CNIT 155 Final Exam Study Pack | Correct Answers
& Explanations | Updated for 2025/2026
What is responsible for providing the foundational interaction with the hardware devices
input and output prior to the operating system becoming active correct answers BIOS
Register used during the boot process correct answers Instruction pointer
Mode used by CPU during the initial bootstrapping process correct answers Real Mode
CPU role that is responsible for the bootstrapping process use correct answers
Bootstrap Processor (BSP)
Role in COULD not responsible for bootstrapping process use correct answers
Application Processor (AP)
During the initial stages of the bootstrapping process, how much main memory is
available to the CPU? correct answers 1MB
Where is MBR stored? correct answers Sector 0
What is stored in MBR? correct answers Part ion Table
How large is MBR? correct answers 512B
Which technology is slowly replacing BIOS? correct answers UEFI
What is the proper ordering necessary to boot a computer? correct answers Chipset -
BIOS - MBR - PARTION Table - BootLoader - OS
Where is the operating system typically loaded in main memory? correct answers The
lowest memory address
Multitasking is defined as: correct answers The ability to concurrently store multiple
executing programs in memory
OS component directly responsible for interacting with the system hardware correct
answers Kernel
OS component directly responsible for processing and responding to text based input
from the user correct answers Command line
Which technology has largely replaced text driven, command based interaction with the
operating system correct answers GUI
,Which type of scheduler is responsible for assigning resources to an application correct
answers Long term scheduler
Which type of scheduler is responsible for assigning CPU time to a running process?
correct answers Short term scheduler
What state must a process be in to be given access to the CPU? correct answers
Ready
How many processes can be executed concurrently in a CPU core? correct answers 1
What is the most granular command that can be executed by a CPU core? correct
answers Instruction
Where is information about a running thread stored? correct answers Thread control
block
A process that spawns from another process is known as a: correct answers Parent
process
Threads that are spawned from the same process are referred to as: correct answers
Sibling Threads
When using a explicit priority based scheduler what is true correct answers The
operating system typically has a higher priority than applications
Modern Windows and UNIX systems use which schedulers correct answers Explicit
priority scheduler
What process is used by the operating system to copy a portion of main memory to a
specialized location in secondary storage for quick retrieval? correct answers Paging
How many pages of virtual memory are copied from secondary storage to main memory
storage on a page hit? correct answers No memory is moved on a page hit
Which generation of programming languages was defined by binary machine language?
correct answers 1st generation
Which programming language generation is Java typically placed? correct answers 4th
generation
Which programming language generation is SQL typically placed? correct answers 4th
generation
, Which programming language generation is assembler typically placed? correct
answers 2nd generation
Which programming language generation is C++ typically placed correct answers 3rd
generation.
Proper ordering of phases in a modern compiler correct answers Lexical Analyzer -
Symbolic Analyzer - Symantic Analyzer - Intermediate Code Generator - Optimizer -
Code Generator
Which phase was not utilized in early compilers? correct answers Optimize
Compiler phase responsible for verifying language specific keywords are not properly
used correct answers Lexical Analyzer
Complier phase responsible verifying appropriate data types are assigned to variables
correct answers Symantic Analyzer
What programming language has the largest instruction explosion? correct answers
Java
What programming generation is limited to a specific CPU model correct answers
Machine Code
What is the process of loading functions and operations external to the source code
when an application is launched? correct answers Dynamic linking
What is the process of loading functions and operations external to the source code at
compile time? correct answers Static Linking
What mechanisms for converting source code to machine code runs the slowest due to
the conversion happening dynamically every time the program runs correct answers
Interpreter
What mechanisms for converting source code to machine code converts the input to a
specific set of instructions once, and can be executed multiple times after that? correct
answers Compiler
What is the application programs view of a database? correct answers Logical schema
Definition of a file: correct answers A collection of bytes that adheres to a specific format
Best definition of a filesystem: correct answers A control system and mapping
mechanism that defines where data will be physically placed on a storage device
& Explanations | Updated for 2025/2026
What is responsible for providing the foundational interaction with the hardware devices
input and output prior to the operating system becoming active correct answers BIOS
Register used during the boot process correct answers Instruction pointer
Mode used by CPU during the initial bootstrapping process correct answers Real Mode
CPU role that is responsible for the bootstrapping process use correct answers
Bootstrap Processor (BSP)
Role in COULD not responsible for bootstrapping process use correct answers
Application Processor (AP)
During the initial stages of the bootstrapping process, how much main memory is
available to the CPU? correct answers 1MB
Where is MBR stored? correct answers Sector 0
What is stored in MBR? correct answers Part ion Table
How large is MBR? correct answers 512B
Which technology is slowly replacing BIOS? correct answers UEFI
What is the proper ordering necessary to boot a computer? correct answers Chipset -
BIOS - MBR - PARTION Table - BootLoader - OS
Where is the operating system typically loaded in main memory? correct answers The
lowest memory address
Multitasking is defined as: correct answers The ability to concurrently store multiple
executing programs in memory
OS component directly responsible for interacting with the system hardware correct
answers Kernel
OS component directly responsible for processing and responding to text based input
from the user correct answers Command line
Which technology has largely replaced text driven, command based interaction with the
operating system correct answers GUI
,Which type of scheduler is responsible for assigning resources to an application correct
answers Long term scheduler
Which type of scheduler is responsible for assigning CPU time to a running process?
correct answers Short term scheduler
What state must a process be in to be given access to the CPU? correct answers
Ready
How many processes can be executed concurrently in a CPU core? correct answers 1
What is the most granular command that can be executed by a CPU core? correct
answers Instruction
Where is information about a running thread stored? correct answers Thread control
block
A process that spawns from another process is known as a: correct answers Parent
process
Threads that are spawned from the same process are referred to as: correct answers
Sibling Threads
When using a explicit priority based scheduler what is true correct answers The
operating system typically has a higher priority than applications
Modern Windows and UNIX systems use which schedulers correct answers Explicit
priority scheduler
What process is used by the operating system to copy a portion of main memory to a
specialized location in secondary storage for quick retrieval? correct answers Paging
How many pages of virtual memory are copied from secondary storage to main memory
storage on a page hit? correct answers No memory is moved on a page hit
Which generation of programming languages was defined by binary machine language?
correct answers 1st generation
Which programming language generation is Java typically placed? correct answers 4th
generation
Which programming language generation is SQL typically placed? correct answers 4th
generation
, Which programming language generation is assembler typically placed? correct
answers 2nd generation
Which programming language generation is C++ typically placed correct answers 3rd
generation.
Proper ordering of phases in a modern compiler correct answers Lexical Analyzer -
Symbolic Analyzer - Symantic Analyzer - Intermediate Code Generator - Optimizer -
Code Generator
Which phase was not utilized in early compilers? correct answers Optimize
Compiler phase responsible for verifying language specific keywords are not properly
used correct answers Lexical Analyzer
Complier phase responsible verifying appropriate data types are assigned to variables
correct answers Symantic Analyzer
What programming language has the largest instruction explosion? correct answers
Java
What programming generation is limited to a specific CPU model correct answers
Machine Code
What is the process of loading functions and operations external to the source code
when an application is launched? correct answers Dynamic linking
What is the process of loading functions and operations external to the source code at
compile time? correct answers Static Linking
What mechanisms for converting source code to machine code runs the slowest due to
the conversion happening dynamically every time the program runs correct answers
Interpreter
What mechanisms for converting source code to machine code converts the input to a
specific set of instructions once, and can be executed multiple times after that? correct
answers Compiler
What is the application programs view of a database? correct answers Logical schema
Definition of a file: correct answers A collection of bytes that adheres to a specific format
Best definition of a filesystem: correct answers A control system and mapping
mechanism that defines where data will be physically placed on a storage device
