CISC 3140 FINAL REVIEW QUESTIONS
FULL 2026 QUESTIONS WITH ANSWERS
GRADED A+
>> What is the purpose of the .PHONY keyword in a makefile?
Source:
https://www.gnu.org/software/make/manual/make.html#Simple-Makefile
Answer: To name a recipe that will execute once requested/Targets that do
not refer to files but are just actions are called phony targets.
>> a) Why is the Therac report of great importance to programmers (i.e. what is
the fact demonstrated by the report that should be of major importance to the
approach that should be taken when software is developed)?
b) The Therac programmers engaged in several practices that either failed to
prevent errors from being included in production code or failed to repair
programming errors when incorrect program behavior was detected. Briefly state
what two of those detrimental practices were.
b) Failed to properly test code; Failed to listen to user feedback.
Source: https://web.stanford.edu/class/cs240/old/sp2014/readings/therac-25.pdf
Answer: a) Bad software kills. if software is not designed correctly and
tested carefully and correctly you are putting people's lives in danger.
>> What is one reason why, despite its age and poor support for object oriented
programming, does COBOL survive as a language of choice (if not the language
of choice) for programming business applications?
Answer: COBOL supports decimal arithmetic.
>> Write a Scheme function `build astring n` that will contruct a list of `n` copies
of an arbitrary string `astring`, where `n` is a positive integer larger than 0.
Assume that `astring` is a properly constructed list and `n` is an integer greater
than 0, so not editing the parameters is required. Hint: The function `cons item
, alist` adds the element item to the left end of the list `alist`.
(if(= n 0) (list) ;if n is equal to 0, return a list
(cons astring (build (- n 1) ) ;cons constructs a list (cons X l) → (listof X)
)
)
)
)
Answer: (define build(lambda (astring n) ;constructs a list with
arguments/parameters
>> What is the purpose of the `lambda` function of the Scheme language?
Answer: To create/construct a function
>> What is the primary block of storage managed by Subversion (i.e. what unit
of storage do you get when you check out something from a Subversion
repository)?
Answer: A directory/A Subversion directory
>> Consider the coed snippet:
```
int c (float a, float b) {
if (a == b) return (1); else return (0);
}
```
What is the serious error in the above code?
Answer: Using `==` symbol to compare equality for floating point numbers.
>> What is one purpose of the Subversion system (and similar systems), i.e.,
what are they used for?
Answer: For file version control;
>> What is the effect of the Subversion command `svn add myfile.c`?
Answer: Puts files under Subversion control
FULL 2026 QUESTIONS WITH ANSWERS
GRADED A+
>> What is the purpose of the .PHONY keyword in a makefile?
Source:
https://www.gnu.org/software/make/manual/make.html#Simple-Makefile
Answer: To name a recipe that will execute once requested/Targets that do
not refer to files but are just actions are called phony targets.
>> a) Why is the Therac report of great importance to programmers (i.e. what is
the fact demonstrated by the report that should be of major importance to the
approach that should be taken when software is developed)?
b) The Therac programmers engaged in several practices that either failed to
prevent errors from being included in production code or failed to repair
programming errors when incorrect program behavior was detected. Briefly state
what two of those detrimental practices were.
b) Failed to properly test code; Failed to listen to user feedback.
Source: https://web.stanford.edu/class/cs240/old/sp2014/readings/therac-25.pdf
Answer: a) Bad software kills. if software is not designed correctly and
tested carefully and correctly you are putting people's lives in danger.
>> What is one reason why, despite its age and poor support for object oriented
programming, does COBOL survive as a language of choice (if not the language
of choice) for programming business applications?
Answer: COBOL supports decimal arithmetic.
>> Write a Scheme function `build astring n` that will contruct a list of `n` copies
of an arbitrary string `astring`, where `n` is a positive integer larger than 0.
Assume that `astring` is a properly constructed list and `n` is an integer greater
than 0, so not editing the parameters is required. Hint: The function `cons item
, alist` adds the element item to the left end of the list `alist`.
(if(= n 0) (list) ;if n is equal to 0, return a list
(cons astring (build (- n 1) ) ;cons constructs a list (cons X l) → (listof X)
)
)
)
)
Answer: (define build(lambda (astring n) ;constructs a list with
arguments/parameters
>> What is the purpose of the `lambda` function of the Scheme language?
Answer: To create/construct a function
>> What is the primary block of storage managed by Subversion (i.e. what unit
of storage do you get when you check out something from a Subversion
repository)?
Answer: A directory/A Subversion directory
>> Consider the coed snippet:
```
int c (float a, float b) {
if (a == b) return (1); else return (0);
}
```
What is the serious error in the above code?
Answer: Using `==` symbol to compare equality for floating point numbers.
>> What is one purpose of the Subversion system (and similar systems), i.e.,
what are they used for?
Answer: For file version control;
>> What is the effect of the Subversion command `svn add myfile.c`?
Answer: Puts files under Subversion control
