1What does the ALU do?
Performs arithmetic and logic operations
2What is the function of the CU?
Controls the execution of instructions
3What does the MDR stand for?
Memory Data Register
4What does the MAR stand for?
Memory Address Register
5What is stored in the MAR?
The address of the data or instruction to be fetched or stored
6What is stored in the MDR?
The data that is being transferred to or from memory
7What is the purpose of the Program Counter?
Holds the address of the next instruction to be executed
8What does the Accumulator do?
Stores the result of calculations carried out by the ALU
9What is the function of the System Bus?
Transfers data between the processor and other components
10What are the three types of system buses?
Data bus, address bus, control bus
11What does the data bus carry?
Data between the processor and memory
12What does the address bus carry?
Addresses of data or instructions
13What does the control bus carry?
Control signals to manage operations of the processor
14What is the purpose of registers?
Temporary storage used during the fetch-execute cycle
15What is the Fetch-Execute Cycle?
The cycle that describes how the CPU fetches, decodes, and executes instructions
16What happens in the fetch phase?
The CPU fetches the instruction from memory
17What happens in the decode phase?
The instruction is interpreted by the control unit
18What happens in the execute phase?
The CPU carries out the instruction
19What is clock speed?
The number of cycles the CPU can perform per second
20What is cache memory?
A small, fast type of memory located close to the CPU
21Why is cache memory important?
It stores frequently used instructions to speed up processing
22What is pipelining?
A technique where multiple instruction stages are processed simultaneously
23What is a multi-core processor?
A CPU with multiple processing units to handle multiple tasks at once
24What is the role of the control unit in pipelining?
Coordinates the execution of instructions across different stages
25What is an instruction set?
The complete set of instructions a CPU can execute
26What does the Current Instruction Register (CIR) hold?
The current instruction being executed, divided into opcode and operand
27How do processor components relate to assembly language programs?
They execute low-level instructions that correspond directly to machine operations
28What is the Von Neumann architecture?
A processor design where data and instructions share the same memory and pathways
29What is the Harvard architecture?
A processor design with separate memory and pathways for data and instructions
30What characterizes contemporary processor architectures?
They may combine elements of both Von Neumann and Harvard architectures for efficiency