CP102 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Desktop Computer, Integrated Circuit, Microprocessor
Document Summary
Desktop computer: system unit w/ processor, memory, storage devices, display circuitry, and sound circuitry. Form factor: refers to the size and dimensions of a component, such as a system unit. Microprocessor: integrated circuit designed to process instructions. (can be the most expensive part of the computer) example: intel core i7. Serial processing: one instruction is processed at a time. Pipelining: an instruction can begin to be processed before the previous instruction"s processing is complete. Parallel: multiple instructions can be processed at the same time. Random access memory (ram): temporary holding area for data, application program instructions and the operating system. Most ram is volatile (requires electrical power to hold data) Rom: is a type of memory circuitry that is housed in a single integrated circuit. Storage device: records and retrieves data from a storage medium. Magnetic storage: stores data by magnetizing microscopic particles on the disk or tape surface.
