Multiple Choice Questions for Lecture 1

CCM 4320 Network Systems and Services

1) What does the Program Counter (PC) register do?

a) counts the number of bytes in a program
b) counts the number of running programs
c) contains the address of the next instruction of the program
d) counts how many times a program has been swapped out

2) In computer hardware, where is the next command of the program decoded?

a) In the Instruction Register (IR)
b) In the Memory Address Register (MAR)
c) In the Memory Buffer Register (MBR)
d) In the Accumulator (AC)
e) In the Program Status Word Register (PSW)

3) A program needs to subtract two numbers, which hardware element should be

used?
a) The AC
b) The MAR
c) The MBR
d) The IR

4) A program needs to store a value X at memory address Y. It should

a) put X in the MAR and Y in the MBR
b) put Y in the PC and X in the MBR
c) put X in the MBR and Y in the MAR
d) put X in the IR and Y in the MBR

5) A program needs to load a value X from memory address Y. It should

a) put Y in the PC
b) put Y in the MAR
c) put Y in the PSW
d) put Y in the MBR

6) What is the first thing that is done when an interrupts occurs

a) The system jumps to the address of the Interrupt Handler
b) The system turns off the interrupt
c) The system saves the state of the PC and the other registers
d) The system reloads the instruction register

7) Which register is used to indicate whether interrupts are enabled

a) The PC
b) The IR
c) The PSW
d) The MAR
8) Which of the following events will NOT cause an interrupt?
a) Division by zero
b) Execution of an illegal instruction
c) Hardware failure
d) A process switch

9) How is Direct Memory Access (DMA) used?

a) It is used to allow the processor to access the memory
b) It is used to move data between main memory and I/O devices
c) It is used to support external memory devices
d) It is used to allow the processor to communicate with remote memory
devices

10) As we go down the memory hierarchy which statement below is NOT true
a) The cost per bit decreases
b) The capacity increases
c) The speed of access decreases
d) The bandwidth/transfer rates increases

11) A hardware cache such as the L2 cache on the Pentium is located

a) Between the processor and main memory
b) Between main memory and the disk
c) Between the processor and the Video Card
d) Between the processor and the Network Interface Card (NIC)

12) When data is not in the L2 cache, the system

a) Only loads the missing word into the cache
b) Moves data from the disk to main memory
c) Performs a cache-line fill
d) Does a page-table lookup

13) Which of the following services is NOT provided by the Operating System?
a) Program Execution
b) Web Services
c) Access to I/O devices
d) Controlled Access to files

14) Which of the following descriptions about the kernel of the Operating System
is FALSE?
a) It is also called the Nucleus
b) It is part of the operating system in main memory
c) It includes system utilities
d) It contains the most frequently-used functions

15) Multiprogramming is about:

a) Allowing more than one program to be executed at the same time
b) Designing and developing more than one program at the same time
c) Debugging more than one program at the same time
d) Managing more than one PC at the same time
16) Which of the following description of a process is FALSE:
a) A program in execution
b) An instance of a program running on a computer
c) The execution of the scheduler or other parts of the operating system
d) A unit of activity characterized by a single sequential thread of
execution, a current state, and an associated set of system resources

17) Which of the following is not achieved using memory management

a) Synchronization between processes
b) Automatic allocation and management of memory
c) Protection and access control
d) Process isolation

18) Virtual Memory is used to:

a) To extend the amount of physical memory that is being used
b) To improve the performance of the disk
c) To run programs which are much larger than the size of the physical
memory on the machine.
d) To allow machines to communicate over the network

19) Paging is NOT used to:

a) Allow only the parts of the program that are needed at that time to be
in main memory
b) Increase the efficiency of main memory
c) Increase multiprogramming
d) Increase the speed of program execution

20) A memory management unit or MMU is used to

a) Manage the physical memory of the machine
b) Manage the translation between vertical and physical addresses
c) Manage the interface between main memory and the disk
d) Manage the interface between the processor and main memory

21) Which of the following should NOT be part of a microkernel?

a) Address space management
b) Interprocess Communication
c) File System Services
d) Basic scheduling

22) A thread may be defined as:

a) A dispatchable unit of work
b) A process that has finished execution
c) A process with interrupts disabled
d) A fast I/O device

23) A multi-threaded process:

a) Accesses I/O devices directly
b) Controls the L2 cache
c) Allows many threads to be executed in its address space
d) Can modify the system scheduler
24) Which operating system environment can be described as a multi-layered
sandwich?
a) Windows NT/2000/XP
b) VxWorks
c) Unix
d) Solaris

25) Which operating system environment can be described as a multi-layered

onion?
a) Window NT/2000/XP
b) VxWorks
c) Unix
d) Nucleus