Introduction to Computer System and Operating System - Practice Flashcards

A set of practice flashcards covering key concepts from the lecture notes on computer systems and operating systems.

What does the Von Neumann architecture consist of?

Control Unit (CU), Arithmetic and Logic Unit (ALU), Memory Unit, Registers, and Inputs/Outputs.

What is the stored-program computer concept?

Instruction data and program data are stored in the same memory.

What is another name for the CPU?

The microprocessor or processor.

What does MAR stand for and what does it hold?

Memory Address Register; holds the memory location of data that needs to be accessed.

What does MDR stand for and what does it hold?

Memory Data Register; holds data that is being transferred to or from memory.

What does AC stand for and what is it used for?

Accumulator; stores intermediate arithmetic and logic results.

What does PC stand for and what does it contain?

Program Counter; contains the address of the next instruction to be executed.

What does CIR stand for and what does it contain?

Current Instruction Register; contains the current instruction during processing.

What are the three buses in a standard CPU system bus?

Control bus, Data bus, and Address bus.

What components does the Memory Unit consist of?

RAM (Random Access Memory) and ROM (Read Only Memory); RAM is primary memory and partitions store data; ROM stores firmware.

Name some input devices listed in the notes.

Keyboard, Microphone, Scanner, Mouse, Trackball, Touchpad, Barcode/QR code readers, Digital Camera.

Name some output devices listed in the notes.

Screen/Monitor, Data Projectors, Speaker/Headphones, Printer, Plotter, Cutter.

What is bootstrap (BIOS) in the context of a computer boot?

Code stored in ROM that initializes the system and loads the OS during startup.

How is an Operating System defined in these notes?

A program that controls the execution of other programs, acting as an intermediary between software and hardware to provide efficiency, usability, and abstraction.

What are the primary objectives of an operating system?

Efficiency (responsiveness), ease of usability, and the ability to abstract and extend to new devices and software.

What are the two main pieces an OS typically has?

A kernel (core, resident in memory) and libraries/tools shipped with the OS.

What are OS categories by usage types?

Batch, Time Sharing, Parallel-Distributed, Network, Real-Time.

What are OS categories by design/supported features?

Monolithic, Modular, and Micro-service based.

What are the responsibilities of an OS as described in the notes?

Run and facilitate different applications, manage conflicts, provide security/authentication/authorization, and abstract the hardware to enable seamless execution.

What is a Process in OS terminology?

A program in execution; assigned a process ID and tracked by the Process Control Block (PCB).

What is a Process Control Block (PCB) and what does it contain?

A data structure that includes process state, priority, program counter, CPU registers, memory management info, I/O status, and accounting information.

What is Context Switching?

Pausing the currently executing process, saving its context, switching to a new process, and restoring the context when the new process runs.

What are the common process states listed in the notes?

New, Running, Waiting, Ready, Terminated/Exit.

What are Scheduling Queues in OS scheduling?

Ready queue, Waiting queue, and Job queue.

What is a Thread and how does it relate to a Process?

A lightweight process that can run within a process; has its own PCB, program counter, and registers; enables parallelism.Threads share the same memory and resources of their parent process, allowing for efficient execution.

What is Memory Management and address binding?

Managing memory for processes; mapping logical/virtual addresses to physical addresses to support loading/swapping and relocation.

What is Virtual Memory?

A memory management technique that maps virtual addresses to physical memory, enabling more apparent memory than physically available.

What are the Inter-Process Communication (IPC) methods described?

Shared memory and Message passing.