Computer Organization and Operating Systems Review Questions (840 words)

1) What are the differences between source code, object code, and executable code?
2) Compare assemblers, compilers, and interpreters.
3) What is a CASE tool? What’s the difference between a front-end CASE tool and a back-end CASE tool?
4) What is a process control block and what is it used for?
5) What is a thread? What resources does it share with other threads in the same process?
6) What is memory protection, and why is it needed? What factors complicate it?
7) What is absolute addressing? What is indirect addressing?
8) What is an allocation unit? What are the advantages of using small allocation units? What are the disadvantages?
9) Describe the use of buffers in file I/O operations. When are buffers allocated? When are they released?
10) How is file deletion normally accomplished? What security problems might result from this method?

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• What are the differences between source code, object code, and executable code?
• Answer: First of all, the source code represent the instructions and statements from a program written in a high-level programming language; it is stored in a file (or multiple files) in a way to suggest the function and programming language. The object code refers to the output produced by an assembler or compiler and contains CPU instructions, library calls and external function calls. Not last, executable code represents a program formed only by CPU instructions that will be loaded and run. The object code cannot be run as a program, unlike the executable code.

• Compare assemblers, compilers, and interpreters.
• Answer: An assembler realizes the translation from assembly language into binary CPU instructions and represents an early typical example of automation programming. By comparison, a compiler translates the entire source code file before this being linked or executed, while an interpreter interleaves the following: translation, link editing and execution....