1. Which of the following would contain data that is being manipulated by the CPU?
a. a cell in RAM b. a hard disk sector or track
c. a cell in cache memory d. a general purpose register
e. the program counter register
2. Pipelining increases processor speed by
a. very little b. a factor of 2 to 3
c. exactly a factor of 3 d. more than a factor of 3
e. a factor of 3 if it is a RISC architecture or 6 if it is CISC
3. Use of a microprogram in a CISC architecture
a. increases the complexity of circuits on the chip
b. decreases the complexity of circuits on the chip
c. creates an elaborate instruction set using a simpler set
d. allows a computer program to be simpler by having parts of it pre-written
e. b. and c.
4. Which of the following contains the address of the next instruction to be executed?
a. a cell in RAM b. a hard disk sector or track
c. a cell in cache memory d. a general purpose register
e. the program counter register
5. A process switch is carried out by which part of the operating system?
a. shell or user interface b. file manager
c. memory manager d. scheduler
e. dispatcher
6. Spooling output to disk rather than sending it directly to a printer eliminates which of the conditions for deadlock?
a. competition for resources
b. resources requested on a partial basis
c. once allocated a resource cannot be forcefully retrieved
7. Timesharing increases throughput only
a. if the CPU can execute instructions from more than one program in
parallel (i.e. at the same time)
b. if the programs running are using the same data
c. if each program can be completed in sequence one after the other
d. if the CPU is idle at times while waiting for peripheral devices to
complete tasks
e. it doesn't increase throughput, it increases CPU speed
8. Which of the following characteristics is permitted in a program that can execute in interactive processing mode, but is not permitted in batch mode:
a. may obtain input data from mass storage
b. may consist only of arithmetic/logic and control types of machine
instructions.
c. all data must be in main memory.
d. may obtain data directly from the user
e. b. and c.
9. The interrupt signal is generated by which part of the operating system?
a. shell or user interface b. file manager
c. memory manager d. scheduler
e. dispatcher
Question B
Given the following assembly language program, answer the 3 questions below:
READ
STORE 01
yy READ
BRANCHZ zz
STORE 02
SUB 01
BRANCHP xx
BRANCH yy
xx LOAD 02
STORE 01
BRANCH yy
zz LOAD 01
PRINT
STOP
1. [3] What would be the values of the operands xx, yy, and zz if the program was loaded in consecutive memory cells starting at cell 40
xx: _________ yy:__________ zz: ________
2.[2] Explain why if this program was stored in memory starting at cell 40 it could not use the instruction STORE 51
3.[2] If the program was stored in memory starting at cell 40 and the program counter contains 47, write down the instruction that is fetched next.
Answer:
4. [3] The three steps of the machine cycle are:
a. ________ b. ________ c. ________
5. [2] A load instruction and a branch (or jump) instruction both require the address of a memory cell as an operand. Explain how the contents of the memory is different in the two cases.
Question C
1. [2] Which layer of the operating system do you interact with when you double click on an application icon to launch it ?
2. [2] A technique that allows the user access to the machine during program execution is called (?)
3. [2] Describe the relationship between a field, a file and a record.
a. a cell in RAM b. a hard disk sector or track
c. a cell in cache memory d. a general purpose register
e. the program counter register
2. Pipelining increases processor speed by
a. very little b. a factor of 2 to 3
c. exactly a factor of 3 d. more than a factor of 3
e. a factor of 3 if it is a RISC architecture or 6 if it is CISC
3. Use of a microprogram in a CISC architecture
a. increases the complexity of circuits on the chip
b. decreases the complexity of circuits on the chip
c. creates an elaborate instruction set using a simpler set
d. allows a computer program to be simpler by having parts of it pre-written
e. b. and c.
4. Which of the following contains the address of the next instruction to be executed?
a. a cell in RAM b. a hard disk sector or track
c. a cell in cache memory d. a general purpose register
e. the program counter register
5. A process switch is carried out by which part of the operating system?
a. shell or user interface b. file manager
c. memory manager d. scheduler
e. dispatcher
6. Spooling output to disk rather than sending it directly to a printer eliminates which of the conditions for deadlock?
a. competition for resources
b. resources requested on a partial basis
c. once allocated a resource cannot be forcefully retrieved
7. Timesharing increases throughput only
a. if the CPU can execute instructions from more than one program in
parallel (i.e. at the same time)
b. if the programs running are using the same data
c. if each program can be completed in sequence one after the other
d. if the CPU is idle at times while waiting for peripheral devices to
complete tasks
e. it doesn't increase throughput, it increases CPU speed
8. Which of the following characteristics is permitted in a program that can execute in interactive processing mode, but is not permitted in batch mode:
a. may obtain input data from mass storage
b. may consist only of arithmetic/logic and control types of machine
instructions.
c. all data must be in main memory.
d. may obtain data directly from the user
e. b. and c.
9. The interrupt signal is generated by which part of the operating system?
a. shell or user interface b. file manager
c. memory manager d. scheduler
e. dispatcher
Question B
Given the following assembly language program, answer the 3 questions below:
READ
STORE 01
yy READ
BRANCHZ zz
STORE 02
SUB 01
BRANCHP xx
BRANCH yy
xx LOAD 02
STORE 01
BRANCH yy
zz LOAD 01
STOP
1. [3] What would be the values of the operands xx, yy, and zz if the program was loaded in consecutive memory cells starting at cell 40
xx: _________ yy:__________ zz: ________
2.[2] Explain why if this program was stored in memory starting at cell 40 it could not use the instruction STORE 51
3.[2] If the program was stored in memory starting at cell 40 and the program counter contains 47, write down the instruction that is fetched next.
Answer:
4. [3] The three steps of the machine cycle are:
a. ________ b. ________ c. ________
5. [2] A load instruction and a branch (or jump) instruction both require the address of a memory cell as an operand. Explain how the contents of the memory is different in the two cases.
Question C
1. [2] Which layer of the operating system do you interact with when you double click on an application icon to launch it ?
2. [2] A technique that allows the user access to the machine during program execution is called (?)
3. [2] Describe the relationship between a field, a file and a record.
