CSCI 1300 MWF Test #2 Study Guide

The basic format of the second test is a two-part test:

• The first part will be multiple choice, to be answered on a GREEN Scantron sheet. Please make sure you have the appropriate Scantron sheet and at least one #2 pencil with you. This part of the test will be closed-book, closed-notes, no electronic devices allowed.
• The second part of the test will consist of one or more problems to solve. These problems will be either brief essay/discussion questions and/or small problems to solve. You will be allowed to use your book and notes on this part of the test. Some of these problems may also require the use of the computer.

Questions on the exam will come from multiple sources:

• Textbook readings
• Powerpoint slides and lectures
• Supplemental readings as listed in the course schedule/unit guides, particularly for essays

To do well on the exam, it is important that you:

• Read each question carefully.
• Answer only the question that is asked; particularly with the second part, do not spend your time trying to do more than the problem states.
• Ask the proctor (that should be me) to clarify any question that you don't understand.

Major topics

• Low-level hardware concepts
  • Boolean logic (AND, OR, NOT) -- know how it works
  • Gates (AND, OR, NOT, XOR, NAND, NOR) -- know how each works, appropriate symbols
  • Representation methods -- Boolean expressions, truth tables, logic diagrams. Be able to go from one to the other two.
  • Circuits
    • Construction from gates -- take an expression and create a truth table or logic diagram, take a logic diagram and create a truth table or expression.
    • Sequential versus combinational circuits
• System-level hardware concepts (Chapter 5)
  • CPUs and their components
    • ALU -- purpose, operations carried out
    • Control unit -- purpose, interaction with other component
    • Registers -- purpose of each
  • The fetch-decode-execute cycle (basics, not details)
  • The von Neumann architecture and the stored program concept
  • Memory (including RAM, ROM/BIOS) -- characteristics and function of each
  • Peripheral devices (input/output, secondary storage)
    • Direct versus sequential access auxiliary storage devices
    • Major uses of each type of access(especially archival storage importance)
• General Software concepts
  • Definition of software -- instructions controlling/using hardware
  • Systems software vs. applications software -- uses, relationship
• Operating systems (Chapter 10)
  • Purpose and functionality
  • Batch processing and timesharing -- characteristics and differences
  • Memory management techniques
    • single contiguous,
    • partitioned (fixed and dynamic),
    • paged;
    • calculate physical address of a byte of data from logical address of data within program for each method
  • Process management techniques -- process control block contents, context switching process
  • CPU scheduling issues and techniques
    • FCFS,
    • shortest job next,
    • Round Robin algorithms;
    • difference between preemptive and nonpreemptive techniques;
    • show order of processing a group of jobs for each method