W6: System Software

Question 1

Operating system (OS):

Answer 1

Manages hardware and software resources, provides common services for application software

Question 2

Application software:

Answer 2

An app or program with features and functions to solve a problem

Question 3

Platform:

Answer 3

Hardware + OS

Question 4

Software dev:

Answer 4

The stack

Question 5

Hypervisor:

Answer 5

Virtual machines and platforms

Question 6

Operating system is…

Answer 6

Software that supports a computer’s basic functions: schedule tasks, execute applications, control peripherals

Question 7

Interfaces…

Answer 7

cross system boundary

Users, other OSs and servers

Question 8

Applications:

Answer 8

OS allocates memory and resources, security, APIs

Question 9

An operating system controls…

Answer 9

Computation and subsystems
Interrupts, scheduling, I/O
Storage and file systems
Networking

Question 10

Hardware:

Answer 10

CPU, RAM, peripheral devices

Device drivers interact with OS

Question 11

Order of OS layered architecture

Answer 11

Hardware
System Software (Hardware Engineer)
System Services (Software Engineer)
Applications (Programmer)
(System Boundary)

Question 12

Embedded:

Answer 12

Single purpose, autonomous processor with sensors and actuators

Question 13

Firmware:

Answer 13

Non-volatile, updatable storage of custom OS and application

Question 14

IoT:

Answer 14

Embedded systems with network connectivity - web APIs and communication protocols create a linked environment of systems

Question 15

Back-end:

Answer 15

Server side

• Models and controllers
• Web servers, Data stores

Question 16

Front-end:

Answer 16

Client side, user facing

• views and controllers
• html content (from model) independent of CSS view
• JavaScript conducts controlled requests to model (and view)

Question 17

Full stack:

Answer 17

All of the above

Back-end, Front-end, Full stack

Question 18

SDLC: Systems Development Life Cycle:

Answer 18

What is the problem?
Determine and Define

What is the solution?
Design and Develop

Deploy

Question 19

Software Release Numbering:

Answer 19

1.2.3

1. Major release
2. Minor update
3. Micro revision

Question 20

Software Server Environments order:

Answer 20

Development
Integration and Testing
Staging
Production

Question 21

Modular vs Monolithic Design

Answer 21

Micro Kernel (Windows)
Pros:
More reliable
Easy update, patch, extend

Cons:
Slower performance
larger source code
task management complex

Monolithic Kernel (Linux)
Pros:
Runs faster
Fewer bugs/security issues

Cons:
Difficult to update, patch, extend
Recompiling kernel time consuming

Question 22

Multi-processing:

Answer 22

Separate processes run simultaneously on multiple CPU cores sharing memory and peripherals

Question 23

Parallel processing:

Answer 23

A single process uses multiple CPUs/cores simultaneously

Question 24

Thrashing:

Answer 24

The system spends more time swapping processes than running them

Question 25

Bit =

Answer 25

Binary digit
2 possible values 0-1
J. Tukey 1946. C.Shannon 1948. Bell Labs

Question 26

Byte =

Answer 26

8 bits is the smallest unit of data
256 possible values (0-255)
W. Bucholz, 1956. IBM