COMP 1600

Explain the stored program concept and why it is useful

• The stored-program concept stores both instructions and data in memory, allowing the CPU to fetch and execute instructions sequentially.

• It makes it easier to modify programs, implement high-level languages, and automate instruction sequencing.

Distinguish between SIMD and MIMD architectures

• SIMD executes the same instruction on multiple data items in parallel (e.g. GPU image filtering).

• MIMD executes different instructions on different data simultaneously (e.g. multi-core CPUs).

Two memory cells 6C and 6D each contain integer values. Explain from a computer architecture view point, how the values in the cells can be added.

The CPU reads values from addresses 6C and 6D into registers via the address and data buses, performs the addition in the ALU, and optionally writes the result back to memory.

Carefully explain how the bootloader works

The bootloader initializes hardware via BIOS/UEFI, locates the boot device, loads the OS kernel into memory, and transfers control to the kernel to continue system startup.

What is a critical region

A critical region is a code section that accesses shared resources.

What is an example of a critical region

Example: updating a shared bank account variable.

How can the operating system control access to a critical region

The OS enforces mutual exclusion via locks, semaphores, or atomic operations.

What is the function of the process manager

The process manager adds new processes to the process table and removes completed processes from the process table.