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The Essentials Of Computer Organization And Architecture

Linda Null, Julia Lobur

Chapter 1

Introduction - all with Video Answers

Educators

Chapter Questions

02:21

Problem 1

In what ways are hardware and software different? In what ways are they the same?

Adam Conner
Adam Conner
Numerade Educator
00:36

Problem 2

a) How many milliseconds (ms) are in 1 second?
b) How many microseconds (\mus) are in 1 second?
c) How many nanoseconds (ns) are in 1 millisecond?
d) How many microseconds are in 1 millisecond?
e) How many nanoseconds are in 1 microsecond?
f) How many kilobytes (KB) are in 1 gigabyte (GB)?
g) How many kilobytes are in 1 megabyte (MB)?
h) How many megabytes are in 1 gigabyte (GB)?
i) How many bytes are in 20 megabytes?
j) How many kilobytes are in 2 gigabytes?

Sherrie Fenner
Sherrie Fenner
Numerade Educator
02:42

Problem 3

By what order of magnitude is something that runs in nanoseconds faster than something that runs in milliseconds?

Shannon Halmkan
Shannon Halmkan
Numerade Educator
14:45

Problem 4

Pretend you are ready to buy a new computer for personal use. First, take a look at ads from various magazines and newspapers and list terms you don't quite understand. Look these terms up and give a brief written explanation. Decide what factors are important in your decision as to which computer to buy and list them. After you select the system you would like to buy, identify which terms refer to hardware and which refer to software.

Evelyn Cunningham
Evelyn Cunningham
Numerade Educator
03:36

Problem 5

Pick your favorite computer language and write a small program. After compiling the program, see if you can determine the ratio of source code instructions to the machine language instructions generated by the compiler. If you add one line of source code, how does that affect the machine language program? Try adding different source code instructions, such as an add and then a multiply. How does the size of the machine code file change with the different instructions? Comment on the result.

Shelby Mohamed
Shelby Mohamed
Numerade Educator
02:10

Problem 6

Respond to the comment mentioned in Section 1.5: If invented today, what name do you think would be given to the computer? Give at least one good reason for your answer.

Willis James
Willis James
Numerade Educator
02:33

Problem 7

Suppose a transistor on an integrated circuit chip were 2 microns in size. According to Moore's Law, how large would that transistor be in 2 years? How is Moore's law relevant to programmers?

Jaida L
Jaida L
Numerade Educator
04:52

Problem 8

What circumstances helped the IBM PC become so successful?

Oluwadamilola Ameobi
Oluwadamilola Ameobi
Numerade Educator
02:26

Problem 9

List five applications of personal computers. Is there a limit to the applications of computers? Do you envision any radically different and exciting applications in the near future? If so, what?

Adam Conner
Adam Conner
Numerade Educator
01:17

Problem 10

Under the von Neumann architecture, a program and its data are both stored in memory. It is therefore possible for a program, thinking a memory location holds a piece of data when it actually holds a program instruction, to accidentally (or on purpose) modify itself. What implications does this present to you as a programmer?

Adam Conner
Adam Conner
Numerade Educator
09:30

Problem 11

Read a popular local newspaper and search through the job openings. (You can also check some of the more popular online career sites.) Which jobs require specific hardware knowledge? Which jobs imply knowledge of computer hardware? Is there any correlation between the required hardware knowledge and the company or its location?

Mihir Nayar
Mihir Nayar
Numerade Educator