C191 Operating Systems for Programmers Practice Questions - Set 3 - Part 1

Test your knowledge of data-driven decision making concepts with these practice questions. Each question includes detailed explanations to help you understand the correct answers.

Question 1: What is the main purpose of a kernel in an operating system?

A) To provide a user interface

B) To manage hardware and system resources

C) To execute user applications

D) To handle network communication

Question 2: In a multithreaded environment, what is the main advantage of using thread pools?

A) They consume less memory than processes

B) They improve performance by reusing threads

C) They eliminate the need for a scheduler

D) They simplify the programming model

Question 3: What does "paging" refer to in an operating system?

A) A method of scheduling processes

B) A technique for managing memory by dividing it into fixed-size blocks

C) A process of allocating CPU time

D) A method for handling input/output operations

Question 4: Which of the following best describes a "system call"?

A) A request for services from the kernel

B) A method to allocate CPU time

C) A way to terminate processes

D) A command for I/O operations

Question 5: What is a critical section in concurrent programming?

A) A section of code that must execute atomically

B) A function that cannot be interrupted

C) A part of the program that handles input/output

D) A code segment that manages memory allocation

Question 6: Which algorithm is used to resolve deadlocks in operating systems?

A) Shortest Job First (SJF)

B) Banker's Algorithm

C) Round Robin (RR)

D) First-Come, First-Served (FCFS)

Question 7: What is "context switching" in operating systems?

A) Switching between user and kernel mode

B) Storing and restoring the state of a CPU

C) Changing the process priority

D) Switching between different operating systems

Question 8: In an operating system, what is "thrashing"?

A) A state where the system is unresponsive

B) Excessive paging activity due to low memory

C) High CPU usage without productive work

D) Processes waiting indefinitely for resources

Question 9: What is the role of the "file system" in an operating system?

A) To manage process scheduling

B) To organize and store data on storage devices

C) To handle user input/output operations

D) To allocate memory resources

Question 10: Which of the following describes the "first-come, first-served" (FCFS) scheduling algorithm?

A) Processes are executed based on their priority

B) The shortest processes are executed first

C) Processes are executed in the order they arrive

D) Each process gets an equal share of CPU time

Question 11: What does a "mutex" provide in multithreading?

A) Shared access to resources

B) Mutual exclusion to prevent concurrent access

C) Scheduling of threads

D) Synchronization of memory

Question 12: In which situation would you use a "semaphore"?

A) To synchronize processes that share resources

B) To allocate CPU time

C) To terminate processes

D) To manage memory allocation

Question 13: What is the primary function of a disk scheduler?

A) To manage file I/O operations

B) To optimize the order of disk I/O requests

C) To handle memory allocation

D) To allocate CPU resources

Question 14: Which of the following statements about virtual memory is true?

A) It increases the physical memory available

B) It allows for memory management beyond physical limits

C) It eliminates the need for RAM

D) It can only be used in single-threaded applications

Question 15: In what context would "message passing" be used in an operating system?

A) For process synchronization

B) For data transfer between processes

C) For allocating resources

D) For managing file operations

Question 16: Which condition is NOT a requirement for deadlock to occur?

A) Mutual exclusion

B) Hold and wait

C) No preemption

D) Circular wait

Question 17: What does "I/O multiplexing" allow?

A) Multiple I/O devices to be accessed simultaneously

B) Efficient switching between different CPU processes

C) Handling multiple I/O operations using a single thread

D) Sharing memory between processes

Question 18: What is the main purpose of using a "bootloader"?

A) To initialize hardware components

B) To load the operating system into memory

C) To manage user sessions

D) To perform memory allocation

Question 19: Which of the following is a disadvantage of using processes instead of threads?

A) Processes share memory space

B) Processes consume more system resources

C) Processes are more lightweight

D) Processes can communicate easily

Question 20: What does the term "resource starvation" refer to in operating systems?

A) A process being unable to access required resources

B) A process using excessive resources

C) A process completing execution

D) A process being terminated by the kernel

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