Operating Systems MCQs set 3 for HEC USAT-CS (Computer Science) computer science — 20 solved questions.
Q1. What is the purpose of a 'Translation Lookaside Buffer' (TLB)?
Answer: Improve memory access time
Explanation: TLB is a cache that improves memory access time by storing frequently accessed page tables.
Q2. What is 'internal fragmentation'?
Answer: Unused space in a page
Explanation: Internal fragmentation refers to unused space within a page or block due to allocation granularity.
Q3. Which of the following is a disk scheduling algorithm?
Answer: All of the above
Explanation: FCFS, SSTF, and SCAN are all disk scheduling algorithms used to optimize disk access.
Q4. What is the primary function of a 'file system'?
Answer: Manage files and directories
Explanation: File system manages files and directories, providing a hierarchical structure for data storage.
Q5. What is 'context switching'?
Answer: All of the above
Explanation: Context switching involves saving and restoring the state of processes or threads.
Q6. Which of the following is a synchronization technique?
Answer: All of the above
Explanation: Semaphore, Mutex, and Monitor are all synchronization techniques used to coordinate access to shared resources.
Q7. What is 'virtual memory'?
Answer: A combination of physical and secondary memory
Explanation: Virtual memory combines physical and secondary memory, providing a larger address space.
Q8. What is 'cache coherence'?
Answer: Ensuring data consistency across multiple caches
Explanation: Cache coherence ensures that data is consistent across multiple caches, preventing stale data.
Q9. What is 'interrupt handling'?
Answer: All of the above
Explanation: Interrupt handling involves managing interrupts generated by hardware devices, software, and exceptions.
Q10. What is 'process synchronization'?
Answer: Coordinating access to shared resources
Explanation: Process synchronization involves coordinating access to shared resources, preventing conflicts and inconsistencies.
Q11. What is the primary function of the operating system's kernel?
Answer: Managing computer hardware
Explanation: The kernel manages computer hardware resources and provides services to applications, acting as a layer between hardware and software.
Q12. Which memory management technique involves dividing memory into fixed-size blocks?
Answer: Paging
Explanation: Paging divides memory into fixed-size blocks called frames, and programs are divided into pages of the same size.
Q13. In which type of operating system is the response time a critical factor?
Answer: Real-Time Operating System
Explanation: Real-Time Operating Systems are designed to provide predictable and fast responses to events, making response time critical.
Q14. What is the primary purpose of a system call?
Answer: To invoke kernel services from user space
Explanation: System calls provide a way for user-space applications to request services from the kernel, such as process creation or I/O operations.
Q15. What is the difference between a logical address and a physical address?
Answer: Logical addresses are translated to physical addresses
Explanation: Logical addresses are generated by the CPU and translated to physical addresses by the Memory Management Unit (MMU).
Q16. Which of the following is a characteristic of a multi-threaded process?
Answer: Threads share the same memory space
Explanation: Threads within a process share the same memory space, allowing for efficient communication and data sharing.
Q17. In a Round Robin scheduling algorithm, what is the role of the time quantum?
Answer: To allocate a fixed time slice to each process
Explanation: The time quantum determines the maximum time a process can execute before being preempted and context-switched.
Q18. Which operating system component is responsible for managing input/output operations?
Answer: Device Driver
Explanation: Device Drivers manage input/output operations between devices and the operating system, providing a standardized interface.
Q19. What is the primary goal of the 'working set' concept in memory management?
Answer: To minimize page faults
Explanation: The working set concept aims to keep the most frequently accessed pages in memory, minimizing page faults and improving performance.
Q20. Which of the following is a benefit of using a microkernel architecture?
Answer: All of the above
Explanation: Microkernel architectures provide benefits like improved security, simplified kernel development, and potentially improved performance due to a more modular design.