WGU C952
Register File - (correct Answer) - A state element that consists of a set of registers that can be read and
written by supplying a register number to be accessed.
provides 1024 scalar 32-bit registers for up to 64 threads.
machine language - (correct Answer) - The language made up of binary-coded instructions that is used
directly by the computer
system software - (correct Answer) - The set of programs that enables a computer's hardware devices
and application software to work together; it includes the operating system and utility programs.
operating system - (correct Answer) - (computer science) software that controls the execution of
computer programs and may provide various services
Assembly Language - (correct Answer) - Programming language that has the same structure and set of
commands as machine languages but allows programmers to use symbolic representations of numeric
machine code.
IBM 360/91 - (correct Answer) - Introduced many new concepts, including dynamic detection of memory
hazards, generalized forwarding, and reservation stations. Tomasulo's algorithm
The internal organization of the 360/91 shares many features with the Pentium III and Pentium 4, as well
as with several other microprocessors. One major difference was that there was no branch prediction in
the 360/91 and hence no speculation. Another major difference was that there was no commit unit, so
once the instructions finished execution, they updated the registers.
Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM) - (correct Answer) - Memory built as an integrated circuit; it
provides random access to any location. Access times are 50 nanoseconds and cost per gigabyte in 2012
was $5 to $10.
Multiple DRAMs are used together to contain the instructions and data of a program. In contrast to
sequential access memories, such as magnetic tapes, the RAM portion of the term DRAM means that
memory accesses take basically the same amount of time no matter what portion of the memory is read.
Modern DRAMS consist of rows in each bank
frame buffering - (correct Answer) - A portion of RAM containing a bitmap that drives a video display. It
,is a memory buffer containing a complete frame of data.
The image to be represented onscreen is stored in the frame buffer, and the bit pattern per pixel is read
out to the graphics display at the refresh rate. The animation below shows a frame buffer with a
simplified design of just 4 bits per pixel.
Datapath - (correct Answer) - The component of the processor that performs arithmetic operations
Control - (correct Answer) - The component of the processor that commands the datapath, memory, and
I/O devices according to the instructions of the program.
Integrated circuit - (correct Answer) - Also called a chip. A device combining dozens to millions of
transistors.
Central processor unit (CPU) - (correct Answer) - Also called processor. The active part of the computer,
which contains the datapath and control and which adds numbers, tests numbers, signals I/O devices to
activate, and so on.
Static random access memory (SRAM) - (correct Answer) - Also memory built as an integrated circuit, but
faster and less dense than DRAM.
Instruction set architecture - (correct Answer) - Also called architecture. An abstract interface between
the hardware and the lowest-level software that encompasses all the information necessary to write a
machine language program that will run correctly, including instructions, registers, memory access, I/O,
and so on.
Application binary interface (ABI) - (correct Answer) - The user portion of the instruction set plus the
operating system interfaces used by application programmers. It defines a standard for binary portability
across computers.
Volatile memory - (correct Answer) - Storage, such as DRAM, that retains data only if it is receiving
power.
Nonvolatile Memory - (correct Answer) - A form of memory that retains data even in the absence of a
power source and that is used to store programs between runs. A DVD disk is nonvolatile.
Magnetic disk - (correct Answer) - Also called hard disk. A form of nonvolatile secondary memory
composed of rotating platters coated with a magnetic recording material. Because they are rotating
mechanical devices, access times are about 5 to 20 milliseconds and cost per gigabyte in 2012 was $0.05
to $0.10
Main memory - (correct Answer) - Also called primary memory. Memory used to hold programs while
they are running; typically consists of DRAM in today's computers.
Secondary memory - (correct Answer) - Nonvolatile memory used to store programs and data between
runs; typically consists of flash memory in PMDs and magnetic disks in servers.
Flash memory - (correct Answer) - A nonvolatile semiconductor memory. It is cheaper and slower than
DRAM but more expensive per bit and faster than magnetic disks. Access times are about 5 to 50
, microseconds and cost per gigabyte in 2012 was $0.75 to $1.00.
Single Instruction Single Data (SISD) - (correct Answer) - A uniprocessor
Multiple Instruction Multiple Data (MIMD) - (correct Answer) - A multiprocessor.
Single Program, Multiple Data Streams (SPMD) - (correct Answer) - The conventional MIMD
programming model, where a single program runs across all processors.
Single Instruction Stream, Multiple Data Streams (SIMD) - (correct Answer) - The same instruction is
applied to many data streams, as in a vector processor.
Data-level parallelism - (correct Answer) - Parallelism achieved by performing the same operation on
independent data
vector-based code - (correct Answer) -
conventional code - (correct Answer) -
LEGv8 - (correct Answer) - assembly instructions
multimedia extensions (MMX) - (correct Answer) - An expanded set of instructions supported by a
processor that provides multimedia-specific functions.
data hazard (pipeline data hazard) - (correct Answer) - When a planned instruction cannot execute in the
proper clock cycle because data that is needed to execute the instruction are not yet available.
forwarding (bypassing) - (correct Answer) - A method of resolving a data hazard by retrieving the missing
data element from internal buffers rather than waiting for it to arrive from programmer-visible registers
or memory
Structural hazard - (correct Answer) - When a planned instruction cannot execute in the proper clock
cycle because the hardware does not support the combination of instructions that are set to execute.
Pipelining - (correct Answer) - Technique that allows the CPU to work on more than one instruction at a
time
Formula
total process time = [longest task * (total load -1)] + total load time
R-format ALU operations - (correct Answer) - Requires register file and the ALU.
Program Counter (PC) - (correct Answer) - The register that contains the address of the next instruction
to be executed
output - (correct Answer) - The results of the operation of any system.
temporal locality - (correct Answer) - The principle stating that if a data location is referenced then it will
tend to be referenced again soon.
Register File - (correct Answer) - A state element that consists of a set of registers that can be read and
written by supplying a register number to be accessed.
provides 1024 scalar 32-bit registers for up to 64 threads.
machine language - (correct Answer) - The language made up of binary-coded instructions that is used
directly by the computer
system software - (correct Answer) - The set of programs that enables a computer's hardware devices
and application software to work together; it includes the operating system and utility programs.
operating system - (correct Answer) - (computer science) software that controls the execution of
computer programs and may provide various services
Assembly Language - (correct Answer) - Programming language that has the same structure and set of
commands as machine languages but allows programmers to use symbolic representations of numeric
machine code.
IBM 360/91 - (correct Answer) - Introduced many new concepts, including dynamic detection of memory
hazards, generalized forwarding, and reservation stations. Tomasulo's algorithm
The internal organization of the 360/91 shares many features with the Pentium III and Pentium 4, as well
as with several other microprocessors. One major difference was that there was no branch prediction in
the 360/91 and hence no speculation. Another major difference was that there was no commit unit, so
once the instructions finished execution, they updated the registers.
Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM) - (correct Answer) - Memory built as an integrated circuit; it
provides random access to any location. Access times are 50 nanoseconds and cost per gigabyte in 2012
was $5 to $10.
Multiple DRAMs are used together to contain the instructions and data of a program. In contrast to
sequential access memories, such as magnetic tapes, the RAM portion of the term DRAM means that
memory accesses take basically the same amount of time no matter what portion of the memory is read.
Modern DRAMS consist of rows in each bank
frame buffering - (correct Answer) - A portion of RAM containing a bitmap that drives a video display. It
,is a memory buffer containing a complete frame of data.
The image to be represented onscreen is stored in the frame buffer, and the bit pattern per pixel is read
out to the graphics display at the refresh rate. The animation below shows a frame buffer with a
simplified design of just 4 bits per pixel.
Datapath - (correct Answer) - The component of the processor that performs arithmetic operations
Control - (correct Answer) - The component of the processor that commands the datapath, memory, and
I/O devices according to the instructions of the program.
Integrated circuit - (correct Answer) - Also called a chip. A device combining dozens to millions of
transistors.
Central processor unit (CPU) - (correct Answer) - Also called processor. The active part of the computer,
which contains the datapath and control and which adds numbers, tests numbers, signals I/O devices to
activate, and so on.
Static random access memory (SRAM) - (correct Answer) - Also memory built as an integrated circuit, but
faster and less dense than DRAM.
Instruction set architecture - (correct Answer) - Also called architecture. An abstract interface between
the hardware and the lowest-level software that encompasses all the information necessary to write a
machine language program that will run correctly, including instructions, registers, memory access, I/O,
and so on.
Application binary interface (ABI) - (correct Answer) - The user portion of the instruction set plus the
operating system interfaces used by application programmers. It defines a standard for binary portability
across computers.
Volatile memory - (correct Answer) - Storage, such as DRAM, that retains data only if it is receiving
power.
Nonvolatile Memory - (correct Answer) - A form of memory that retains data even in the absence of a
power source and that is used to store programs between runs. A DVD disk is nonvolatile.
Magnetic disk - (correct Answer) - Also called hard disk. A form of nonvolatile secondary memory
composed of rotating platters coated with a magnetic recording material. Because they are rotating
mechanical devices, access times are about 5 to 20 milliseconds and cost per gigabyte in 2012 was $0.05
to $0.10
Main memory - (correct Answer) - Also called primary memory. Memory used to hold programs while
they are running; typically consists of DRAM in today's computers.
Secondary memory - (correct Answer) - Nonvolatile memory used to store programs and data between
runs; typically consists of flash memory in PMDs and magnetic disks in servers.
Flash memory - (correct Answer) - A nonvolatile semiconductor memory. It is cheaper and slower than
DRAM but more expensive per bit and faster than magnetic disks. Access times are about 5 to 50
, microseconds and cost per gigabyte in 2012 was $0.75 to $1.00.
Single Instruction Single Data (SISD) - (correct Answer) - A uniprocessor
Multiple Instruction Multiple Data (MIMD) - (correct Answer) - A multiprocessor.
Single Program, Multiple Data Streams (SPMD) - (correct Answer) - The conventional MIMD
programming model, where a single program runs across all processors.
Single Instruction Stream, Multiple Data Streams (SIMD) - (correct Answer) - The same instruction is
applied to many data streams, as in a vector processor.
Data-level parallelism - (correct Answer) - Parallelism achieved by performing the same operation on
independent data
vector-based code - (correct Answer) -
conventional code - (correct Answer) -
LEGv8 - (correct Answer) - assembly instructions
multimedia extensions (MMX) - (correct Answer) - An expanded set of instructions supported by a
processor that provides multimedia-specific functions.
data hazard (pipeline data hazard) - (correct Answer) - When a planned instruction cannot execute in the
proper clock cycle because data that is needed to execute the instruction are not yet available.
forwarding (bypassing) - (correct Answer) - A method of resolving a data hazard by retrieving the missing
data element from internal buffers rather than waiting for it to arrive from programmer-visible registers
or memory
Structural hazard - (correct Answer) - When a planned instruction cannot execute in the proper clock
cycle because the hardware does not support the combination of instructions that are set to execute.
Pipelining - (correct Answer) - Technique that allows the CPU to work on more than one instruction at a
time
Formula
total process time = [longest task * (total load -1)] + total load time
R-format ALU operations - (correct Answer) - Requires register file and the ALU.
Program Counter (PC) - (correct Answer) - The register that contains the address of the next instruction
to be executed
output - (correct Answer) - The results of the operation of any system.
temporal locality - (correct Answer) - The principle stating that if a data location is referenced then it will
tend to be referenced again soon.
