Operating Systems – Midterm Exam

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Question One: 10 marks

Multiple Choice Questions

1. ____ operating systems are designed primarily to maximize resource utilization.

A) PC
B) Handheld computer
C) Mainframe
D) Network

2. Which of the following programs runs all the time on the computer?
A) compiler
B) assembler
C) text editor
D) kernel

3. Which of the following will trigger an interrupt?

A) kernel function
B) software execution
C) CPU execution
D) I/O completion

4. Which of the following is NOT secondary storage device?

A) random access memory
B) solid state disks
C) optical disk
D) magnetic tape

5. Which of the following is nonvolatile?

A) register
B) cache
C) main memory
D) hard-disk drive

6. Which of the following is the denotation of 10243 bytes?

A) KB
B) MB
C) GB
D) TB
7. Which of the following storage medium is the slowest regarding access speed?
A) cache
B) solid state drive
C) register
D) main memory

8. Which of the following technology reduces the overhead for bulk data movement (High speed
of data transfer)?
A) Direct Memory Access (DMA)
B) Non-uniform Memory Access (NUMA)
C) Symmetric Multiprocessing (SMP)
D) Storage Area Network (SAN)

9. If a program terminates abnormally, a dump of memory may be examined by a ____ to

determine the cause of the problem.
A) module
B) debugger
C) shell
D) control card

10. ____________ is a system call include: end, abort, load.

A) file management
B) Process control
C) layer
D) user interface

Question Two 10 marks

Essay Questions

1. Computer systems can be divided into four approximate components. What are they? 3 marks

2. What is a bootstrap program, and where is it stored? 3 marks

3. What are the operating system's two modes of operation. 2 marks

2
5. What two operating systems currently dominate mobile computing? 2 marks

Question Three 10 marks

True/False Questions

1. There is no universally accepted definition of an operating system. (____)

2. Solid state disks are generally faster than magnetic disks. (____)

3. Solid state disks are considered volatile storage. (____)

4. Virtually all modern operating systems provide support for SMP (____)

5. A system call runs in kernel mode only. (____)

6. A system call is triggered by hardware. (____)

7. VMware is a virtual machine manager when it manages guest operating systems. (____)

8. Parameters may be passed to the OS during a system call. (____)

9.Application failure can generate core dump file capturing memory of the process. (____)

10. protection and security are services that exist to ensure efficient OS operation. (____)

Good Luck
Eng. Hussein Ali Shatnawi