WGU - D386 Hardware and Opera ng Systems
Essen als With 224 Ques ons and answers Newest
RATED A+ 2026
Opera ng system - Ans system so ware that acts as a "go-between", allowing computer
hardware and other so ware to communicate with each other
resource manager - Ans what is the purpose of a computer opera ng system?
Opera ng System (OS) - Ans What kind of so ware are the Mac OS X and Windows 10
program?
Android - Ans What opera ng system is open-sourced and allows its source code to be
modified and redistributed?
Cloud based opera ng systems - Ans What primarily manages the opera ng of one or more
virtual machines within a virtualized environment?
primarily stateless - Ans What is a feature of cloud-based opera ng systems?
System calls - Ans unique set of services provided by opera ng systems for use by applica ons
and have to be accounted for by different opera ng systems.
Applica on Programming Interface (API) - Ans A set of so ware rou nes that allows one
so ware system to work with another.
,Unique system calls - Ans Why do applica ons designed to work on one opera ng system not
work on a different opera ng system?
single-user systems - Ans mul tasking systems, found in laptops and worksta ons
Mobile Device Opera ng Systems - Ans provides single-user and mul tasking at a scaled down
level due to power and memory limita ons
Mainframe Systems - Ans large, fast, and powerful, used for high transac on processing and
complex computa ons; used by corpora ons and government agencies
network server systems - Ans designed and named for a specific purpose such as database
servers, web servers, and print servers
real- me systems - Ans designed to direct CPU access immediately when needed or required
embedded control systems - Ans specialized opera ng systems designed to control asingle
piece of equipment or machinery
distributed systems - Ans geared toward alloca ng process power, programs, files, and
databases to network users.
Applica on So ware - Ans so ware program that helps you use the computer to do par cular
tasks
Drivers - Ans instructs a par cular OS on how to access a piece of hardware
, version - Ans par cular revision of a piece of so ware, normally described by a number that
tells you how new the product is in rela on to other versions of the product
source code - Ans actual code that defines how a piece of so ware works
open source - Ans so ware that is created for free use by everyone
closed source - Ans source code that is highly protected and only available to trusted
employees and carefully ve4ed contractors
Graphical User Interface (GUI) - Ans A visual display on a computer's screen that allows you to
interact with your computer more easily by clicking graphical elements
network - Ans a group of two or more computer systems linked together
Coopera ve mul tasking - Ans when the opera ng system processes the taks assigned a
higher priority before processing a task that has been assigned a lower priority
Mul threading - Ans allows different parts of a single program to run concurrently
Interupt-Driven I/O - Ans involves the use of interrupt to exchange data between I/O and
memory
programmed I/O - Ans the processor issues an I/O command, on behalf of a process, to an I/O
module; that process then busy waits for the opera on to be completed before proceeding
Direct memory Access (DMA) - Ans When a device controller transfers an en re block of data
from its own buffer storage to memory without CPU interven on
, slowness - Ans What is one reason why programmed I/O does not work well when the I/O
does not work well when the I/O device is a hard disk or a graphics display?
Fetch-Execute Cycle - Ans the basic process performed by the CPU. On each cycle the CPU
fetches the next instruc on from RAM, interprets it and executes it.
processor - Ans short for microprocessor or CPU
Level 0 cache - Ans core registers-usually a few hundred or less storage loca ons
Level 1 cache - Ans memory on the processor die used as a cache to improve processor
performance
Level 2 Cache - Ans Memory in the processor package but not on the processor die. The
memory is used as a cache or buffer to improve processor performance
Level 3 Cache - Ans cache memory further from the processor core than level 2 but s ll in the
processor package
Level 4 cache - Ans is shared dynamically between the on-die graphics processor unit (GPU)
and CPU. The L4 cache acts as an overflow cache for L3. Informa on evicted from L3 dumped
into L4
x86 processors - Ans An older processor that first used the number 86 in the model number
and processes 32 bits at a me
x86-64 processors - Ans hybrid processor that is capable of processing 32 bits and 64 bits
Essen als With 224 Ques ons and answers Newest
RATED A+ 2026
Opera ng system - Ans system so ware that acts as a "go-between", allowing computer
hardware and other so ware to communicate with each other
resource manager - Ans what is the purpose of a computer opera ng system?
Opera ng System (OS) - Ans What kind of so ware are the Mac OS X and Windows 10
program?
Android - Ans What opera ng system is open-sourced and allows its source code to be
modified and redistributed?
Cloud based opera ng systems - Ans What primarily manages the opera ng of one or more
virtual machines within a virtualized environment?
primarily stateless - Ans What is a feature of cloud-based opera ng systems?
System calls - Ans unique set of services provided by opera ng systems for use by applica ons
and have to be accounted for by different opera ng systems.
Applica on Programming Interface (API) - Ans A set of so ware rou nes that allows one
so ware system to work with another.
,Unique system calls - Ans Why do applica ons designed to work on one opera ng system not
work on a different opera ng system?
single-user systems - Ans mul tasking systems, found in laptops and worksta ons
Mobile Device Opera ng Systems - Ans provides single-user and mul tasking at a scaled down
level due to power and memory limita ons
Mainframe Systems - Ans large, fast, and powerful, used for high transac on processing and
complex computa ons; used by corpora ons and government agencies
network server systems - Ans designed and named for a specific purpose such as database
servers, web servers, and print servers
real- me systems - Ans designed to direct CPU access immediately when needed or required
embedded control systems - Ans specialized opera ng systems designed to control asingle
piece of equipment or machinery
distributed systems - Ans geared toward alloca ng process power, programs, files, and
databases to network users.
Applica on So ware - Ans so ware program that helps you use the computer to do par cular
tasks
Drivers - Ans instructs a par cular OS on how to access a piece of hardware
, version - Ans par cular revision of a piece of so ware, normally described by a number that
tells you how new the product is in rela on to other versions of the product
source code - Ans actual code that defines how a piece of so ware works
open source - Ans so ware that is created for free use by everyone
closed source - Ans source code that is highly protected and only available to trusted
employees and carefully ve4ed contractors
Graphical User Interface (GUI) - Ans A visual display on a computer's screen that allows you to
interact with your computer more easily by clicking graphical elements
network - Ans a group of two or more computer systems linked together
Coopera ve mul tasking - Ans when the opera ng system processes the taks assigned a
higher priority before processing a task that has been assigned a lower priority
Mul threading - Ans allows different parts of a single program to run concurrently
Interupt-Driven I/O - Ans involves the use of interrupt to exchange data between I/O and
memory
programmed I/O - Ans the processor issues an I/O command, on behalf of a process, to an I/O
module; that process then busy waits for the opera on to be completed before proceeding
Direct memory Access (DMA) - Ans When a device controller transfers an en re block of data
from its own buffer storage to memory without CPU interven on
, slowness - Ans What is one reason why programmed I/O does not work well when the I/O
does not work well when the I/O device is a hard disk or a graphics display?
Fetch-Execute Cycle - Ans the basic process performed by the CPU. On each cycle the CPU
fetches the next instruc on from RAM, interprets it and executes it.
processor - Ans short for microprocessor or CPU
Level 0 cache - Ans core registers-usually a few hundred or less storage loca ons
Level 1 cache - Ans memory on the processor die used as a cache to improve processor
performance
Level 2 Cache - Ans Memory in the processor package but not on the processor die. The
memory is used as a cache or buffer to improve processor performance
Level 3 Cache - Ans cache memory further from the processor core than level 2 but s ll in the
processor package
Level 4 cache - Ans is shared dynamically between the on-die graphics processor unit (GPU)
and CPU. The L4 cache acts as an overflow cache for L3. Informa on evicted from L3 dumped
into L4
x86 processors - Ans An older processor that first used the number 86 in the model number
and processes 32 bits at a me
x86-64 processors - Ans hybrid processor that is capable of processing 32 bits and 64 bits
