revised: 01/17/00; 10/04/03

Quiz on the Processor

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1. What part of a computer system is most directly concerned with performing the actions called for by a program?

A.    The hard disk .
B.    Main Storage.
C.    The processor.
D.    The monitor.

2. About how many different fundamental operations can most processors perform?

A.    2
B.    A few dozen.
C.    A few hundred.
D.    Many thousands.

3. What is a machine operation?

A.    Any activity of any part of the computer system.
B.    One of the tiny electronic operations that a processor can perform.
C.    A section of main memory that is part of a computer program.
D.    An activity of the operating system needed to run a program.

4. What is a machine instruction?

A.    Several bytes in main memory that tells the processor to perform one machine operation.
B.    A particular combination of keys on the keyboard that turns the computer system off.
C.    A byte that contains numeric data.
D.    An electrical signal that activates the processor.

5. Which one of the following statements is FALSE?

A.    A machine language program is a sequence of machine language instructions in main memory.
B.    A machine language program is also known as an executable program.
C.    The processor runs a program one machine instruction at a time.
D.    Each machine instruction can be used only once.

6. How many machine instructions can execute per second on a modern processor?

A.    One instruction per second.
B.    Ten instructions per second.
C.    One hundred instructions per second.
D.    Millions of instructions per second.

7. What is the architecture of a computer processor?

A.    The physical layout of the chip---its electrical connections, supporting hardware, and heat sink.
B.    The additional electrical components necessary to make the processor run.
C.    The choice of machine operations and how they are implemented.
D.    The set of high level languages that run on the processor.

8. What is a source program?

A.    The program that the processor is execting a particular instant.
B.    The first copy ever made of a program.
C.    A text file created by a programmer containing instructions written in a high level language.
D.    A collection of machine instructions that the processor can execute.

9. What does a computer language compiler do?

A.    It takes a source file as input and produces an executable program as output.
B.    It takes an executable program as input and runs it on the computer.
C.    It takes the output of a program and displays it on the computer monitor.
D.    It translates a program in main memory into a program on secondary memory.

10. What is an interpreter?

A.    An interpreter takes an executable program as input and creates a source program.
B.    An interpreter is a program that acts like a processor that can directly execute a high level language.
C.    An interpreter acts as an messenger between main memory and secondary memory.
D.    An interpreter translates exectutable programs between Apple computers and Intel computers.

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