QBank (OS)
Computer Systems Knowledge Quiz
Test your understanding of computer systems with this engaging quiz! Dive into topics covering processor architecture, memory management, and operating systems. Ideal for students and enthusiasts alike, this quiz offers a comprehensive challenge.
- Multiple choice questions
- Score your knowledge
- Enhance your learning experience
The four main structural elements of a computer system are:
Processor, Main Memory, I/O Modules and System Bus
Processor, I/O Modules, System Bus, and Secondary Memory
Processor, Registers, Main Memory, and System Bus
Processor, Registers, I/O Modules and Main Memory
The _______ holds the address of the next instruction to be fetched.
Accumulator (AC)
Instruction Register (IR)
Instruction Counter (IC)
Program Counter (PC)
The _______ contains the data to be written into memory and receives the data read from memory.
I/O address register
Memory address register
I/O buffer register
Memory buffer register
Instruction processing consists of two steps:
Fetch and execute
Instruction and execute.
Instruction and halt
Fetch and instruction
The _______ routine determines the nature of the interrupt and performs whatever actions are needed.
Interrupt handler
Instruction signal
Program handler
Interrupt signal
The unit of data exchanged between cache and main memory is _____.
Block size
Map size
Cache size
Slot size
_______ is more efficient than interrupt-driven or programmed I/O for a multiple-word I/O transfer.
Spatial locality
Direct memory access
Stack access
Temporal locality
The _______ chooses which block to replace when a new block is to be loaded into the cache and the cache already has all slots filled with other blocks.
Memory controller
Mapping function
Write policy
Replacement algorithm
The _______ is a point-to-point link electrical interconnect specification that enables high-speed communications among connected processor chips.
QPI
DDR3
LRUA
ISR
Small, fast memory located between the processor and main memory is called:
Block memory
Cache memory
Direct memory
WORM memory
In a uniprocessor system, multiprogramming increases processor efficiency by:
Taking advantage of time wasted by long wait interrupt handling
Disabling all interrupts except those of highest priority
Eliminating all idle processor cycles
Increasing processor speed
The two basic types of processor registers are:
User-visible and user-invisible registers
Control and user-invisible registers
Control and Status registers
User-visible and Control/Status registers
When an external device becomes ready to be serviced by the processor the device sends a(n) _______ signal to the processor.
Access
Halt
Handler
Interrupt
One mechanism Intel uses to make its caches more effective is _______, in which the hardware examines memory access patterns and attempts to fill the caches speculatively with data that is likely to be requested soon.
Mapping
Handling
Interconnecting
Prefetching
A _______ organization has a number of potential advantages over a uniprocessor organization including performance, availability, incremental growth, and scaling.
Temporal locality
Symmetric multiprocessor
Direct memory access
Processor status word
The _______ is the interface that is the boundary between hardware and software.
ABI
ISA
IAS
API
A(n) _______ is a set of resources for the movement, storage, and processing of data and for the control of these fun
Architecture
Program
Computer
Application
The operating system's _______ refers to its inherent flexibility in permitting fun
Efficiency
Ability to evolve
Controlled access
Convenience
Operating systems must evolve over time because:
New hardware is designed and implemented in the computer system
Hardware must be replaced when it fails
Hardware is hierarchical
Users will only purchase software that has a current copyright date
A special type of programming language used to provide instructions to the monitor is _______.
FPL
JCL
DML
SML
Hardware features desirable in a batch-processing operating system include memory protection, timer, privileged instructions, and _______.
Clock cycles
Associated data
Interrupts
Kernels
A user program executes in a _______, in which certain areas of memory are protected from the user's use, and in which certain instructions may not be executed.
Kernel mode
User mode
Task mode
Batch mode
Multiprogramming operating systems are fairly sophisticated compared to single-program or _______ systems.
Uniprogramming
Time-sharing
Multitasking
Memory management
One of the first time-sharing operating systems to be developed was the _______.
Compatible Time-Sharing System
Real Time Transaction System
Multiple-Access System
Multiprogramming Operation System
The technique where a system clock generates interrupts, and at each clock interrupt the OS regains control and assigns the processor to another user, is
Time slicing
Multithreading
Round robin
Clock cycle
The _______ is the internal data by which the OS is able to supervise and control the process.
Executable program
Associated data
Nucleus
Execution context
_______ is concerned with the proper verification of the identity of users and the validity of messages or data.
Availability
Confidentiality
Authenticity
Data integrity
_______ is where the OS must prevent independent processes from interfering with each other's memory, both data and instructions.
Support of modular programming
Process isolation
Automatic allocation and management
Protection and access control
A common strategy to give each process in the queue some time in turn is referred to as a _______ technique.
Multithreading
Round-robin
Time slicing
Serial processing
The key to the success of Linux has been its character as a free software package available under the auspice of the _______.
World Wide Web Consortium
Free Software Foundation
Berkeley Software Distribution
GNU Public License
The processor itself provides only limited support for multiprogramming, and _______ is needed to manage the sharing of the processor and other resources by multiple applications at the same time.
Memory
Data
Software
Hardware
"The process was placed in a suspended state by an agent; either itself, a parent process, or the OS, for the purpose of preventing its execution," is a characteristic of a _______ process.
Blocked
Suspended
Ready
Swapped
A _______ is a unit of activity characterized by the execution of a sequence of instructions, a current state, and an associated set of system resources.
Identifier
Process
State
Kernel
We can characterize the behavior of an individual process by listing the sequence of instructions, referred to as a _______, that executes for that process.
State
Trace
Process block
Priority
It is the principal responsibility of the _______ to control the execution of processes.
OS
Process control block
Memory
Dispatcher
When one process spawns another, the spawned process is referred to as the _______.
Trap process
Child process
Stack process
Parent process
_______ involves moving part or all of a process from main memory to disk.
Swapping
Relocating
Suspending
Blocking
When a process is in the _______ state it is in secondary memory but is available for execution as soon as it is loaded into main memory.
Blocked
Blocked/Suspend
Ready
Ready/Suspend
A process is in the _______ state when it is in main memory and awaiting an event.
Blocked
Blocked/Suspend
Ready/Suspend
Ready
The OS must maintain _______ tables to manage processes.
Process
I/O
Memory
File
The collection of program, data, stack, and attributes is referred to as the _______.
Process structure
Process control block
Process location
Process image
The _______ is the less-privileged mode.
User mode
Kernel mode
System mode
Control mode
A _______ is an individual who seizes supervisory control of the system and uses this control to evade auditing and access controls or to suppress audit collection.
Misfeasor
Clandestine user
Masquerader
Legitimate user
A total of _______ process states are recognized by the UNIX SVR4 operating system.
3
9
21
15
The portion of the operating system that selects the next process to run is called the _______.
Trace
Process control block
Dispatcher
PSW
The management of multiple processes within a uniprocessor system is ___________.
Multiprogramming
Structured applications
Distributed processing
Multiprocessing
A situation in which a runnable process is overlooked indefinitely by the scheduler, although it is able to proceed, is ____________.
Mutual exclusion
Deadlock
Starvation
Livelock
The requirement that when one process is in a critical section that access shared resources, no other process may be in a critical section that accesses any of those shared resources is ____________.
Critical section
Livelock
Mutual exclusion
Atomic operation
A means for two processes to exchange information is with the use of ____________.
Spinlocks
Event flags
Condition variables
Messages
A semaphore that does not specify the order in which processes are removed from the queue is a _________ semaphore.
Weak
General
Strong
Binary
A ____________ occurs when multiple processes or threads read and write data items so that the final result depends on the order of execution of instructions in the multiple processes.
Atomic operation
Race condition
Livelock
Deadlock
A ___________ is an integer value used for signaling among processes.
Semaphore
Message
Mutex
Atomic operation
__________ is when the sequence of instruction is guaranteed to execute as a group, or not execute at all, having no visible effect on system state.
Critical section
Mutual exclusion
Atomic operation
Starvation
___________ are memory words used as a synchronization mechanism.
Semaphores
Event flags
Counting semaphores
Mailboxes
The term _________ refers to a technique in which a process can do nothing until it gets permission to enter its critical section but continues to execute an instruction or set of instructions that tests the appropriate variable to gain entrance.
Spin waiting
General semaphore
Critical resource
Message passing
A _______ is a data type that is used to block a process or thread until a particular condition is true.
Deadlock
General semaphore
Condition variable
Mutex
A semaphore whose definition includes the policy that the process that has been blocked the longest is released from the queue first is called a __________ semaphore.
General
Strong
Weak
Counting
The __________ is a programming language construct that provides equivalent fun
Atomic operation
Coroutine
Critical section
Monitor
Probably the most useful combination, ________ allows a process to send one or more messages to a variety of destinations as quickly as possible.
Blocking send, blocking receive
Nonblocking send, blocking receive
Nonblocking send, nonblocking receive
Blocking send, nonblocking receive
A ___________ relationship allows multiple server processes to provide concurrent service to multiple clients.
Many-to-many
Oner-to-many
Many-to-one
One-to-one
A set of processes is _______ when each process in the set is blocked awaiting an event that can only be triggered by another blocked process in the set.
Spinlocked
Stagnant
Preempted
Deadlocked
Examples of _______ include processors, I/O channels, main and secondary memory, devices, and data structures such as files, databases, and semaphores.
Regional resources
Joint resources
Reusable resources
Consumable resources
With _______ only one process may use a resource at a time and no process may access a resource unit that has been allocated to another process.
Hold and wait
Mutual exclusion
No preemption
Circular wait
A closed chain of processes exists, such that each process holds at least one resource needed by the next process in the chain is the condition of _______
No preemption
Mutual exclusion
Circular wait
Hold and wait
Once the processes have progressed into the _______, those processes will deadlock.
Fatal region
Regional resources
Spinlock
Hold and wait
The strategy of deadlock _______ is to design a system in such a way that the possibility of deadlock is excluded.
Prevention
Detection
Diversion
Avoidance
The _______ condition can be prevented by requiring that a process request all of its required resources at one time and blocking the process until all requests can be granted simultaneously.
Mutual exclusion
Hold and wait
Circular wait
No preemption
The fastest form of interprocess communication provided in UNIX is _______.
Shared memory
Message
Pipe
Semaphore
The _______ condition can be prevented by defining a linear ordering of resource types.
Hold and wait
No preemption
Mutual exclusion
Circular wait
Requested resources are granted to processes whenever possible with _______.
Preemption
Deadlock detection
Mutual exclusion
Deadlock avoidance
One of the most significant contributions of UNIX to the development of operating systems is the _______.
Semaphore
Shared memory
Message
Pipe
A _______ is a software mechanism that informs a process of the occurrence of asynchronous events.
Signal
Message
Mailbox
Kernel
The most common technique used for protecting a critical section in Linux is the _______.
Signal
Atomic bitmap operation
Atomic integer operation
Spinlock
The _______ allows multiple threads to have simultaneous read-only access to an object protected by the lock.
Barrier
Condition variable
Readers/writer lock
Mutex
The _______ is useful in sending a signal to a thread indicating that a particular event has occurred.
Mutex object
Emaphore object
Event object
Waitable timer object
Main memory divided into a number of static partitions at system generation time is _______.
Fixed partitioning
Simple segmentation
Dynamic partitioning
Simple paging
Main memory divided into a number of equal size frames is the _______ technique.
Simple paging
Dynamic partitioning
Fixed partitioning
Virtual memory segmentation
With _______ a process is loaded by loading all of its segments into dynamic partitions that need not be contiguous.
Simple paging
Virtual memory segmentation
Virtual memory paging
Simple segmentations
One technique for overcoming external fragmentation is _______.
Loading
Compaction
Relocation
Partitioning
A _______ is a particular example of logical address in which the address is expressed as a location relative to some known point, usually a value in a processor register.
Logical address
Relative address
Absolute address
Physical address
The chunks of a process are known as _______.
Pages
Addresses
Frames
Segments
Available chunks of memory are known as _______.
Frames
Segments
Addresses
Pages
The concept of Memory Management satisfies certain system requirements including:
Relocation
Protection
Physical organization
All of the above
In the Dynamic Partitioning technique of memory management, the placement algorithm that chooses the block that is closest in size to the request is called _______.
First-fit
Best-fit
Last-fit
Next-fit
In the Dynamic Partitioning technique of memory management, the placement algorithm that scans memory from the location of the last placement and chooses the next available block that is large enough to satisfy the request is called ______.
Last-fit
Best-fit
Next-fit
First-fit
A problem with the largely obsolete Fixed Partitioning memory management technique is that of:
Allowing only a fixed number of processes
Inefficient use of memory
Internal fragmentation
All of the above
The page table for each process maintains _______.
The physical memory location of the process
The frame location for each page of the process
The page location for each frame of the process
The logical memory location of the process
In a system employing a segmentation scheme for memory management wasted space is due to _______.
External fragmentation
Frames of different sizes
Internal fragmentation
Segments of different sizes
In a system employing a paging scheme for memory management wasted space is due to _______.
Internal fragmentation
Pages of different specified sizes
External fragmentation
Frames of different specified sizes
In a system employing a segmentation scheme for memory management a process is divided into _______.
One segment per thread
A number of threads
A number of segments which need not be of equal size
A number of segments which must be of equal size
The address of a storage location in main memory is the _______.
Address space
Virtual address space
Real address
Virtual address
_______ is the virtual storage assigned to a process.
Virtual address space
Virtual address
Real address
Address space
_______ is the range of memory addresses available to a process.
Address space
Real address
Virtual address
Virtual address space
The _______ structure indexes page table entries by frame number rather than by virtual page number.
Hash table
Segment table
Page table
Inverted page table
The _______ states the process that owns the page.
Process identifier
Control bits
Page number
Chain pointer
A _______ is issued if a desired page is not in main memory.
Paging error
Page replacement policy
Page fault
Page placement policy
_______ allows the programmer to view memory as consisting of multiple address spaces.
Paging
Locality
Segmentation
Resident set management
_______ is transparent to the programmer and eliminates external fragmentation providing efficient use of main memory.
Hashing
Paging
Segmentation
Thrashing
The _______ determines when a page should be brought into main memory.
Page fault
Fetch policy
Working set
Resident set management
With ______ pages other than the one demanded by a page fault are brought in.
Slab allocation
Thrashing
Hashing
Prepaging
The _______ policy results in the fewest number of page faults.
Optimal
FIFO
Clock
LRU
A _______ chooses only among the resident pages of the process that generated the page fault in selecting a page to replace.
Global replacement policy
Page replacement policy
Local replacement policy
Page placement policy
The _______ algorithm requires a use bit to be associated with each page in memory.
Page placement
Working set
VSWS
Page fault frequency
_______ is where modified process pages can be written out at the time of replacement, or a precleaning policy can be used, which clusters the output activity by writing out a number of pages at once.
Load control
Cleaning policy
Placement policy
Replacement policy
_______ is the concept associated with determining the number of processes that will be resident in main memory.
Virtual memory manager
Page fault frequency
LRU policy
Load Control
The processor controls the operation of the computer and performs its data processing functions.
True
False
It is not possible for a communications interrupt to occur while a printer interrupt is being processed.
True
False
A system bus transfers data between the computer and its external environment.
True
False
Cache memory is invisible to the OS.
True
False
With interrupts, the processor can not be engaged in executing other instructions while an I/O operation is in progress.
True
False
Digital Signal Processors deal with streaming signals such as audio and video.
True
False
The fetched instruction is loaded into the Program Counter.
True
False
Interrupts are provided primarily as a way to improve processor utilization.
True
False
The interrupt can occur at any time and therefore at any point in the execution of a user program.
True
False
Over the years memory access speed has consistently increased more rapidly than processor speed.
True
False
An SMP can be defined as a stand-alone computer system with two or more similar processors of comparable capability.
True
False
The Program Status Word contains status information in the form of condition codes, which are bits typically set by the programmer as a result of program operation.
True
False
An example of a multicore system is the Intel Core i7.
True
False
In a two-level memory hierarchy the Hit Ratio is defined as the fraction of all memory accesses found in the slower memory.
True
False
The operating system acts as an interface between the computer hardware and the human user.
True
False
An OS should be constructed in such a way as to permit the effective development, testing, and introduction of new system functions without interfering with service.
True
False
The OS masks the details of the hardware from the programmer and provides the programmer with a convenient interface for using the system.
True
False
The ABI gives a program access to the hardware resources and services available in a system through the user ISA.
True
False
The OS frequently relinquishes control and must depend on the processor to allow it to regain control.
True
False
One of the driving forces in operating system evolution is advancement in the underlying hardware technology.
True
False
The processor itself is not a resource so the OS is not involved in determining how much of the processor time is devoted to the execution of a user program
True
False
A process consists of three components: an executable program, the associated data needed by the program, and the execution context of the program.
True
False
Uniprogramming typically provides better utilization of system resources than multiprogramming.
True
False
A monolithic kernel is implemented as a single process with all elements sharing the same address space.
True
False
The user has direct access to the processor with a batch-processing type of OS.
True
False
Both batch processing and time-sharing use multiprogramming.
True
False
The phrase "control is passed to a job" means that the processor is now fetching and executing instructions from the monitor program.
True
False
In a time-sharing system, a user's program is preempted at regular intervals, but due to relatively slow human reaction time this occurrence is usually transparent to the user.
True
False
The principle objective of Batch Multiprogramming is to minimize response time.
True
False
Virtualization technology enables a single PC or server to simultaneously run multiple operating systems or multiple sessions of a single OS.
True
False
A computer platform consists of a collection of hardware resources, such as the processor, main memory, I/O modules, timers, and disk drives.
True
False
For efficiency, applications should be written directly for a given hardware platform.
True
False
A design change in the structure or semantics of the process control block could affect a number of modules in the OS.
True
False
The process control block is the key tool that enables the OS to support multiple processes and to provide for multiprocessing.
True
False
It is not the responsibility of the operating system to control the execution of processes.
True
False
The first step in designing an OS to control processes is to describe the behavior that we would like the processes to exhibit.
True
False
The OS may create a process on behalf of an application.
True
False
Swapping is not an I/O operation so it will not enhance performance.
True
False
If a system does not employ virtual memory each process to be executed must be fully loaded into main memory.
True
False
. A process that is not in main memory is immediately available for execution, regardless of whether or not it is awaiting an event.
True
False
The OS may suspend a process if it detects or suspects a problem.
True
False
All processor designs include a register or set of registers, often known as the program status word, which contains status information.
True
False
The process control block is the least important data structure in an OS.
True
False
A process switch may occur any time that the OS has gained control from the currently running process.
True
False
The principal function of the OS is to create, manage, and terminate processes.
True
False
The central themes of operating system design are all concerned with the management of processes and threads.
True
False
It is possible in a single-processor system to not only interleave the execution of multiple processes but also overlap them
True
False
As an extension of the principles of modular design and structured programming, some applications can be effectively programmed as a set of concurrent processes.
True
False
Race condition is a situation in which two or more processes continuously change their states in response to changes in the other process(es) without doing any useful work.
True
False
The sharing of main memory among processes is useful to permit efficient and close interaction among processes because such sharing does not leads to many problems.
True
False
When processes cooperate by communication, the various processes participate in a common effort that links all of the processes.
True
False
Atomicity guarantees isolation from concurrent processes.
True
False
Concurrent processes do not come into conflict with each other when they are competing for the use of the same resource.
True
False
Two or more processes can cooperate by means of simple signals, such that a process can be forced to stop at a specified place until it has received a specific signal.
True
False
The functioning of a process, and the output it produces, must be independent of the speed at which its execution is carried out relative to the speed of other concurrent processes.
True
False
A process that is waiting for access to a critical section does not consume processor time.
True
False
The case of cooperation by sharing covers processes that interact with other processes without being explicitly aware of them.
True
False
It is possible for one process to lock the mutex and for another process to unlock it.
True
False
On of the most common problems faced in concurrent processing is the producer/consumer problem.
True
False
Processes need to be synchronized to enforce mutual exclusion.
True
False
Deadlock is permanent because none of the events is ever triggered
True
False
All deadlocks involve conflicting needs for resources by two or more processes
True
False
Interrupts, signals, messages, and information in IO buffers are all examples of reusable resources
True
False
A useful tool in characterizing the allocation of resources to processes is the resource allocation graph
True
False
For deadlock to occur, there must not only be a fatal region, but also a sequence of resource requests that has led into the fatal region
True
False
An indirect method of deadlock prevention is to prevent the occurrence of a circular wait
True
False
If access to a resource requires mutual exclusion then mutual exclusion must be supported by the OS
True
False
The OS may preempt the second process and require it to release its resources if a process requests a resource that is currently held by another process
True
False
Deadlock avoidance requires knowledge of future process resource requests
True
False
An unsafe state is one in which there is at least one sequence of resource allocations to process that does not result in a deadlock
True
False
An atomic operation executes without interruption and without interference
True
False
Deadlock avoidance is more restrictive than deadlock prevention
True
False
The dining philosophers problem can be representative of problems dealing with the coordination of shared resources which may occur when an application includes concurrent threads of execution
True
False
A signal is similar to a hardware interrupt but does not employ priorities
True
False
A mutex is used to ensure that only one thread at a time can access the resource protected by the mutex
True
False
In a uniprogramming system main memory is divided into two parts.
True
False
The use of unequal size partitions provides a degree of flexibility to fixed partitioning.
True
False
Programs in other processes should not be able to reference memory locations in a process for reading or writing purposes without permission.
True
False
In a multiprogramming system the available main memory is not generally shared among a number of processes.
True
False
The memory protection requirement must be satisfied by the operating system rather than the processor.
True
False
Any protection mechanism must have the flexibility to allow several processes to access the same portion of main memory.
True
False
Secondary memory provides fast access at relatively high cost.
True
False
A hardware mechanism is needed for translating relative addresses to physical main memory addresses at the time of execution of the instruction that contains the reference.
True
False
In a multiprogramming environment the programmer knows at the time of coding how much space will be available and where that space will be.
True
False
Overlay programming wastes programmer time.
True
False
The principal operation of memory management is to bring processes into main memory for execution by the processor.
True
False
A physical address is the location of a word relative to the beginning of the program and the processor translates that into a logical address.
True
False
The best-fit algorithm is usually the worst performer.
True
False
All segments of all programs must be of the same length.
True
False
Segmentation does not eliminate internal fragmentation.
True
False
The size of virtual storage is limited by the actual number of main storage locations.
True
False
The addresses a program may use to reference memory are distinguished from the addresses the memory system uses to identify physical storage sites.
True
False
Most of the memory management issues confronting the operating system designer are in the area of paging when segmentation is combined with paging.
True
False
Segmentation is not visible to the programmer.
True
False
The placement policy determines where in real memory a process piece is to reside.
True
False
Virtual memory allows for very effective multiprogramming and relieves the user of the unnecessarily tight constraints of main memory.
True
False
The principle of locality states that program and data references within a process do not tend to cluster.
True
False
The smaller the page size, the greater the amount of internal fragmentation.
True
False
The design issue of page size is related to the size of physical main memory and program size.
True
False
Segments may be of unequal, indeed dynamic, size.
True
False
The page currently stored in a frame may still be replaced even when the page is locked.
True
False
The PFF policy evaluates the working set of a process at sampling instances based on elapsed virtual time.
True
False
One way to counter the potential performance problems of a variable-allocation global scope policy is to use page buffering.
True
False
A precleaning policy writes modified pages before their page frames are needed so that pages can be written out in batches.
True
False
UNIX is intended to be machine independent; therefore its memory management scheme will vary from one system to the next.
True
False
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