CEA201 - Chapter 3

What are the three major structural components of a computer system as described in a top-level view?

• Control Unit, ALU, Registers

• CPU, Main Memory, I/O

• Operating System, Cache, System Bus

• Motherboard, Hard Disk, Peripherals

In computer function, what are the two basic steps of an instruction cycle?

• Read and Write

• Fetch and Execute

• Load and Store

• Encode and Decode

What register holds the address of the next instruction to be fetched from memory?

• Program Counter (PC)

• Instruction Register (IR)

• Memory Address Register (MAR)

• Memory Buffer Register (MBR)

Which type of connection structure has been the dominant architecture for connecting computer components for decades?

• Point-to-point interconnect

• Mesh network

• Crossbar switch

• Bus interconnection

What are the three functional groups of lines within a system bus?

• Fetch, Decode, Execute lines

• Internal, External, Peripheral lines

• Data, Address, Control lines

• Source, Destination, Routing lines

Which bus lines are used to designate the source or destination of the data on the data bus?

• Control lines

• Data lines

• Address lines

• Interrupt lines

In a multiple-interrupt scheme, what approach allows a higher-priority interrupt to interrupt a lower-priority interrupt handler while it is running?

• Sequential interrupt processing

• Disabled interrupt approach

• Nested interrupt processing

• Shared transmission bus connection

When an interrupt occurs, what is the name of the specific program or routine that the CPU executes to handle the interrupt?

• Interrupt Handler

• Instruction Buffer Register

• Program Counter Linker

• Direct Memory Access Controller

When the CPU grants an interrupt request, what must it do before executing the interrupt handler to ensure the original program can resume correctly later?

• Clear all main memory addresses

• Save the current processor state

• Increase the clock speed of the system bus

• Delete the Instruction Register (IR)

Which class of interrupt is generated by some condition that occurs as a result of an instruction execution, such as an arithmetic overflow or a division by zero?

• Hardware Failure

• Timer

• I/O

• Program