Hardware and Operating Systems – INFT130

Winter 2009

Assignment #1 (week 3)

.

*** Due Wednesday, February 5 ***

Objectives:

- To reinforce your knowledge gained from Chapter 1, the class lectures and the exercises.

- To begin building critical thinking to help with diagnosis and troubleshooting of problems.

Deliverables: a document that answers the following questions.

1. Why do computers use a binary number system for representing data and programs? {10 points}
2. What is volatile memory? Give at least 1 example of this. {10 points}
3. What is nonvolatile memory? Give at least 1 example of this. {10 points}
4. What are the 4 basic functions of a computer as defined in the text? {10 points}
5. List at least 3 peripherals you can think of that can be attached to a computer. {10 points}
6. Let’s say you are going to advise a client about making backups for their system. What might you advise them to help make the backup process more simple? {10 points}
7. Why is a larger data path on a bus better than a smaller data path? { 5 points}
8. Based upon what we have learned in this chapter, when working on a Microsoft Word document, why is it important to save your work often? Explain your answer using the two terms, primary storage and secondary storage. {15 points}
9. Short Essay - Critical thinking question: Why do you think that the advice is given in the cartoon below? Do you believe this to be a useful practice? If so why? {20 points}