Questions and Answers of Computer Architecture

Explain the first-in-first-out dispatch algorithm. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of this algorithm. Is this a preemptive or non-preemptive algorithm?
What are the potential difficulties that can occur when non-preemptive dispatching is used in an interactive system?
What is an event-driven program?
What features characterize threads? How are threads used?
Draw and label the process state diagram used for dispatching work to the CPU. Explain each state and the role of each connector.
Explain the purpose of a spawning operation. What is the result when the spawning operation is complete?
What are user processes? What are system processes?
How does a process differ from a program?
What are the major items found in a process control block?
Where is the first stage of a bootstrap loader for a computer stored? What tasks does it perform?
What is the fundamental purpose of any operating system? What is the role of the file manager? What other basic functions must the operating system be able to perform?
You are given the directory tree in Figure 17E.1. Assume that you are currently located at the point indicated with the arrow labeled (A) in the diagram. What is the relative path name for the file
How does a storage area network differ from a client–server approach to storage?
Windows and Linux use two different methods to identify files on a network. Briefly describe each method.
What is the difference between a relative path name and an absolute path name? How does the system know which one a user is specifying at a particular time?
What is a path name?
What does it mean to mount a volume into a file system?
Describe the contents and format of a free space bitmap.
NTFS file records are made up of components which are also called attributes, although the word has a different meaning. What is an NTFS attribute? What are the contents of an NTFS data attribute?
What operation can a user perform to improve the ratio of contiguous to non-contiguous files in a system?
Briefly explain the concept of linked allocation, non-contiguous file storage. For a file that is stored in blocks 5, 12, 13, 14, 19, 77, and 90, show what a linked allocation might look like.
Describe the challenges faced by a file system when attempting to store files contiguously.
A program file is always read in its entirety. Would this file be accessed sequentially or randomly or by indexed access? Explain.
Give three examples of file operations that operate only on the directories, not on the files themselves.
Select a directory and list the files in that directory. For each file, determine how many blocks would be required if the block size were to be 512 bytes, 1 KB, 4 KB, and 8KB. Calculate the internal
Give at least three examples of file operations that manipulate the data within the file itself.
Give at least three examples of file operations that operate on the file as a whole.
The physical block or cluster size of a device that holds a file is a trade-off between access speed and wasted space. Explain.
What is a file attribute? Give two or three examples of a file attribute. Where would the file attributes of a particular file be found?
Consider a data file made up of records. Invent a simple file, then draw a table image and a form image that each represent your file. In each of your drawings, identify a record and a field. Is your
The file management system provides a connection between a logical view of files and a physical view of files. What is meant by a “logical view of files”? What is meant by a “physical view of
Identify and explain the purpose of several features provided by an operating system API.
Although Web-based user interfaces are somewhat limited when compared to CLIs and GUIs, their use in organizations has grown and continues to grow. What advantages do Web interfaces offer over CLIs
Use the batch file or shell script capability of your system to build a menuing interface that implements the most common commands that you use.
In addition to the commands themselves, command languages provide additional capabilities that are important when a user is not directly involved in the control and execution of each command. Name at
Sketch or “print screen” a typical GUI screen. Label each of the major components on the screen.
Describe the format of a CLI command. What is an operand? What is the difference between a keyword operand and a positional operand?
Describe the user interface provided by a CLI command shell.
Discuss the major trade-offs between a command line interface and a graphical user interface.
What is the advantage of offering the same user interface for applications, user programs, and commands?
What is the purpose of a command language or scripting language?
What effect does the quality of a user interface have on the use and productivity of a computer?
What is the primary purpose for a user interface?
How do real-time systems differ from other types of operating systems?
Describe the organization of a hierarchically structured operating system.
The UNIX kernel is described as a monolithic organization. What does this mean? What are the major challenges presented by a monolithic organization?
What is the purpose of system generation?
What is true of system administration on small personal computers that is usually not true of larger systems or of personal computers within an organization?
Identify at least four different tasks performed by a sysadmin.
Explain what is meant by preemptive and non-preemptive scheduling.
Describe at least two primary tasks performed by the memory management component of an operating system.
Explain the concept of a process. How does a process differ from a program?
If you have access to the system administrator of a large system, find out the steps that are required to perform a sysgen on the system. Also, determine the options that are available for that
Briefly describe at least three of the four major services provided by a file management system.
The basic role of a file management system is to provide a mapping service. Between what and what?
What tasks are performed by device drivers?
Explain dispatching. Describe the two basic methods that are used by operating systems to implement dispatching.
What is the difference between multi-programming and multiprocessing?
Operating systems are said to be event driven. Explain what this means.
What does API stand for? What is the purpose of an API?
What is a diskless workstation or thin client?
What are the memory resident parts of an operating system called? When are these parts loaded into memory?
Explain concurrent processing. Briefly describe at least two services that an operating system must provide to support concurrent processing.
Explain the major error in the following sentence: “One of the major tasks performed by the operating system program is to load and execute programs”.
The definition of an operating system specifies two primary purposes served by the operating system. What are they?
What function is performed by a local domain name server? What is the purpose of the cache in a local domain name server table?
What is a socket?
What does ARP stand for? What task does an ARP perform?
What two major tasks are performed by IP?
Briefly explain what makes it possible for collisions to occur in a bus-or hub-based Ethernet. Then explain how CSMA/CD solves the problem. What performance advantages are offered by using a
What is a MAC address?
Describe briefly each of the tasks that are performed by the two sub-layers of the data link layer.
What is the relationship between neighboring layers in the TCP/IP model? What is the relationship between corresponding layers at the sender and receiver nodes?
What specific task is performed by the physical layer?
Name each of the layers in the TCP/IP-Ethernet set of protocols. Name at least one important protocol in each of the three top layers. What is the major advantage of layering in the network model?
What is the difference between volatile and nonvolatile memory? Is RAM volatile or nonvolatile? Is ROM volatile or nonvolatile?
If the memory register for a particular computer is 32 bits wide, how much memory can this computer support?
Explain the relationship between the memory address register, the memory data register, and memory itself.
There are four primary operations that are normally performed on a register. Describe each operation.
When a value is copied from one register to another, what happens to the value in the source register? What happens to the value in the destination register?
What is the purpose of the instruction register?What takes the place of the instruction register in the LMC?
What is a register? Be precise. Name at least two components in the LMC that meet the qualifications for a register. Name several different kinds of values that a register might hold.
What does ALU stand for? What is its corresponding component in the Little Man Computer? What does CU stand for? What is its corresponding LMC component?
Explain each step of the fetch part of the fetch–execute cycle. At the end of the fetch operation, what is the status of the instruction? Specifically, what has the fetch operation achieved that
Registers perform a very important role in the fetch–execute cycle. What is the function of registers in the fetch–execute instruction cycle?
As indicated in the chapter text, any wave can be represented as a sum of sine waves of various frequencies, amplitudes, and phases. This problem explores the effects of channel bandwidth, shape of
a. A simple TV cable converter converts the TV signal of a channel on the cable to channel 3 for reception on the TV set. A clever viewer notices that she can pick up the adjacent channel that is
a. The Doppler effect is the varying frequency of the sound made by a train whistle as the train approaches and then moves away from you. The Doppler effect is also used to measure the speed of stars
On a sheet of graph paper, draw an FSK waveform that represents the following waveform. The carrier frequency of a 0 is 1000 Hz, and that of a 1 is 2000 Hz. The data rate is 500 bps.
Consider a message that is made up of a sequence of bits as follows:0111001011010110…Suppose that we transmit this message using a combination of FSK and ASK. Draw wave-forms that would represent
Draw a pair of sine waves that are 45° out of phase.
Draw a picture illustrating frequency-hopping spread spectrum.
Explain the relationship between QAM with phase and amplitude modulation.
What factors contribute to the high data capacity of fiber-optic cable?
Coaxial cable, twisted pair, and untwisted pair are examples of what type of medium?
What is the relationship between the data capacity of a channel and its signal-to-noise ratio?
Name a guided medium. Name an unguided medium.
What potential shortcoming of TDM is addressed by statistical TDM?
What problem does Manchester encoding address? What alternative to Manchester encoding is also discussed in this chapter?
When attenuation occurs in an analog signal, what hardware device is used to restore the original signal? When attenuation occurs in a digital signal, what hardware device is used to restore the

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