Software

Question 1

What are utility programs?

Answer 1

Programs that perform tasks related to the running of a computer, such as defragging

Question 2

What are library programs?

Answer 2

Code that can be called by other programs

Question 3

What is a virtual machine in the general sense?

Answer 3

The concept that all the complexities of using a computer are hidden from the user by the operating system

Question 4

What tasks does the OS carry out?

Answer 4

User interface (explorer.exe, start menu etc), decides which areas of memory to allocate to programs, communicates with hardware

Question 5

What is resource management?

Answer 5

How the OS manages hardware and software to maximise performance

Question 6

What is scheduling and how does it work?

Answer 6

Scheduling is a technique to ensure that different users or different programs are able to run at the same time. Each process is given a time slice in which it can execute instructions. When the time slice is over, the OS moves on to the next program’s time slice. Advanced schedulers allocate more/less time to programs depending on what they’re doing

Question 7

What is the heap?

Answer 7

The area of unallocated memory which the OS allocates to programs. The size of the program determines how much memory the OS will allocate

Question 8

What is virtual memory?

Answer 8

When the PC runs out of memory, secondary storage is used to store data that would normally be stored in RAM.

Question 9

What is paging?

Answer 9

A central part of a program’s code is loaded into RAM, , and other sections of the code (pages) are loaded from the secondary storage when needed

Question 10

[PPQ] Describe two different types of resource management that an operating system is
responsible for

Answer 10

Decides which program’s code to execute when

Allocates RAM to programs that request it