Computer Fundamentals Questions and Answers

Answer: D

Correct answer: EuroNET

EuroNET was the packet-switching network built by the European Community in the late 1970s to link its member states’ research and information services, using the X.25 protocol. Ring, star and LAN describe network shapes and scopes rather than switching techniques.

Answer: B

Correct answer: Driver

A Trojan horse, a virus and a worm are all malicious programs written to damage a system or spread through it. A device driver is legitimate system software that lets the operating system communicate with a piece of hardware.

Answer: C

Correct answer: Rotational delay

Reaching a sector takes two movements: the arm steps to the right track - the seek - and then the platter must turn until the sector passes under the head, which is the rotational delay or latency. On average it is half a revolution, so a 7200 rpm disk averages about \( \tfrac{1}{2} \times \tfrac{60}{7200} = 4.2 \) ms.

Answer: B

Correct answer: ROM

ROM is non-volatile: its contents are fixed when it is manufactured or programmed and survive with the power switched off, which is why the start-up firmware lives there. RAM loses everything when power is removed. VLSI and LSI describe scales of integration, not kinds of memory.

Answer: A

Correct answer: Output data

A report card and a merit list are what emerges when the marks have been processed - the results presented for use. That makes them output; the marks entered at the start were the input, and the calculation between them was the processing.

Answer: A

Correct answer: ROM

Firmware is the program a device needs the moment it is switched on - the BIOS that starts the machine, for instance - so it must survive with the power off and be present before any disk can be read. That calls for ROM, in practice flash memory that can be rewritten when the firmware is updated.

Answer: B

Correct answer: Interactive computer

In interactive working the user types at a keyboard, the machine responds at once, and the next entry depends on that response - a conversation. Batch processing accepts a job and returns results later with no dialogue at all, and time sharing describes how the processor is divided between users rather than the style of the exchange.

Answer: D

Correct answer: All of the above

Computer memory covers all three: RAM is the volatile working memory that holds what is running, ROM holds the firmware that survives with the power off, and PROM is a read-only memory written once after manufacture. All are forms of the machine’s memory.

Answer: B

Correct answer: Input, storage, manipulation and outputting of data

A computer is defined by the cycle it performs: it accepts data, stores it, manipulates it under the control of a program, and outputs the result. Fast arithmetic and repetitive accuracy are consequences of that ability, not the definition of it.

Answer: C

Correct answer: Input-Output device

A device that both feeds data in and accepts data out is an input–output device - a disk drive, a modem, a touch screen or a network card, each of which carries traffic in both directions. The ALU and the CPU process data rather than exchange it with the outside world.