Deck 1: Exploring Operating Systems and Distributed Computing: a Comprehensive Overview

Question 1

Networks of computers have become so powerful that they are used to:

A) model the Earth's climate
B) emulate human intelligence
C) construct lifelike 3D animations
D) all of the above

Answer 1

all of the above

Question 2

Operating systems can be found in which of the following devices?

A) MP3 players
B) automobiles
C) cell phones
D) all of the above

Answer 2

all of the above

Question 3

Which of the following statements about computing in the 1940s and 1950s is false?

A) The earliest digital computers of the 1940s and 1950s included operating systems.
B) Programmers often entered programs in machine language one bit at time using mechanical switches.
C) Machine-language programs could be entered using punched cards.
D) all of the above

Answer 3

all of the above

Question 4

Which of the following statements about the single-stream batch-processing systems of the 1950s is false?

A) Jobs typically required extensive user input during program execution.
B) Jobs could run for days at a time.
C) Programs were submitted in groups or batches.
D) An entire program had to be loaded into memory for the program to run.

Question 5

________ jobs in a multiprogramming computer system mainly use peripheral devices to perform their tasks.

A) processor-bound
B) compute-bound
C) I/O-bound
D) none of the above

Question 6

Which of the following was a benefit of the timesharing systems of the 1960s?

A) Multiple interactive users could operate simultaneously.
B) Timesharing made it possible for real-time systems to provide quick results to users.
C) The average turnaround time decreased significantly.
D) all of the above

Question 7

Ken Thompson and Dennis Ritchie designed the high-level language ________ specifically to implement the UNIX operating system.

A) Java
B) C
C) Visual Basic
D) C++

Question 8

During the 1970s, communication throughout the United States and across local area networks increased due to the proliferation of the Department of Defense's ________ communication standards and Xerox's ________ standard.

A) HTTP, TCP/IP
B) POP, Ethernet
C) TCP/IP, Ethernet
D) Ethernet, TCP/IP

Question 9

In the 1980s, software such as spreadsheet programs, word processors, database packages and graphics packages helped drive the ________ revolution by creating demand from businesses that could use these products to increase their productivity.

A) mainframe computing
B) distributed computing
C) timesharing
D) personal computing

Question 10

In a distributed computing environment, clients are ________.

A) user computers that request remote services
B) computers that perform requested services
C) often dedicated to one type of task, such as rendering graphics or managing databases
D) none of the above

Question 11

The ________ is the grandparent of today's Internet.

A) Ethernet
B) World Wide Web
C) ARPAnet
D) TCP/IP protocol

Question 12

The ________ helps ensure that messages are properly routed from sender to receiver and that the messages arrive intact.

A) Internet Protocol (IP)
B) The Ethernet standard
C) HyperText Markup Language (HTML)
D) Transmission Control Protocol (TCP)

Question 13

Tim Berners-Lee developed the ________ in 1990.

A) Internet
B) World Wide Web (WWW)
C) graphical user interface (GUI)
D) TCP/IP standard

Question 14

The development of the Internet and World Wide Web made ________ commonplace among personal computers.

A) object-oriented programming
B) supercomputing
C) distributed computing
D) open-source software

Question 15

The source code of ________ software is distributed freely, allowing programmers to examine and modify the software before compiling and executing it.

A) free
B) proprietary
C) open-source
D) all of the above

Question 16

________ encompass a set of standards that allow applications to exchange data via the Internet.

A) Web services
B) Web browsers
C) Distributed computing
D) none of the above

Question 17

A system that exhibits massive parallelism ________.

A) has one processor that performs many independent parts of computations at the same time
B) has a large number of processors that perform many independent parts of computations in parallel
C) communicates over a network to supply a specific set of operations that other applications can invoke
D) none of the above

Question 18

A(n) ________ allows programmers to perform complicated system tasks simply by calling predefined functions.

A) system call
B) application programming interface (API)
C) Web service
D) none of the above

Question 19

An application base is the combination of the ________ and operating system environment in which applications are developed.

A) hardware
B) software
C) both a and b
D) neither a nor b

Question 20

________ systems are characterized by a minimal amount of code, specialized power management resources and user-friendly interfaces.

A) Real-time
B) Mission-critical
C) Embedded
D) Virtual

Question 21

Virtual machines promote ________, the ability for software to run on multiple platforms.

A) scalability
B) extensibility
C) portability
D) security

Question 22

A user may interact with an operating system via an application such as ________.

A) an API
B) a command-line interpreter
C) a graphical user interface (GUI)
D) either b or c

Question 23

The ________ is the part of the operating system that determines when and for how long a process executes.

A) processor scheduler
B) disk scheduler
C) interprocess communication manager
D) file system manager

Question 24

An efficient operating system generally achieves ________ throughput and ________ average turnaround time.

A) high, high
B) high, low
C) low, high
D) low, low

Question 25

A(n) ________ operating system can adapt well to new technologies and can be modified to perform tasks beyond its original design; a(n) ________ operating system is designed to operate on many hardware configurations.

A) robust, portable
B) extensible, portable
C) scalable, extensible
D) extensible, robust

Question 26

Which type of system features direct intercommunication between every component, making the system highly efficient?

A) monolithic operating system
B) layered operating system
C) microkernel operating system
D) distributed operating system

Question 27

Which of the following statements about layered operating systems is true?

A) Layered operating systems group components that perform similar functions into layers.
B) Layered operating systems are easier to modify than monolithic operating systems.
C) User processes' requests may need to interact with multiple layers, resulting in slower performance than in a monolithic system.
D) all of the above.

Question 28

In a microkernel architecture, the kernel typically includes only a small number of services, such as ________; most other services, such as ________, execute outside of the kernel with a lower privilege level.

A) interprocess communication, low-level memory management
B) networking, process management
C) low-level memory management, file system management
D) device management, networking

Question 29

Advantages to distributed systems include:

A) They provide the illusion that multiple computers are a single powerful computer.
B) A process can access any of the system's resources regardless of where it executes.
C) They are easy to implement.
D) Both a and b

Question 30

Sun's ________ enables users to access remote files as if the files were on the local computer.

A) Distributed File System (DFS)
B) Andrew File System
C) Network File System (NFS)
D) Coda File System