3.4 Computer Systems

• Explain the importance of programming languages and their impact on system design and performance.
• Explain the difference between centralized and distributed computing architectures.
• Explain the difference between centralized and distributed computing architectures.
• Identify common types of computers used today, including desktop PCs, laptops, tablets, smartphones, servers, supercomputers, mainframes, embedded systems, and wearables.
• Identify common types of computers used today, including desktop PCs, laptops, tablets, smartphones, servers, supercomputers, mainframes, and embedded systems.
• Identify different types of computer architectures (e.g., Von Neumann architecture) and explain their advantages and disadvantages.
• Discuss the trade-offs involved in designing computer systems, including factors like cost, speed, reliability, power consumption, and ease of use.
• Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of different types of computers based on their intended use.
• Identify different types of computer networks and explain their functions.
• Compare and contrast different approaches to computer organization, such as centralized vs distributed computing, client-server vs peer-to-peer networking, and cloud computing.
• Boolean logic is the study of the logic of truth values, often represented as 0 and 1.
• Construct truth tables for the logic gates NOT, AND, OR, and XOR.
• Construct truth tables for simple logic circuits using combinations of NOT, AND, OR, and XOR gates.
• Interpret the results of simple truth tables.
• Students should be able to construct truth tables which contain up to three inputs.
• Create, modify, and interpret simple logic circuit diagrams.
• Students will only need to use NOT, AND, OR, and XOR gates within logic circuits.
• Students should be able to construct simple logic circuit diagrams which contain up to three inputs.
• Create and interpret simple Boolean expressions made up of NOT, AND, OR, and XOR operations.
• Overbar to represent the NOT gate.
• Software classification

  Content

  Additional information

  Explain what is meant by:

  • system software
  • application software.

  Give examples of both types of software.

  Students should understand that:

  • system software manages the computer system resources and acts as a platform to run application software
  • application software is software that performs end-user tasks.

  Understand the need for, and functions of, operating systems (OS) and utility programs.

  Understand that the OS handles management of the:

  • processor(s)
  • memory
  • input/output (I/O) devices
  • applications
  • security.
• There are different levels of programming language: low-level language and high-level language.
• Most computer programs are written in high-level languages due to their advantages over low-level languages.
• Machine code and assembly language are considered to be low-level languages and have different characteristics compared to high-level languages.
• Processors execute machine code and each type of processor has its own specific machine code instruction set.
• Assembly language is often used to develop software for embedded systems and for controlling specific hardware components.
• Assembly language has a 1:1 correspondence with machine code.
• All programming code written in high-level or assembly languages must be translated.
• Machine code is expressed in binary and is specific to a processor or family of processors.
• There are advantages and disadvantages to low-level language programming compared with high-level language programming.
• There are three common types of program translator: interpreter, compiler, and assembler.
• Assemblers and compilers translate their input into machine code directly.
• Each line of assembly language is assembled into a single machine code instruction.
• Interpreters do not generate machine code directly, they call appropriate machine code subroutines within their own code to carry out statements.
• Main memory and the following major components of a central processing unit (CPU) within the Von Neumann architecture: arithmetic logic unit, control unit, clock, and register bus, play a role in the operation of a computer.
• A bus is a collection of wires through which data/signals are transmitted from one component to another.
• Knowledge of specific registers is not required.
• The performance of the CPU can be affected by factors such as clock speed, number of processor cores, and cache size.
• The Fetch-Execute cycle is a process where the CPU continually reads instructions from main memory and executes them as required: fetch, decode, execute.
• There are different types of memory within a computer: RAM, ROM, Cache, and Register.