COMBINED COP4600 - FINAL
EXAM /COP4600 FINAL
COMBINED EXAM COMPLETE
(2026) EXAM QUESTIONS AND
100% CORRECT ANSWERS
(VERIFIED ANSWERS GRADED
A+) (LATEST UPDATE 2026)
UPDATE!!
What pieces of hardware are in the CPU? - answer-Registers, ALU, and control unit
Hardware which serves as the CPUs memory. There are special and general purposed of
these - answer-Registers
Hardware which does arithmetic and logical computations - answer-ALU
Hardware which tracks state/status. Also controls other components - answer-Control
unit
Instruction cycle responsible for loading the instruction - answer-Fetch
Instruction cycle responsible for finding the opcode/operands of the instruction and
interpreting it - answer-Decode
Instruction cycle responsible for carrying out the instruction - answer-Execute
Protected instructions can only be executed in a ____________ - answer-Protected state
,Legacy boot process - answer-BIOS
What does BIOS stand for? - answer-Binary Input Output System
The ________ bootstraps the boot sector - answer-Bootloader
What does bootstrap mean? - answer-Loading up the computer
Why are the bootsector and bootloader separate? - answer-Bootsector is too small
Where is the BIOS init stored? - answer-The motherboard
What boot process is usable on x86-64 (i386) standalone PCs? - answer-BIOS
What boot process has standard for ARM chipset systems? - answer-Neither
Which boot process has standardized NVRAM locations for system variables? - answer-
UEFI
Which boot process uses a dedicated bootloader partition? - answer-BIOS
Which boot process is usable on x86-64 (x64) standalone PCs? - answer-Both
Newer boot process - answer-UEFI
Which boot process simplifies diskless systems? - answer-UEFI
,What are the functions of an OS? - answer-Loading programs onto machine, controlling
I/O devices, managing resources (memory, CPU), multi-tasking execution, data
protection (permissions), and task interaction (pipes, networking)
Mode for directly manipulating hardware - answer-Kernel mode
T/F: No device is directly accessed without the kernel - answer-True
T/F: Only system libraries can invoke system calls - answer-False
T/F: The system call invokes code written by system developers, while a procedure call
invokes code written by an application programmer - answer-False
A running program is in ______ - answer-Execution
When we run a program, we create a _________ for it - answer-Process
Features of a process - answer-Has some address space, associated with specific
resources, computational element/object, and has one or more threads of execution
When we make a _______, we add a stack frame to the call stack - answer-Procedure
call
Which pointer points to the beginning of the stack frame? - answer-Frame pointer
Which pointer points to the beginning of the call stack? - answer-Stack pointer
A ___________ involves a switch into kernel mode for execution - answer-System call
, Invocation of a system call causes a what? - answer-Kernel trap
What must be stored in a kernel trap? - answer-Current address, registers, etc
What gets the address from the interrupt vector during a kernel trap? - answer-OS
dispatcher
Generation of pre-OS in which there was a control room in which a human operator ran
programs (plugboards) - answer-Generation 0: The operator
When was Generation 0 of OS? - answer-1940s
When was Generation 1 of OS? - answer-1950s
Generation of OS in which a resident monitor was used to execute common tasks (basic
job loading, config, etc) for the operator. Users would reserve time on the system.
Precursor to modern concept of OS - answer-Generation 1: resident monitor
Generation of OS in which job systems allowed many programs to be run in succession.
A programmer would submit a job on punch cards. The punch cards would be read by a
card reader onto magnetic tap. An operator would transfer prepared jobs to processing
unit on input tape. Results would be written to output tape, which would be read and
printed - answer-Generation 2: Batch systems
Batch system in which the OS sets up the next job and removes the current. Programs
are run sequentially - answer-Uniprogrammed batch systems
Fence in memory which defines end in user memory and beginning of OS memory -
answer-Fence register
Issues with uniprogrammed batch systems - answer-Mainly I/O so idle CPU
EXAM /COP4600 FINAL
COMBINED EXAM COMPLETE
(2026) EXAM QUESTIONS AND
100% CORRECT ANSWERS
(VERIFIED ANSWERS GRADED
A+) (LATEST UPDATE 2026)
UPDATE!!
What pieces of hardware are in the CPU? - answer-Registers, ALU, and control unit
Hardware which serves as the CPUs memory. There are special and general purposed of
these - answer-Registers
Hardware which does arithmetic and logical computations - answer-ALU
Hardware which tracks state/status. Also controls other components - answer-Control
unit
Instruction cycle responsible for loading the instruction - answer-Fetch
Instruction cycle responsible for finding the opcode/operands of the instruction and
interpreting it - answer-Decode
Instruction cycle responsible for carrying out the instruction - answer-Execute
Protected instructions can only be executed in a ____________ - answer-Protected state
,Legacy boot process - answer-BIOS
What does BIOS stand for? - answer-Binary Input Output System
The ________ bootstraps the boot sector - answer-Bootloader
What does bootstrap mean? - answer-Loading up the computer
Why are the bootsector and bootloader separate? - answer-Bootsector is too small
Where is the BIOS init stored? - answer-The motherboard
What boot process is usable on x86-64 (i386) standalone PCs? - answer-BIOS
What boot process has standard for ARM chipset systems? - answer-Neither
Which boot process has standardized NVRAM locations for system variables? - answer-
UEFI
Which boot process uses a dedicated bootloader partition? - answer-BIOS
Which boot process is usable on x86-64 (x64) standalone PCs? - answer-Both
Newer boot process - answer-UEFI
Which boot process simplifies diskless systems? - answer-UEFI
,What are the functions of an OS? - answer-Loading programs onto machine, controlling
I/O devices, managing resources (memory, CPU), multi-tasking execution, data
protection (permissions), and task interaction (pipes, networking)
Mode for directly manipulating hardware - answer-Kernel mode
T/F: No device is directly accessed without the kernel - answer-True
T/F: Only system libraries can invoke system calls - answer-False
T/F: The system call invokes code written by system developers, while a procedure call
invokes code written by an application programmer - answer-False
A running program is in ______ - answer-Execution
When we run a program, we create a _________ for it - answer-Process
Features of a process - answer-Has some address space, associated with specific
resources, computational element/object, and has one or more threads of execution
When we make a _______, we add a stack frame to the call stack - answer-Procedure
call
Which pointer points to the beginning of the stack frame? - answer-Frame pointer
Which pointer points to the beginning of the call stack? - answer-Stack pointer
A ___________ involves a switch into kernel mode for execution - answer-System call
, Invocation of a system call causes a what? - answer-Kernel trap
What must be stored in a kernel trap? - answer-Current address, registers, etc
What gets the address from the interrupt vector during a kernel trap? - answer-OS
dispatcher
Generation of pre-OS in which there was a control room in which a human operator ran
programs (plugboards) - answer-Generation 0: The operator
When was Generation 0 of OS? - answer-1940s
When was Generation 1 of OS? - answer-1950s
Generation of OS in which a resident monitor was used to execute common tasks (basic
job loading, config, etc) for the operator. Users would reserve time on the system.
Precursor to modern concept of OS - answer-Generation 1: resident monitor
Generation of OS in which job systems allowed many programs to be run in succession.
A programmer would submit a job on punch cards. The punch cards would be read by a
card reader onto magnetic tap. An operator would transfer prepared jobs to processing
unit on input tape. Results would be written to output tape, which would be read and
printed - answer-Generation 2: Batch systems
Batch system in which the OS sets up the next job and removes the current. Programs
are run sequentially - answer-Uniprogrammed batch systems
Fence in memory which defines end in user memory and beginning of OS memory -
answer-Fence register
Issues with uniprogrammed batch systems - answer-Mainly I/O so idle CPU
