Chapter Review

This chapter described the basic components of a computer: main and secondary memory, the central processor or CPU, and the input and output devices. Remember these important facts about computers:

1. A memory cell is never empty, but its initial contents may be meaningless to your program.
2. The current contents of a memory cell are destroyed whenever new information is placed in that cell.
3. A program must be copied into the memory of the computer before it can be executed.
4. Data cannot be manipulated by the computer before they are first read into memory.
5. A computer cannot think for itself; you must use a programming language to instruct it in a precise and unambiguous manner to perform a task.
6. Programming a computer can be fun--if you are patient, organized, and careful.

Quick-Check Exercises

1. The ____________ translates a ____________ language program into ____________.
2. After a program is executed, all program results are automatically displayed. True or false?
3. Specify the correct order for these four operations: execution, linking, translation, loading.
4. A high-level language program is saved on disk as a ____________ file or a ____________ file.
5. The ____________ finds syntax errors in the ____________ file.
6. A machine-language program is saved on disk as an ____________ file.
7. The ____________ is used to create and save the source file.
8. The ____________ creates the load file.
9. The ____________ program is used to place the ____________ file into memory.
10. Computers are becoming (more/less) expensive and (bigger/smaller) in size.
11. The first large-scale, general-purpose electronic computer was called the ____________. It (was/was not) a stored-program computer.

Answers to Quick-Check Exercises

1. Compiler, high-level, machine language
2. False
3. Translation, linking, loading, execution
4. Source, program
5. Compiler, source
6. Object
7. Editor
8. Linker
9. Loader, load
10. Less, smaller
11. ENIAC, was not

Review Questions

1. List at least three types of information stored in a computer.
2. List two functions of the CPU.
3. List two input/output devices and two secondary storage devices.
4. A computer can think. True or false?
5. List the three categories of programmming languages.
6. Give three advantages of programming in a high-level language such as Ada.
7. What processes are needed to transform an Ada program to a machine-language program ready for execution?
8. List the five phases in the software development method. Which phases require actual use of a computer?

Copyright © 1996 by Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, Inc.