What is the correct term used for a set of wires used to connect different internal components of the computer system for the purpose of transferring data as well as addresses amongst them?

Correct — D, Bus. A bus is the set of parallel conductors along which the processor, memory and input-output units of a computer exchange information. It is conventionally described in three parts: the data bus carries the data itself, the address bus carries the location being read from or written to, and the control bus carries the timing and command signals. The stem describes a set of wires connecting internal components and carrying both data and addresses, which is a definition of the system bus and of nothing else in the list.

• (a)Hub — A hub is a networking device that joins several computers on a local area network and repeats an incoming signal to every port. It connects separate machines, not the internal components of one machine.
• (b)Port — A port is a connection point on the outside of the computer — or, in software, a numbered endpoint for a network service. It is a single interface, not the internal pathway between components.
• (c)Router — A router forwards data packets between different networks and chooses the path they take. It works at the network layer between machines and has nothing to do with the wires inside a single computer.

The classical von Neumann computer has a processor, a memory and input-output units, and they must be able to pass information among themselves. The bus provides that pathway. Its width — the number of parallel lines in the data bus — sets how many bits move at once, and the width of the address bus sets how much memory can be addressed. Alongside the system bus, modern machines carry expansion buses such as PCI Express for peripherals and dedicated buses between the processor and its cache.

Three of the four options are networking terms and one is an internal architecture term, so the item is really testing whether a candidate can tell the inside of a computer from the network outside it. The stem is explicit — 'internal components of the computer system' — and hub, port and router all describe connections beyond the case. Reading the phrase 'as well as addresses' also helps: carrying addresses is a defining function of the bus, since every memory access needs a location as well as a value.

• A bus is a set of parallel wires carrying signals between the internal components of a computer.
• It is divided into a data bus, an address bus and a control bus.
• The width of the data bus determines how many bits are transferred at a time.
• A hub repeats network signals to all connected devices; a router forwards packets between networks.
• A port is a point of connection for an external device or a numbered endpoint for a network service.

• Choosing a networking device because the word 'connect' appears in the stem.
• Missing the phrase 'internal components', which rules out every external or network term.
• Confusing a hub with a switch; both join devices on a network, but neither is an internal pathway.

A vocabulary item whose distractors all come from networking, so the discriminating skill is reading where in the system the stem is pointing.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  The part of a computer bus that carries the location of the memory cell being accessed is the

  • (a)data bus
  • (b)address bus
  • (c)control bus
  • (d)power bus

  Answer(b) address bus — its width determines how much memory the processor can address.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Which one of the following devices forwards data packets between two different networks?

  • (a)Hub
  • (b)Repeater
  • (c)Router
  • (d)Bus

  Answer(c) Router — it works between networks and selects the path packets take.