Test Bank—Chapter Three (Operating Systems)
Multiple Choice Questions
1. Which of the following components of an operating system maintains the directory system?
A. Device drivers B. File manager C. Memory manager
2. Which of the following components of an operating system handles the details associated with particular
peripheral equipment?
A. Device drivers B. File manager C. Memory manager
3. Which of the following components of an operating system is not part of the kernel?
A. User Interface B. File manager C. Scheduler
4. Multitasking in a computer with only one CPU is accomplished by a technique called
A. Bootstrapping B. Batch processing C. Multiprogramming
5. Execution of an operating system is initiated by a program called the
A. Window manager B. Scheduler C. Boot loader
6. The end of a time slice is indicted by the occurrence of a signal called
A. An interrupt B. A semaphore C. A login
7. A section of a program that should be executed by at most one process at a time is called a
A. Utility B. Critical region C. Privileged instruction
8. Which of the following is not an attempt to provide security?
A. Passwords B. Privilege levels C. Multitasking
9. Which of the following items of information would not be contained in an operating system’s process
table?
A. The location of the memory area assigned to the process
B. The priority of each process
C. Whether the process is ready or waiting
D. The machine language instructions being executed by the process
10. Which of the following events is detrimental to an operating system’s performance?
A. Deadlock B. Interrupt C. Booting
11. Which of the following is a technique for controlling access to a critical region?
A. Spooling B. Time sharing C. Semaphore D. Booting
12. Which of the following is not involved in a context switch?
A. Interrupt B. Process table C. Dispatcher D. User Interface
13. Which of the following concepts is not associated with critical regions?
A. Semaphores B. Mutual exclusion C. Bootstrap
14. Which of the following is not a role of a typical operating system?
A. Control the allocation of the machine’s resources
B. Control access to the machine
C. Maintain records regarding files stored in mass storage
D. Assist the computer user in the task of processing digital photographs
15. Which of the following is a task that is not performed by the kernel of an operating system?
A. Communicate with the user B. Schedule processes
C. Allocate resources D. Avoid deadlock
16. Which of the following is not a means of performing multiple activities at the same time?
A. Pipeling B. Multiprogramming C. Virtual memory D. Multiple processors
17. Which of the following components of an operating system is executed as the result of an interrupt
signal?
A. Dispatcher B. Memory manager C. File manager
18. Which of the following would be a concern of the file manager in a multi-user computer system that
would not be a concern in a single-user system?
A. Maintain records regarding the location of files
B. Maintain records regarding the ownership of files
C. Maintain records regarding the size of files
D. None of the above
19. Which of the following would not require real-time processing?
A. Typing a document with a word processor
B. Navigation of an aircraft
C. Forecasting world-wide trend for the next five year period
D. Maintaining a airline reservation system
20. Which of the following statements is true?
A. Allowing several processes to share time in a multiprogramming system is less efficient than
executing each of them to completion one after the other.
B. The use of passwords provides an impenetrable safeguard.
C. Both A and B
D. Neither A not B
Fill-in-the-blank/Short-answer Questions
1. Suppose an operating system allocates time slices in 10 millisecond units and the time required for a
context switch is negligible.
A. How many processes can obtain a time slice in one second?
____________
B. How many processes can obtain a time slice in one second if half of them use only half of their
slice?
____________
2. If it takes one microsecond to perform a context switch and processes use only half of their allotted 10
millisecond time slices, what percent of a CPUs time is spent performing context switches rather than
executing processes?
____________
3. In contrast to early batch processing techniques, ____________________ allows the user to
communicate with the computer while the user’s application is being executed. In turn, this type of
processing requires that the computer’s responses to its environment be performed in a timely manner, a
requirement known as _______________________ .
4. Fill in the blanks below with the part on the operating system (file manager, memory manager, device
drivers, window manager, scheduler, dispatcher) that performs the activity described.
A. _______________ Maintains a record of what is displayed on the computer’s screen
B. _______________ Performs the switching from one process to another
C. _______________ Maintains the directory system
D. _______________ Creates virtual memory
5. Fill in the blanks below with the part on the operating system (file manager, memory manager, device
drivers, window manager, scheduler, dispatcher) that performs the activity described.
A. _______________ Places new entries in the process table
B. _______________ Performs the actual communication with I/O units
C. _______________ Maintains a record of memory allocations
D. _______________ Protects files from unauthorized access
6. Fill in the blanks below with the part on the operating system (file manager, memory manager, device
drivers, window manager, scheduler, dispatcher) that performs the activity described.
A. _______________ Executes each time a time slice terminates
B. _______________ Removes entries from the process table
C. _______________ Maintains a record of available mass storage space
D. _______________ Displays icons on the computer screen
7. In each blank below write a term that might be considered the opposite of the term next to the blank.
A. _______________ Interactive processing
B. _______________ System software
C. _______________ Waiting process
8. What action is performed as a result of executing each of the following types of instructions?
A. Test-and-set ______________________________________________________
B. Interrupt disable ___________________________________________________
C. Interrupt enable ___________________________________________________
9. Which necessary condition for deadlock is removed by each of the following.
A. Require processes to request all required resources at once.
________________________________________________________________
B. Allow only one process at a time in the process table.
________________________________________________________________
C. Take all resources from processes when deadlock occurs and restart the processes.
________________________________________________________________
10. List four resources whose access an operating system should coordinate.
A. ___________________________ B. _____________________________
C. ___________________________ D. _____________________________
11. What problem could occur if, to allow more processes to share time in a multiprogramming
environment, an operating system is designed to use very short time slices?
________________________________________________________________________
12. What is meant by the term load balancing in the context of multiprocessor computers?
________________________________________________________________________
13. A ______________ is a set of instructions. In contrast, a ________________ is the activity of
executing those instructions.
14. List three features provided by modern CPUs that are used by operating systems to implement
multitasking environments.
A. ___________________
B. ___________________
C. ___________________
15. List three popular operating systems.
A. ___________________
B. ___________________
C. ___________________
16. List three popular smartphone operating systems.
A. ___________________
B. ___________________
C. ___________________
Vocabulary (Matching) Questions
The following is a list of terms from the chapter along with descriptive phrases that can be used to produce
questions (depending on the topics covered in your course) in which the students are ask to match phrases
and terms. An example would be a question of the form, “In the blank next to each phrase, write the term
from the following list that is best described by the phrase.”
Term Descriptive Phrase
user interface The part of an operating system that communicates with the user
multiprogramming A technique that allows multiprocessing on a computer with a single
CPU
time sharing The act of more than one user using a computer at the same time
process The activity of executing a program
queue A storage system in which the first entry in is the first entry out
virtual memory Extended storage space created by the memory manager
ROM Memory area whose contents cannot be altered
firmware Software associated with booting and fundamental startup tasks that
resides in non-volatile memory
multitasking The phenomenon of a user performing more than one activity at the
same time
interactive processing Allows the user to communicate with the computer system while the
user’s application is being performed
deadlock A situation in which activities find themselves waiting on each other
GUI A means of communicating with a computer user by means of images
rather than words
mutual exclusion The requirement that a process complete a block of instructions before
another process is allowed to start the block
boot loader The program first executed when a computer is turned on
directory path A sequence of folders each containing the next
kernel The heart of an operating system
interrupt A signal that suspends the CPU’s current activities
auditing software A tool used to monitor a computer system’s activities
privilege levels A means of restricting the capabilities of different processes
General Format Questions
1. Explain the difference between application software and system software.
2. Describe a scenario that leads to deadlock in a computer system.
3. What conditions are necessary for deadlock to occur?
4. What are privileged instructions?
5. What is the difference between a process that is waiting as opposed to a process that is ready?
6. Describe the bootstrap process.
7. Why is a “test–and-set” instruction included in most machine languages for CPUs designed for
multitasking environments?
8. Explain why the average length of a time slice would be reduced if the processes in an operating
system’s process table perform lots of I/O operations.
9. In the sense of the term virtual memory, give an argument that multiprogramming creates virtual CPUs.
10. Describe concerns that occur when designing a time-sharing/multitasking operating system that do not
occur in the case of a single tasking system.
11. Describe how the widespread availability of multi-core processors effects operating systems.