03 - Operating Systems & Applications | 02. Filesystems

Question 1

What is the filesystem?

Answer 1

The filesystem is the data structure used by the operating system to store and retrieve data.

Question 2

What does the filesystem do?

Answer 2

This is a software abstraction that allows developers to manipulate data without having to be concerned with the minutiae of how each storage device works.

Question 3

T/F | This data is organized into files that are units of storage used to describe a self-contained piece of data. Each file has a format depending on what that file contains. This is indicated by the file’s extension that follows the file’s name.

Answer 3

TRUE

Question 4

What are some common file extensions?

Answer 4

.txt
.doc
.jpg

Question 5

What is the file extension .txt a file type for?

Answer 5

.txt for text files

Question 6

What is the file extension .doc a file type for?

Answer 6

.doc for Microsoft Word files

Question 7

What is the file extension .jpg a file type for?

Answer 7

.jpg for image files encoded using the JPEG compression algorithm

Question 8

What happens after files are created?

Answer 8

Files are organized into directories

Question 9

What is a directory?

Answer 9

A directory is a data structure that contains references to files and other directories. They are typically organized in a hierarchical tree structure called a directory tree.

Question 10

What are some examples of a directory tree?

Answer 10

User > Download > cat.jpg

User > Photos > Grand Canyon > familypicture.jpg

Question 11

T/F | Not only is it expected that files will hold important data, but it is also assumed that a certain amount of metadata is kept to manage these files.

Answer 11

TRUE

Question 12

What does the file control block hold?

Answer 12

The file control block holds all of this metadata for the file, including file permissions, owners, sizes, and create, modified, and access times.

Question 13

Alongside bookkeeping metadata, files can also have attributes that indicate special behavior. What are some common attributes?

Answer 13

1. Hidden
2. Immutable
3. Compressed

Question 14

What is an immutable attribute?

Answer 14

Immutable: Cannot be modified or deleted.

Question 15

What is a hidden attribute?

Answer 15

Hidden: Cannot be viewed by default in file managers.

Question 16

What is a compressed attribute?

Answer 16

Compressed: The file is in a compressed form to save space.

Question 17

Within the file permission are controls for what?

Answer 17

Three main actions that can be performed on a file.

Question 18

What are the three main actions that are performed on a file?

Answer 18

1. Reading
2. Writing
3. Executing