Computer Awareness Questions

The correct answer is Arithmetic and Logic Unity.

Key Points

• In computing, an arithmetic logic unit (ALU) is a combinational digital circuit that performs arithmetic and bitwise operations on integer binary numbers.
• This is in contrast to a floating-point unit (FPU), which operates on floating-point numbers.
• It is a fundamental building block of many types of computing circuits, including the central processing unit (CPU) of computers, FPUs, and graphics processing units (GPUs).

Additional Information

• Bitwise logical operations used in Arithmetic and Logic Unit:
  • AND - It is true when both the components are true.
  • OR - It gives true when any of the one components is true.
  • Exclusive OR - It is true if and only if its arguments differ (one is true, the other is false). 

The correct answer is Trap doors.

The Trap doors are code that recognizes some special sequence of input or is triggered by being run from a certain user ID by an unlikely sequence of events.

Key Points

• Trap Door:
  • A trap door is a secret entry point into a program that allows anyone to gain access to any system without going through the usual security access procedures.
  • It is a method of bypassing normal authentication methods.
  • Hence it is also known as a back door.
  • It is used by the Programmers to debug and test programs. 
  • It can become a threat when any dishonest programmers gain illegal access. 

Additional Information

• A standalone malicious program that may give full control of an infected PC to another PC is called Trojan horse.
• A logic bomb is a small code that is intentionally inserted into a software system and will set off a malicious function when specified conditions are met. 
• A virus is a computer program that can change and replicates itself by modifying other computer programs and inserting its own code. 

The correct answer is Second.

Key Points

• Second Generation(1955-1964):
  • The computer made in the second generation was completely based upon transistors.
  • Transistors replaced vacuum tubes in computers.
  • It was invented at Bell Labs by Walter H. Brattain (1902-1987), John Bardeen (1908-1991), and William B. Shockley (1910-1989) in 1947.
  • In the computers of the second generation, punched cards and printouts were used for inputs and outputs.
  • The TX-0 was the first computer that used transistors, It was released in 1956.
  • These second-generation machines were used for a wide variety of business and scientific jobs and used high-level programming and assembly languages such as FORTRAN (Formula Translator) and COBOL (Common Business Oriented Language).
  • The second-generation computers had several features:
    • ​Computers made in the second generation used transistors that made them more reliable, smaller in size, faster in speed, more energy-efficient, and cheaper compared to the first generation of computers.
    • They contain magnetic storage disks and magnetic core memory.
    • They used high-level languages such as FORTRAN and COBOL and allowed communication with the help of a telephone line.
    • As compared to the first generation of computers, the data processing time reduced from milliseconds to microseconds.

Additional Information

• First Generation(1942-1955): 
  • The first-generation computers used vacuum tubes for circuitry and magnetic drums for memory.
  • They were often enormous and taking up the entire room.
  •  First-generation computers relied on machine language.
  • They were very expensive to operate and in addition to using a great deal of electricity, generated a lot of heat, which was often the cause of malfunctions.
  •  The UNIVAC and ENIAC computers are examples of first-generation computing devices.
• Third Generation(1964-1975):
  • ​The development of the integrated circuit was the hallmark of the third generation of computers.
  • Transistors were miniaturized and placed on Silicon chips called semiconductors.
  • Instead of punched cards and printouts, users interacted with third-generation computers through keyboards and monitors and interfaced with an operating system.
  •  It allowed the device to run many different applications at one time.
• Fourth Generation(1971- up to till now):
  • The microprocessor brought the fourth generation of computers, as thousands of integrated circuits were built onto a single silicon chip.
  • The Intel 4004 chip, developed in 1971, located all the components of the computer.
  • From the central processing unit and memory to input/output controls on a single chip.
  • Fourth-generation computers also saw the development of GUIs, the mouse, and handheld devices.

The correct answer is VDU.

Key Points

• Visual Display Unit (VDU): 
  • Visual Display Unit is an Output Device that displays all work is done and images on its screen.
  • It is also called a Monitor. After processing the input, the result is shown on the Monitor.
  • The three most common specifications about the quality of monitors are Dot Pitch, Resolution, and Refresh Rate.
  • There are many types of monitor technologies are available like CRT (Cathode Ray Tube) monitors, LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) monitors, LED (Light Emitting Diode), OLED (Organic Light Emitting Diode), etc.

Important Points

• Keyboard: The keyboard is one of the main Input Devices used in a computer. It is used to enter text and numeric data in a computer system. 
• Mouse: It is also called a Pointing Device which is used to point to the things on the monitor screen. It is an Input Device that was invented by Douglas Engelbert.
• Light Pen: A light pen is an Input Device, similar to a mouse. It is used to directly write and draw any figure on the computer screen.

Additional Information

The correct answer is Arithmetic Logic Unit.

Key Points

• Arithmetic Logic Unit (ALU):
  • It performs all Arithmetic Operations and Decision-Making operations.
  • Data Transfer: Which includes moving data from one location to another within the computer.
  • Arithmetic Operation: It includes addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division, etc.
  • Decision Making: It is an ability to compare two quantities and perform a logical operation such as compare, true or false, etc.
  • Control Unit: It extracts instructions from memory and decodes and executes them, calling on the ALU, when necessary. It controls all functions and coordinates all components of the computer. It is in charge of the fetch execute cycle.
  • Central Processing Unit (CPU): The Central Processing Unit is the brain of the computer sometimes referred to simply as the central processor. It is linked with the input units and output units to form the computer system.

The correct answer is Compression.

Key Points

•  Compression:
  • Data Compression, also called Compaction, the process of reducing the amount of data needed for the storage or transmission of a given piece of information, typically by the use of encoding techniques. 
  • Compression predates digital technology, having been used in Morse Code, which assigned the shortest codes to the most common characters, and in telephony, which cuts off high frequencies in voice transmission.
  • Today, when an uncompressed digital image may require 20 megabytes, data compression is important in storing information digitally on computer disks and in transmitting it over communications networks.

Important Points

• Fragmentation:
  • Fragmentation is an unwanted problem where the memory blocks cannot be allocated to the processes due to their small size and the blocks remain unused.
  • There are two types of fragmentation:
    • Internal Fragmentation: In this fragmentation, the process is allocated a memory block of size more than the size of that process. Due to this some part of the memory is left unused and this causes internal fragmentation.
    • External Fragmentation: In this fragmentation, although we have total space available that is needed by a process still we are not able to put that process in the memory because that space is not contiguous. This is called external fragmentation.
• Encapsulation:
  • Data Encapsulation is the process in which some extra information is added to the data item to add some features to it.
  • Data Encapsulation uses either the OSI or the TCP/IP model in our network, and the data transmission takes place through various layers in these models.
  • Data encapsulation adds the protocol information to the data so that data transmission can take place in a proper way. This information can either be added in the header or the footer of the data.

The correct answer is Microprocessor.

Key Points

• Pentium microprocessors developed by Intel Corp.
• Pentium introduced in 1993 as the successor to Intel’s 80486 microprocessor.
• Pentium is a series of x86 architecture-compatible microprocessors 
• It using CISC (complex instruction set computer) architecture, its main features were a 32-bit address bus, a 64-bit data bus, a built-in floating-point, and memory-management units, and two 8KB caches.
• It was available with processor speeds ranging from 60 megahertz (MHz) to 200 MHz.
• Pentium was superseded by ever faster and more powerful processors,
  • Pentium Pro (1995),
  • Pentium II (1997),
  • Pentium III (1999),
  • Pentium 4 (2000), and
  • Pentium 4 Dual Cores (2005).
• Pentium chips were the most widely used CPUs in the world for general-purpose computing.
• Various Pentium 4 models are used in entry-level PCs and other devices.

Additional Information

The correct answer is DBMS.

Key Points

• A Database is an organized collection of data so that it can be easily accessed and managed.
• DBMS stands for Database Management System.
• A Database Management System (DBMS) is software designed to store, retrieve, define, and manage data in a database.
• Database Management System removes redundancy and Integrity.
• Database Management System reduces Application Development Time.
• DBMS follows the concepts of Atomicity, Consistency, Isolation, and Durability (normally shortened as ACID).
• DBMS supports a multi-user environment and allows them to access and manipulate data in parallel. 
• Types of DBMS Systems are:
  • Hierarchical Database
  • Network Database
  • Relational Database
  • Object-Oriented Database
• The three-schema architecture of DBMS:

• Some popular DBMS systems:
  • MySQL
  • Microsoft Access
  • Oracle
  • LibreOffice Base
  • Microsoft SQL Server

​Important Points 

• In 1960, Charles Bachman designed the first DBMS system.
• In 1970, Codd introduced IBM'S Information Management System (IMS)
• In 1976, Peter Chen coined and defined the Entity-relationship model also know as the ER model.
• In 1991, Microsoft ships MS Access, a personal DBMS and that displaces all other personal DBMS products.

​​​​ Additional Information 

• Operating System
  • ​An operating system acts as an intermediary between the user of a computer and computer hardware.
  • Operating systems were first developed in the late 1950s to manage tape storage.
  • The General Motors Research Lab implemented the first OS in the early 1950s for their IBM 701.
  • Operating System allows disk access and file systems Device drivers Networking Security.
  • Operating System Handling I/O operations.
  • Operating System has error detection and handling technic.
  • An Operating System is concerned with the allocation of resources and services, such as memory, processors, devices, and information. 
  • The Kernel is the central component of a computer operating system.
• ​Compiler
  • The compiler translates source code written in a high-level language into a set of machine-language.
  • Compilers are very large programs, with error-checking and other abilities.
  • The object code is machine code that the processor can perform one instruction at a time.
  • The first Autocode and compiler in the modern sense were developed by Alick Glennie in 1952.
  • John W. Backus at IBM introduced the first commercially available compiler, in 1957.

The correct answer is Super Computer.

Key Points

• Supercomputers were introduced in the 1960s as the world's most advanced computer.
• A supercomputer is a powerful computer that can process a large amount of data and computation very quickly.
• Supercomputers perform immense amounts of mathematical calculations.
• Super Computers are also known as Number Crunching.
• Supercomputers are used for areas related to:
  • Science
  • Engineering
  • Education
  • Defense
  • Aerospace
• Supercomputers are useful for applications involving very large databases or that require a great amount of computation.
• Supercomputers are used for complex tasks, such as:
  • Weather forecasting
  • Climate research
  • Scientific simulation
  • Oil and gas exploration
  • Quantum mechanics
  • Cryptanalysis

​Important Points

• The First Cray-1 supercomputer was installed at Los Alamos National Laboratory in 1972.
• Param Shivay, the first supercomputer assembled indigenously in India, was installed in IIT (BHU).
• Fugaku (Japan) Jointly developed by RIKEN and Fujitsu, is the fastest supercomputer in the world.
• PARAM-Siddhi AI is the fastest supercomputer in India.

Additional Information 

The correct answer is Modem.

Key Points

• Modem, (from “modulator/demodulator”), any of a class of electronic devices that convert digital data signals into modulated analog signals suitable for transmission over analog telecommunications circuits.
• A modem also receives modulated signals and demodulates them, recovering the digital signal for use by the data equipment.
• Modems thus make it possible for established telecommunications media to support a wide variety of data communication, such as e-mail between personal computers, facsimile transmission between fax machines, or the downloading of audio-video files from a World Wide Web server to a home computer. 
• Most modems are “voiceband”; i.e., they enable digital terminal equipment to communicate over telephone channels, which are designed around the narrow bandwidth requirements of the human voice.
• Cable modems, on the other hand, support the transmission of data over hybrid fiber-coaxial channels, which were originally designed to provide high-bandwidth television service.
• Both voiceband and cable modems are marketed as freestanding, book-sized modules that plug into a telephone or cable outlet and a port on a personal computer.

Additional Information

• Packet:
  • A packet-switched network routes digital data in small pieces called packets, each of which proceeds independently through the network.
  • In a process called store-and-forward, each packet is temporarily stored at each intermediate node, then forwarded when the next link becomes available.
  • In a connection-oriented transmission scheme, each packet takes the same route through the network, and thus all packets usually arrive at the destination in the order in which they were sent.
  • Conversely, each packet may take a different path through the network in a connectionless or datagram scheme.
  • Since datagrams may not arrive at the destination in the order in which they were sent, they are numbered so that they can be properly reassembled.
  • The latter is the method that is used for transmitting data through the Internet. 
• Keyboard:
  • Keyboards contain mechanical or electromechanical switches that change the flow of current through the keyboard when depressed.
  • A microprocessor embedded in the keyboard interprets these changes and sends a signal to the computer.
• In addition to letter and number keys, most keyboards also include “function” and “control” keys that modify input or send special commands to the computer.​​