IT 254 Chapter 9

13) Which of the following is an example of an interrupt being used as an external event notifier? a) A keyboard input b) A program inadvertently attempts to divide by zero c) A time quantum has passed and the CPU is interrupted to start another task d) An application program requests service from the operating system using a software interrupt

a) A keyboard input Section 9.3 Interrupts

30) Which of the following is not one of the three primary conditions for direct memory access to take place? a) The I/O device must have an internal buffer. b) There must be a method to connect together the I/O interface and memory. c) There must be a means to avoid conflict between the CPU and the I/O controller. d) The I/O controller associated with the particular device must be capable of reading and writing to memory.

a) The I/O device must have an internal buffer. Section 9.4 Direct Memory Access

35) Which of the following is not a common function of an I/O disk controller? a) The I/O disk controller manages main memory during the transfer. b) The I/O disk controller recognizes messages addressed to it and accepts commands from the CPU. c) The I/O disk controller has interrupt capability, which it uses to notify the CPU when the transfer is complete. d) The I/O disk controller provides a buffer where the data from memory can be held until it can be transferred to the disk.

a) The I/O disk controller manages main memory during the transfer. Section 9.4 Direct Memory Access

33) I/O controllers that control a single type of device are often called a) device controllers. b) precision controllers. c) peripheral controllers. d) single-type controllers.

a) device controllers. Section 9.4 Direct Memory Access

10) Since many interrupts exist to support I/O devices, most of the interrupt handling programs are also known as a) device drivers. b) device handlers. c) peripheral handlers. d) peripheral controllers.

a) device drivers. Section 9.3 Interrupts

32) The incompatibilities in speed between the various devices and the CPU make I/O synchronization difficult, especially if there are multiple devices attempting to do I/O at the same time. To handle these problems data is usually stored a) in a buffer. b) on the network. c) on the disk drive. d) in external storage.

a) in a buffer. Section 9.4 Direct Memory Access

4) The method used to communicate events that need special attention to the CPU are known as a) interrupts. b) I/O controllers. c) programmed I/O. d) device controllers.

a) interrupts. Section 9.0 Introduction

14) External events like keyboard input, mouse clicks, printer "out of paper" messages, and power failures are handled by a) interrupts. b) device handlers. c) peripheral controllers. d) suspension subprograms.

a) interrupts. Section 9.3 Interrupts

3) From the perspective of a computer, the network a) is just another I/O device. b) requires an Ethernet connection. c) is complex set of interconnected hosts. d) is addressable only in blocks of 32 bit addresses.

a) is just another I/O device. Section 9.1 Characteristics of Typical I/O Devices

11) The method of continuously checking the various input devices to determine if input data is waiting is called a) polling. b) observing. c) monitoring. d) supervising.

a) polling. Section 9.3 Interrupts

23) Multiple interrupts can be handled by assigning _______ to each interrupt. a) priorities b) a time delay c) queue levels d) execution tickets

a) priorities Section 9.3 Interrupts

20) The mnemonic for the x86 architecture instruction that simulates an interrupt is a) SVC. b) INT. c) JMP. d) GTO.

b) INT. Section 9.3 Interrupts

1) Which of the following is not a requirement for a computer system to handle I/O in a sufficient and effective manner? a) Peripheral devices must be individually addressable. b) Peripheral devices must operate only in block mode. c) Peripheral devices can initiate communication with the CPU. d) Programmed I/O is suitable only for slow devices and individual word transfers.

b) Peripheral devices must operate only in block mode. Section 9.1 Characteristics of Typical I/O Devices

34) An I/O controller that is designed to control hard disks is called a a) disk handler. b) disk controller. c) disk coordinator. d) disk interrupt handler.

b) disk controller. Section 9.4 Direct Memory Access

24) Power failures, internal time-sensitive events, or external events that are time sensitive will trigger interrupts that are a) low priority events. b) high priority events. c) dependent on the device generating the interrupt. d) measured for time-to-complete and scheduled accordingly.

b) high priority events. Section 9.3 Interrupts

25) Interrupts that can be temporarily disabled by program instructions are called a) variable. b) maskable. c) changeable. d) transferable.

b) maskable. Section 9.3 Interrupts

5) The method of transferring data one word at a time from the CPU to a device is called a) polling. b) programmed I/O. c) vectored interrupt. d) direct memory access.

b) programmed I/O. Section 9.2 Programmed I/O

15) The computer system provides an internal clock that sends an interrupt periodically to the CPU signaling that it's time to start processing another program or thread. The time between interrupt pulses is known as a(n) a) delta. b) quantum. c) unit quantity. d) atomic quantity.

b) quantum. Section 9.3 Interrupts

31) Four pieces of data must be provided to the I/O controller for a particular I/O device to initiate the DMA transfer. Which of the following is not required? a) The size of the block to be transferred. b) The location of the data on the I/O device. c) The length of time required to transfer the data. d) The starting location of the block of data in memory.

c) The length of time required to transfer the data. Section 9.4 Direct Memory Access

16) Events related to problems or special conditions within the computer system itself, like divide by zero, or attempting to execute a nonexistent op code, are called a) irregular events. b) unusual events. c) abnormal events. d) anomalous events.

c) abnormal events. Section 9.3 Interrupts

29) Data from disks, and tapes, and flash memory are transferred only in a) bits. b) chunks of data. c) blocks of data. d) characters or bytes of data.

c) blocks of data.

7) The program that determines the appropriate course of action in the event an interrupt occurs is called the a) fault handler. b) device handler. c) interrupt handler. d) instruction handler.

c) interrupt handler. Section 9.3 Interrupts

6) Computers provide interrupt capability by providing one or more special control lines to the central processor known as a) fault lines. b) address lines. c) interrupt lines. d) instruction lines.

c) interrupt lines. Section 9.3 Interrupts

26) Interrupts that can never be temporarily disabled by program instructions are called a) invariable. b) unchangeable. c) nonmaskable. d) non-transferable.

c) nonmaskable. Section 9.3 Interrupts

22) When the device generating the interrupt request identifies its address as part of the interrupt, it is called a) polling interrupt. b) discrete interrupt. c) vectored interrupt. d) monitoring interrupt.

c) vectored interrupt. Section 9.3 Interrupts

12) Which of the following is not a function of how interrupts are used? a) A completion signal b) An abnormal event indicator c) A means of allocating CPU time d) A way of buffering large amounts of data

d) A way of buffering large amounts of data Section 9.3 Interrupts

19) The software interrupt is very similar to which type of instruction? a) STORE b) LOAD c) IF-THEN-ELSE d) SUBROUTINE JUMP

d) SUBROUTINE JUMP

27) Interrupts are normally checked a) during the operation of the instruction cycle. b) immediately, without regard to the instruction cycle. c) simultaneously with the beginning of an execution cycle. d) after one instruction is finished and before another begins.

d) after one instruction is finished and before another begins. Section 9.3 Interrupts

28) An I/O technique that transfers block data directly between the I/O controller and computer memory, is called a) direct block access. b) direct RAM access. c) direct block transfers. d) direct memory access.

d) direct memory access. Section 9.4 Direct Memory Access

2) An important difference between the I/O requirements of keyboards and disk drives is that a) keyboard input is fast while disk drives are slow. b) keyboards require constant monitoring, while disk drives do not. c) disk drives have I/O controllers and keyboards do not have I/O controllers. d) disk data is always transferred in blocks, never as individual bytes as with the keyboard.

d) disk data is always transferred in blocks, never as individual bytes as with the keyboard. Section 9.1 Characteristics of Typical I/O Devices

9) After interrupting a program in execution, and saving the program's context, the computer then branches to a special program known as the a) driver routine. b) servicing program. c) program service program. d) interrupt handler program.

d) interrupt handler program. Section 9.3 Interrupts

18) Instructions that are intended for use by an operating system program, but not by an application program, are called a) control instructions b) limited instructions c) prevalent instructions d) privileged instructions

d) privileged instructions Section 9.3 Interrupts

8) When an interrupt causes temporary suspension of the program in progress, all the pertinent information about the program being suspended, including the location of the last instruction executed, and the values of data in various registers are stored in an area of memory known as the a) register dump block. b) memory dump block. c) program method block. d) process control block.

d) process control block. Section 9.3 Interrupts

21) One way to assure that multiple programs do not unintentionally alter another program's files or intermingle printer output is to a) only execute one interrupt at a time. b) give programs in execution the highest priority. c) not allow programs in execution to be interrupted. d) require that all I/O to shared devices be handled by the operating system.

d) require that all I/O to shared devices be handled by the operating system. Section 9.3 Interrupts

17) Internal interrupts caused by events related to problems or special conditions within the computer itself are sometimes called a) exclusions. b) exemptions. c) special errors. d) traps or exceptions.

d) traps or exceptions. Section 9.3 Interrupts