photolithography allows the chip to be constructed in a single layering process
13) In the Fetch/Execute Cycle, the action of performing a machine instruction occurs during
the:
A) Data Fetch (DF) step
B) Instruction Fetch (IF) step
C) Instruction Execute (EX) step
D) Instruction Decode (ID) step
14) The lowest programming language that humans use is:
A) binary
B) assembly
C) Java
D) HTML
15) The speed of a computer is dependent on the number of cycles of what?
A) the Fetch/Execute cycle
B) the Operating System
C) the Input System
D) all of the above
16) Which might be a single machine instruction?
A) Add two numbers together
B) Convert a decimal number to binary
C) Send this file to printer
D) Send a request to the web site
17) What does “random” in “random access memory” refer to?
A) The fact that a request to the memory might return the contents of any location.
B) The fact that memory units are unreliable, and may return any value.
C) The fact that the computer can refer to the memory locations in any order.
D) The fact that the amount of time required for the memory unit to respond is unknown ahead
of time.
18) How does the PC change from one fetch/execute cycle to the next (except when the
instruction is a branch or jump)?
A) Increases by 1.
B) Increases by 4.
C) Decreases by 1.
D) Doubles.
19) The processor clock
A) measures how long a program has been running.
B) makes the machine cycle go on to the next step.
C) keeps the the current time of day.
D) measures the response time to user actions such as typing or clicking.
20) Which is not a typical processor instruction?
A) Compute the logical AND of two values.
B) Test if bit is zero, and jump to a different set of instructions based on the outcome.
C) Shift the bits of a word to the right, putting in zeros on the left and discarding bits on the
right.
D) Search through a list of words to find the first entry equal to a particular value.
1) A(n) ________ is an “instruction execution engine,” cycling through a series of operations,
performing an instruction on each round.
2) ________ write the instructions for a computer.
3) Integrated circuits are made with a process called ________.
4) The ________ is the part of the computer that gets instructions from memory and carries them
out.
5) ALU is short for ________.
6) Computers have instructions for both transforming and ________ information.
7) Data Fetch gets the values, called _______, from memory that the ALU needs to perform
operations like ADD and MULTIPLY.
8) Programs and their data must reside in the computer’s ________ when programs run.
9) Every peripheral communicates with the computer through a(n) ________.
10) The ability to control when ________ do and don’t conduct electricity is the main process
used in computer construction.
11) The rate of the Fetch/Execute Cycle is determined by the computer’s ________.
12) The process of executing a program is also called ________.
13) Programs written in a high-level language are ________, i.e., translated, into assembly
language programs, which are then assembled into binary.
14) ________ is simply an alternative form of machine language expressed using letters and
normal numbers so people can understand it.
15) IC is short for ________.
16) The common name for an integrated circuit is a computer ________.
17) A(n) ________ is a light-sensitive material used to make a chip.
18) A(n) ________ is a force one object can have on another without touching it.
19) A(n) ________ is a connector between two wires that controls whether they are electrically
connected.
20) Modern computers are developed with ________, the most widely used integrated circuit
technology.
21) The ________ Cycle consists of getting the instruction, figuring out what to do, gathering the
data needed to do it, doing it, saving the result, and repeating.
22) _________ connect to the processors input and output ports, providing it with input or
receiving its output.
23) Memory locations are identified by a numbers called ________.