INSY 3300 CHAPTER 1 PYTHON BASICS AND
PROGRAMMING FUNDAMENTALS REVIEW 2026
◉ What do you call a tiny "switch" that can be set to either on or off?
Answer: bit
◉ In what numbering system are all numeric values written as
sequences of 0s and 1s?
Answer: binary numbering system
◉ What is the purpose of ASCII?
Answer: The American Standard Code for Information Interchange
is a set of 128 numeric codes that represent the English letters,
various punctuation marks, and other characters.
◉ What encoding scheme is extensive enough to represent the
characters of many of the languages in the world?
Answer: Unicode
◉ What is Two's complement?
Answer: An advanced number storage encoding scheme used for
negative numbers
,◉ What is floating-point notations?
Answer: An advanced number storage encoding scheme used for
real numbers
◉ What is digital data?
Answer: Digital data is any data that is stored in binary format
◉ What is digital device?
Answer: Digital device is any device that works with binary data.
◉ A CPU understands instructions that are written only in what
language?
Answer: machine language
◉ A program has to be copied into what type of memory each time
the CPU executes it?
Answer: Main memory, or RAM
◉ When a CPU executes the instructions in a program, it is engaged
in what process?
Answer: The fetch-decode-execute cycle
, ◉ What is assembly language?
Answer: It is an alternative language to machine language. Instead of
using, binary numbers for instructions, assembly language uses
short words that are known as mnemonics.
◉ What type of programming language allows you to create
powerful and complex programs without knowing how the CPU
works?
Answer: high-level language
◉ Each language has a strict set of rules that must be strictly
followed when writing a program. What is this set of rules called?
Answer: Syntax
◉ What do you call a program that translates a high-level language
program into a separate machine language program?
Answer: Compiler
**Note: ASSEMBLY language is translated to Machine language by an
ASSEMBLER.
◉ 3K means about 3 thousand bytes. How would you express five
billion bytes?
Answer: 5 GB
PROGRAMMING FUNDAMENTALS REVIEW 2026
◉ What do you call a tiny "switch" that can be set to either on or off?
Answer: bit
◉ In what numbering system are all numeric values written as
sequences of 0s and 1s?
Answer: binary numbering system
◉ What is the purpose of ASCII?
Answer: The American Standard Code for Information Interchange
is a set of 128 numeric codes that represent the English letters,
various punctuation marks, and other characters.
◉ What encoding scheme is extensive enough to represent the
characters of many of the languages in the world?
Answer: Unicode
◉ What is Two's complement?
Answer: An advanced number storage encoding scheme used for
negative numbers
,◉ What is floating-point notations?
Answer: An advanced number storage encoding scheme used for
real numbers
◉ What is digital data?
Answer: Digital data is any data that is stored in binary format
◉ What is digital device?
Answer: Digital device is any device that works with binary data.
◉ A CPU understands instructions that are written only in what
language?
Answer: machine language
◉ A program has to be copied into what type of memory each time
the CPU executes it?
Answer: Main memory, or RAM
◉ When a CPU executes the instructions in a program, it is engaged
in what process?
Answer: The fetch-decode-execute cycle
, ◉ What is assembly language?
Answer: It is an alternative language to machine language. Instead of
using, binary numbers for instructions, assembly language uses
short words that are known as mnemonics.
◉ What type of programming language allows you to create
powerful and complex programs without knowing how the CPU
works?
Answer: high-level language
◉ Each language has a strict set of rules that must be strictly
followed when writing a program. What is this set of rules called?
Answer: Syntax
◉ What do you call a program that translates a high-level language
program into a separate machine language program?
Answer: Compiler
**Note: ASSEMBLY language is translated to Machine language by an
ASSEMBLER.
◉ 3K means about 3 thousand bytes. How would you express five
billion bytes?
Answer: 5 GB
