Software (Ch12) (M1)

Question 1

What is system software?

Answer 1

System software is software that governs the computer system

Question 2

Give two functions of system software

Answer 2

Functions of System software:

Controls the hardware, including any peripherals
Allows other programs (applications) to run
Provides an interface for the user to interact with the computer
Maintains the system

Question 3

What are the two kinds of system software?

Answer 3

Operating systems and utilities

Question 4

Give two tasks of the kernel

Answer 4

The kernel performs various tasks:
It manages computer memory
It schedules tasks
It deals with data security

Question 5

What is the memory manager, and what does it do?

Answer 5

The memory manager is a piece of software in the kernel. It loads any software application that you want to run into virtual memory (RAM).

Question 6

How does the memory manager ensure that programs do not interfere with one another?

Answer 6

To ensure that this doesn’t happen, the memory manager gives each application a private memory area in RAM in which to run.

Question 7

Why does a kernel need to schedule tasks?

Answer 7

A kernel needs to schedule tasks, because a more important task may interrupt and require a time slice immediately from the CPU.

Question 8

What is scheduling?

Answer 8

Scheduling is setting tasks to run at a certain time. The kernel ensures that high priority tasks are set to run before those with a lower priority.

Question 9

Part of the kernel is responsible for user permissions and access rights. Give one example of a permission that a user can have.

Answer 9

Open files
Write to files
Delete files

Question 10

What is an operating system?

Answer 10

An operating system is the central software that manages, and controls, the hardware and software on a computer or device.

Question 11

Give two examples of operating systems

Answer 11

Windows
Linux
Unix
iOS
Android

Question 12

What are the four main components of an operating system?

Answer 12

Operating systems are made up of four main components:

The Kernel
Device Drivers
User Interface
System Utilities

Question 13

Give three examples of a user interface

Answer 13

Examples of User Interfaces:

Graphical User Interface (GUI)
Command Line Interface (CLI)
Menu Driven Interface
Natural Language Interface

Question 14

What are the features of a Graphical User Interface (GUI)?

Answer 14

Windows, Icons, Menus, Pointers (WIMP)
A GUI is visual, interactive and intuitive
It is optimised for mouse and touch gesture input
(Visual representation of applications, programs and data are designed to be intuitive and easy to learn for novice users)

Question 15

What are the features of a Command Line Interface (CLI)?

Answer 15

Text based
A CLI is less resource heavy compared to a GUI
Has more commands than a GUI
A CLI is efficient, and is for advanced useers
It is useful for automating processes with scripts
Includes powerful, text-based commands that can be complicated in nature and are more suited for advanced users

Question 16

What are the features of a Natural Language Interface?

Answer 16

Responds to questions in spoken language
It is not always reliable and can sometimes mishear the user
More popular, and now improvements are always being made
Has gained much wider popularity and accuracy over the last decade, with the introduction of digital assistants, like Alexa.
Answers may be limited

Question 17

What are the features of a Menu Driven Interface?

Answer 17

Successive menus are presented to the user
Single options are chosen at each stage
The system a NLI is running on usually uses buttons on a keypad
Examples of uses of Menu Driven Interfaces are: Cash points, chip and pin devices

Question 18

What is multitasking?

Answer 18

Multitasking is when you have more than one program open and running at the same time

Question 19

How many programs can actual execute at once?

Answer 19

Only one program can execute at once

Question 20

How does memory become fragmented?

Answer 20

Over time, memory becomes fragmented as programs are loaded and closed because they use different amounts of memory.

Question 21

When the memory is full, what does the operating system use?

Answer 21

When the memory is full, the operating system uses virtual memory.

Question 22

Give one example of a setting the operating system will retain for each user

Answer 22

Icons
Desktop background

Question 23

What is a multi-user system?

Answer 23

A multi-user operating system is where multiple numbers of users can access different resources of a computer at the same time.

Question 24

In the filename, what tells the operating system which application to load the file into?

Answer 24

An extension to the filename tells the operating system which application to load the file into

Question 25

What is a device driver?

Answer 25

A device driver is a piece of software that translates commands from the operating system into instructions that hardware devices can understand and execute.

Question 26

What are device drivers specific to?

Answer 26

Device drivers are specific to the hardware and operating system

Question 27

Give three tasks performed by utilities

Answer 27

Some tasks performed by utilities include: System security, e.g. encryption, firewalls System performance, e.g. defragmentation, task manager Storage efficiency, e.g. compression Backups System information and diagnosis

Question 28

What is utility software?

Answer 28

Utility software is a type of software that is designed to help users manage, maintain, and optimise their computer systems.

Question 29

What is application software?

Answer 29

Application software is software that performs specific tasks for users, such as word processors, spreadsheets, and databases.

Question 30

What does an encryption utility do?

Answer 30

Encryption utilities scramble data so that it can only be read by a computer with the correct software key.

Question 31

What does a user have to enter, to decrypt data?

Answer 31

The correct password must be entered, to decrypt the encrypted data

Question 32

What does a defragmentation utility do?

Answer 32

Defragmentation utilities can move the contents of memory sectors to be closer to other ones in the same file. This ensures that the computer runs faster and more efficiently.

Question 33

What does a compression utility do?

Answer 33

A compression utility reduces a file's size by discarding some of the data.

Question 34

What are the two types of compression?

Answer 34

Lossy and lossless

Question 35

What happens to data during lossless compression?

Answer 35

No data is lost and the file can be decompressed with all its information intact. The original file can be restored.

Question 36

What happens to data during lossy compression?

Answer 36

Data is lost in the compression process and when the file is decompressed it will not contain all of the original information. The original file cannot be restored.

Question 37

Why is lossy compression unsuitable for text or program files?

Answer 37

Because lossy compression causes irreversible change, where data is lost

Question 38

GIve one example of a file type that can be compressed using lossy compression

Answer 38

JPEG MP3

Question 39

GIve one example of a file type that can be compressed using lossless compression

Answer 39

PNG Bitmap GIF

Question 40

What is the purpose of a user interface?

Answer 40

A user interface allows the user to interact with a computer system

Question 41

What is the main advantage of encryption?

Answer 41

The main advantage of encryption is that intercepted or stolen data is still secure, as only the intended readers of the data can unscramble and understand the data.

Question 42

What has to be done to a compressed file, before it can be used?

Answer 42

A compressed file needs to be extracted before it can be used.