CS-216: Lecture 2

What is a process in the context of operating systems?

• A type of memory

• A storage device

• A running program

• A network protocol

What does the CPU register Program Counter (PC) hold during process execution?

• Address of current instruction

• I/O device status

• Stack pointer value

• Data from memory

What is the purpose of the Memory Management Unit (MMU) in a computer system?

• Handle I/O operations

• Execute arithmetic operations

• Manage network connections

• Translate virtual addresses to physical addresses

In which mode does the CPU execute privileged instructions like accessing hardware directly?

• Debug mode

• User mode

• Kernel mode

• Safe mode

What is the purpose of the Interrupt Descriptor Table (IDT) in a computer system?

• Handle network requests

• Store user program data

• Locate kernel code that handles traps

• Manage file permissions

What is the primary function of the System Call in an operating system?

• Allocate memory for processes

• Handle CPU scheduling

• Request privileged actions from OS

• Access I/O devices

What is the role of the Page Table in virtual memory management?

• Manage disk storage

• Handle interrupts

• Execute user programs

• Store mapping of logical page numbers to physical frame numbers

What happens during a context switch between processes in an operating system?

• CPU shuts down temporarily

• Hard disk is formatted

• CPU saves the CPU context of the old process and loads the context of the new process

• RAM is cleared of all data

How does the CPU handle a trap or interrupt in the kernel mode?

• Change privilege level, jump to OS code, handle trap, return to user code

• Clear memory, restart the system

• Ignore the trap, continue executing current process

• Switch to user mode immediately

What is the purpose of Direct Memory Access (DMA) in I/O operations?

• Control the flow of data between devices

• Encrypt data during transmission

• Allow I/O devices to store data directly in memory without CPU intervention

• Monitor network traffic