TRUE OR FALSE

T F 1. At a top level, a computer consists of CPU, memory, and I/O components.

T F 2. The basic function of a computer is to execute programs.

T F 3. Program execution consists of repeating the process of instruction fetch and instruction execution.

T F 4. Interrupts do not improve processing efficiency.

T F 5. An I/O module cannot exchange data directly with the processor.

T F 6. A key characteristic of a bus is that it is not a shared transmission medium.

T F 7. Computer systems contain a number of different buses that

provide pathways between components at various levels of the

computer system hierarchy.

T F 8. In general, the more devices attached to the bus, the greater the bus length and hence the greater the propagation delay.

T F 9. It is not possible to connect I/O controllers directly onto the system bus.

T F 10. The method of using the same lines for multiple purposes is known as time multiplexing.

T F 11. Timing refers to the way in which events are coordinated on the bus.

T F 12. With asynchronous timing the occurrence of events on the bus is

determined by a clock.

T F 13. Because all devices on a synchronous bus are tied to a fixed clock rate, the system cannot take advantage of advances in device performance.

T F 14. The unit of transfer at the link layer is a phitand the unit transfer at the physical layer is a flit.

T F 15. A key requirement for PCIe is high capacity to support the needs of higher data rate I/O devices such as Gigabit Ethernet.