1What is a Processor (CPU) and what is its primary role?
A Processor, or CPU, is a chip that manages instructions like arithmetic, logic, I/O, and others, performing trillions of calculations per second.
2What three factors determine the performance of a CPU?
Clock speed, cache size, and number of cores.
3Define CPU "clock speed" and explain its significance.
Clock speed is the number of pulses per second generated by the CPU's clock, determining how many instructions it can perform in a given time.
4What is "cache" in a CPU and why is it important?
Cache is high-speed RAM built into the CPU that temporarily stores frequently used data and instructions to speed up processing.
5How do "cores" impact CPU performance?
Each core in a CPU can process instructions independently, so more cores allow more simultaneous processing, increasing performance.
6List the main components of a CPU.
Arithmetic and Logic Unit (ALU), Control Unit, Registers and Buses, System Clock.
7What is the function of the Arithmetic and Logic Unit (ALU)?
The ALU performs arithmetic (e.g., addition) and logic (e.g., AND, OR) operations during program execution.
8What is the role of the Control Unit in a CPU?
The Control Unit reads instructions, synchronises data flow, and issues control signals to execute those instructions.
9Differentiate between the Address Bus, Data Bus, and Control Bus.
Address Bus is unidirectional for addresses; Data Bus is bi-directional for data; Control Bus carries control signals and can be in/out or both.
10What is a "register" in a CPU, and what are its two main types?
A register is a small high-speed storage in the CPU for temporary data. Types: General-Purpose Registers (GPR) and Special-Purpose Registers (SPR).
11Explain the function of the Memory Address Register (MAR) and Memory Data Register (MDR) during a READ operation.
MAR holds the address; a read signal is sent; data from that address is placed in MDR.
12Explain the function of the Memory Address Register (MAR) and Memory Data Register (MDR) during a WRITE operation.
Data is placed in MDR; address in MAR; write signal is sent to store the data.
13What is a Flag Register and its purpose?
A flag register stores status flags indicating results of operations (e.g., zero, carry), affecting conditional instructions.
14Name and briefly describe three important Status Flags in a flag register.
Carry Flag: set if carry occurs; Zero Flag: set if result is 0; Sign Flag: set if result is negative.
15Name and briefly describe three important Control Flags.
Directional Flag: sets memory direction for strings; Interrupt Flag: enables/disables interrupts; Trap Flag: allows single-step execution.
16Describe the three main stages of the CPU Instruction Processing Cycle.
Fetch: gets instruction from memory; Decode: interprets it; Execute: performs the instruction.
17What is the Von Neumann Architecture?
A design where data and programs are stored in the same memory, allowing sequential instruction execution.
18Compare and contrast a CPU and a GPU.
CPU: few powerful cores for general tasks; GPU: many small cores for parallel tasks like graphics and deep learning.