CNIT 176 LATEST 2026 EXAM QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
SCORED A+
✔✔IEEE-754 - ✔✔Excess-127, Sign of mantissa, 8-bit exponent, 23/24 bits of mantissa
(7 decimal digits of precision)
✔✔Primary memory - ✔✔Holds program instructions and data
✔✔Secondary memory - ✔✔Used for long term storage
✔✔ALU - ✔✔Arithmetic logic unit, performs calculations and comparisons
✔✔CU - ✔✔Control unit, performs fetch/execute cycle
✔✔Registers - ✔✔Small storage locations within CPU, manipulated directly by the
control unit
✔✔General purpose registers - ✔✔User-visible or program-visible, holds intermediate
results
✔✔Register operations - ✔✔Stores values from other locations, addition or subtract,
shift or rotate data, test contents for conditions
✔✔Memory address register (MAR) - ✔✔Holds memory location of data that needs to
be accessed or where it will be sent and stored
✔✔Memory data register (MDR) - ✔✔Holds data to be stored or that was just fetched;
two-way register
✔✔Instruction register (IR) - ✔✔Stores the instruction currently being executed
✔✔Program counter register (PC) - ✔✔Holds the address of the next instruction to be
executed
✔✔Status registers - ✔✔Status of CPU and currently executing program
✔✔Memory capacity and addressing limitations - ✔✔Determined by number of bits in
MAR and size of address portion of the instruction
✔✔DRAM - ✔✔Dynamic random access memory, most common, volatile
✔✔SRAM - ✔✔Static random access memory, faster, volatile, small amounts used in
cache memory for high-speed memory access
, ✔✔SDRAM - ✔✔Synchronous dynamic random access memory, operates in sync with
CPU clock
✔✔NVRAM - ✔✔Non-volatile random access memory, do not lose contents when
power is turned off
✔✔EEPROM - ✔✔Electronically erasable programmable read-only memory, holds
software that is not expected to change over the life of the system
✔✔Flash memory - ✔✔Inexpensive but slower, nonvolatile memory that can be erased
electronically and rewritten
✔✔Fetch unit - ✔✔Decode or find instruction, load from memory into register and signal
ALU
✔✔Execute unit - ✔✔Performs operation that instruction requires, move/transform data
✔✔Bus - ✔✔Physical connection that makes it possible to transfer data from one
location in computer system to another
✔✔Bus signals - ✔✔Data, addressing, control signals, power
✔✔Parallel bus - ✔✔High throughput, expensive and requires lots of space, used for
short distances
✔✔Serial bus - ✔✔1 bit transmitted at a time, single data line pair, throughput higher
than parallel
✔✔Simplex transmission - ✔✔Unidirectional
✔✔Half duplex transmission - ✔✔Bidirectional, one direction at a time
✔✔Full duplex transmission - ✔✔Bidirectional simultaneously
✔✔Point-to-point interconnection - ✔✔Single source to single destination
✔✔Multipoint interconnection - ✔✔Connect multiple points to one another
✔✔Stack - ✔✔Last in first out, push onto and pop off
✔✔Queue - ✔✔First in first out, abstract data type
✔✔How do computers store all data and program instructions?
a) As decimal numbers
SCORED A+
✔✔IEEE-754 - ✔✔Excess-127, Sign of mantissa, 8-bit exponent, 23/24 bits of mantissa
(7 decimal digits of precision)
✔✔Primary memory - ✔✔Holds program instructions and data
✔✔Secondary memory - ✔✔Used for long term storage
✔✔ALU - ✔✔Arithmetic logic unit, performs calculations and comparisons
✔✔CU - ✔✔Control unit, performs fetch/execute cycle
✔✔Registers - ✔✔Small storage locations within CPU, manipulated directly by the
control unit
✔✔General purpose registers - ✔✔User-visible or program-visible, holds intermediate
results
✔✔Register operations - ✔✔Stores values from other locations, addition or subtract,
shift or rotate data, test contents for conditions
✔✔Memory address register (MAR) - ✔✔Holds memory location of data that needs to
be accessed or where it will be sent and stored
✔✔Memory data register (MDR) - ✔✔Holds data to be stored or that was just fetched;
two-way register
✔✔Instruction register (IR) - ✔✔Stores the instruction currently being executed
✔✔Program counter register (PC) - ✔✔Holds the address of the next instruction to be
executed
✔✔Status registers - ✔✔Status of CPU and currently executing program
✔✔Memory capacity and addressing limitations - ✔✔Determined by number of bits in
MAR and size of address portion of the instruction
✔✔DRAM - ✔✔Dynamic random access memory, most common, volatile
✔✔SRAM - ✔✔Static random access memory, faster, volatile, small amounts used in
cache memory for high-speed memory access
, ✔✔SDRAM - ✔✔Synchronous dynamic random access memory, operates in sync with
CPU clock
✔✔NVRAM - ✔✔Non-volatile random access memory, do not lose contents when
power is turned off
✔✔EEPROM - ✔✔Electronically erasable programmable read-only memory, holds
software that is not expected to change over the life of the system
✔✔Flash memory - ✔✔Inexpensive but slower, nonvolatile memory that can be erased
electronically and rewritten
✔✔Fetch unit - ✔✔Decode or find instruction, load from memory into register and signal
ALU
✔✔Execute unit - ✔✔Performs operation that instruction requires, move/transform data
✔✔Bus - ✔✔Physical connection that makes it possible to transfer data from one
location in computer system to another
✔✔Bus signals - ✔✔Data, addressing, control signals, power
✔✔Parallel bus - ✔✔High throughput, expensive and requires lots of space, used for
short distances
✔✔Serial bus - ✔✔1 bit transmitted at a time, single data line pair, throughput higher
than parallel
✔✔Simplex transmission - ✔✔Unidirectional
✔✔Half duplex transmission - ✔✔Bidirectional, one direction at a time
✔✔Full duplex transmission - ✔✔Bidirectional simultaneously
✔✔Point-to-point interconnection - ✔✔Single source to single destination
✔✔Multipoint interconnection - ✔✔Connect multiple points to one another
✔✔Stack - ✔✔Last in first out, push onto and pop off
✔✔Queue - ✔✔First in first out, abstract data type
✔✔How do computers store all data and program instructions?
a) As decimal numbers
