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Quizzes > Computers & Technology > Programming & Software

System Software Quiz: Test Your Knowledge Now!

Think you can master these software questions and answers? Take the quiz and prove it!

Difficulty: Moderate
2-5mins
Learning OutcomesCheat Sheet
Paper art illustration for a system software skills quiz on a teal background

Step into system software mastery with our Ultimate Software Quiz to sharpen your grasp of operating systems, utility software in computer environments, and more. Dive into dynamic software questions and answers, test your expertise with targeted software quiz questions and answers, and reveal how you stack up in real time. You'll uncover strengths, spot knowledge gaps, and level up your skills with instant feedback. Perfect for IT newcomers and seasoned pros, this free software quiz will challenge every aspect of your software question answer skills. Ready to play? Try our interactive computer software trivia quiz or lightning-fast computer quiz , score high, and celebrate your success today!

What is the primary role of an operating system?
Compile source code into binaries
Encrypt network traffic
Serve web pages to clients
Manage hardware resources and provide user interfaces
An operating system's main purpose is to manage hardware resources such as CPU, memory, and I/O devices, and provide an environment for applications to run. It handles process scheduling, memory management, and device control, and offers user interfaces like GUIs or command lines. This management ensures applications can operate without needing to control hardware directly. More Info
In a monolithic kernel architecture, most operating system services run in which space?
Guest space
User space
Kernel space
Virtual space
A monolithic kernel design runs core OS services like device drivers, file systems, and network stacks in kernel space for performance and direct hardware access. This contrasts with microkernels that move services to user-space modules. Monolithic kernels are larger but can offer faster inter-service communication. More Info
Which command in Unix-like systems is used to list files and directories?
show
ls
list
dir
The 'ls' command lists directory contents in Unix-like systems, displaying files and subdirectories. Options like '-l' for detailed listings or '-a' for hidden files expand its functionality. 'dir' is common in DOS/Windows environments. More Info
What component of the OS is responsible for deciding the order in which processes use the CPU?
File system
Device driver
CPU scheduler
Memory manager
The CPU scheduler in an OS determines the order and time slice each process receives on the CPU. It uses scheduling algorithms like Round-Robin or Priority Scheduling to optimize CPU utilization and response time. Effective scheduling improves system performance and user experience. More Info
Which system call in Unix-like systems is used to create a new process?
create()
fork()
exec()
spawn()
In Unix-like systems, fork() creates a new child process by duplicating the calling process. The child inherits code, data, and file descriptors. exec() is then used to replace the child process's memory space with a new program. More Info
What technique allows an OS to use disk space to simulate additional RAM?
Paging
Heap allocation
Caching
Buffering
Paging lets an OS move data between physical memory and disk storage (swap space) to give processes the illusion of more RAM. Memory is divided into fixed-size pages, some kept in RAM and others in swap. This mechanism supports multitasking and prevents memory exhaustion. More Info
What describes 'thrashing' in an operating system?
Network packet loss
Excessive context switching due to low memory
File system corruption
CPU overheating
Thrashing occurs when the OS spends more time swapping pages in and out of memory than executing actual processes due to insufficient RAM or poor locality. This degrades performance severely. Adding RAM or optimizing paging thresholds can alleviate thrashing. More Info
Which of these best defines a device driver?
Hardware component
Network protocol handler
User application for devices
Software interface for hardware devices
A device driver is a software module that allows the OS to communicate with hardware devices by translating generic OS commands into device-specific operations. Without drivers, hardware would be unusable by applications. They run in kernel space for direct hardware access. More Info
Which Linux file system supports journaling by default?
FAT32
ext2
ext3
NTFS
ext3 is a journaling file system for Linux that logs changes before committing them to the main file system, aiding recovery after crashes. ext4 is its successor but ext3 remains common. ext2 lacks journaling and FAT32 is used mainly on removable media. More Info
What does IPC stand for in operating systems?
Inter-Process Communication
Input Processing Channel
Internal Process Control
Input/Output Port Controller
IPC stands for Inter-Process Communication, which enables processes to exchange data and coordinate actions through mechanisms like pipes, message queues, shared memory, and sockets. Effective IPC is crucial for multitasking and distributed systems. More Info
In OS terminology, what is a thread?
Kernel module for drivers
Filesystem structure
Independent program running on CPU
Lightweight process sharing memory with peers
A thread is the smallest unit of CPU execution within a process, sharing memory and resources with other threads in the same process. Multithreading improves application responsiveness and resource utilization. Each thread has its own stack and registers. More Info
Which scheduling policy allows a process to be interrupted when a higher-priority process arrives?
Priority Scheduling (preemptive)
First-Come, First-Served
Round Robin (time-slice only)
Shortest Job First (non-preemptive)
Preemptive Priority Scheduling allows the OS to interrupt a running process if a new process with higher priority arrives, ensuring critical tasks run sooner. Non-preemptive policies wait for the current process to finish. Preemption improves responsiveness for high-priority tasks. More Info
What does a context switch involve?
Loading drivers into memory
Switching the CPU from one process or thread to another
Rebooting the system
Swapping a process to disk
A context switch saves the state (registers, program counter, etc.) of the currently running process or thread and restores the state of the next scheduled one. This enables multitasking, but frequent switching can incur overhead. More Info
Which of these is an example of a real-time operating system?
VxWorks
Ubuntu Desktop
Windows 10
macOS Catalina
VxWorks is a widely used real-time operating system (RTOS) designed for embedded systems that require deterministic response times. It's used in aerospace, automotive, and industrial control. General-purpose OSes like Windows and Ubuntu are not real-time. More Info
Which command in Linux shows currently running processes?
top
jobs
run
exec
The 'top' command displays live system statistics including CPU, memory usage, and a dynamic list of running processes. It updates in real time and allows sorting. Alternatives like 'ps' provide static snapshots. More Info
What does RAID stand for in storage systems?
Resident Application Interface Driver
Rapid Allocation of Internal Data
Redundant Array of Independent Disks
Random Access of Indexed Data
RAID stands for Redundant Array of Independent Disks, a storage technology combining multiple disks to improve performance, reliability, or both through redundancy or striping. Different RAID levels provide varying trade-offs. More Info
Which memory allocation strategy divides memory into fixed-size units called pages?
Paging
Buddy system
Segmentation
Slab allocation
Paging divides memory into equal, fixed-size blocks called pages for both physical memory and virtual addresses. This avoids fragmentation and simplifies memory management. The OS maintains page tables to map virtual pages to physical frames. More Info
What is demand paging?
Bringing pages into memory only when referenced
Loading all pages of a process into memory at start
Swapping entire process out when idle
Preloading pages based on predicted usage
Demand paging loads pages into physical memory only when the process references them, reducing I/O overhead and memory usage. Page faults trigger the OS to fetch the required page from disk. This lazy loading contrasts with pre-paging strategies. More Info
Which algorithm can be used to detect deadlocks by examining resource allocation states?
Round Robin
FIFO Queue
Banker's Algorithm
Least Recently Used
The Banker's Algorithm simulates resource allocation to determine if granting a request keeps the system in a safe state, thus preventing deadlocks. It checks all possible allocation sequences. This algorithm is commonly taught in OS courses. More Info
Which IPC mechanism uses a kernel-maintained FIFO queue for communication?
Pipes
Signals
Message queues
Shared memory
Message queues allow processes to send and receive messages via a kernel-maintained FIFO (first-in, first-out) data structure. They support prioritization and asynchronous communication. Pipes and shared memory have different semantics. More Info
What is copy-on-write in memory management?
Copying memory on every write access
Delaying copying of shared pages until modification
Sharing read-only pages only
Writing pages back to disk immediately
Copy-on-write allows multiple processes to share the same memory pages until one makes a modification. At that point, the OS creates a private copy for the writing process, optimizing memory usage. It's used by fork() implementations. More Info
Which scheduling algorithm minimizes average waiting time by selecting the shortest next CPU burst?
First-Come, First-Served
Round Robin
Priority Scheduling
Shortest Job First
Shortest Job First (SJF) picks the process with the smallest estimated CPU burst next, minimizing average waiting time. However, it can cause starvation for long processes. Preemptive SJF is called Shortest Remaining Time First. More Info
In virtualization, what does hypervisor type 1 refer to?
Container-based virtualization layer
Bare-metal hypervisor running directly on hardware
Hosted hypervisor running on a general-purpose OS
Emulation software for older hardware
Type 1 hypervisors (bare-metal) run directly on the host's hardware, managing guest operating systems with minimal overhead. Examples include VMware ESXi and Microsoft Hyper-V. Type 2 hypervisors run on top of a host OS. More Info
What is semaphore used for in operating systems?
Scheduling processes
Controlling access to shared resources
Allocating memory pages
Formatting disks
Semaphores are synchronization primitives used to control access to shared resources by multiple processes or threads, preventing race conditions. They can be binary or counting. The OS provides semaphores via system calls. More Info
Which file-locking mechanism allows multiple readers but only one writer at a time?
Mutex
Read-write lock
Binary semaphore
Spinlock
Read-write locks allow concurrent read access for multiple threads but exclusive write access for a single thread, improving performance where reads dominate writes. Mutexes only allow single access for both reads and writes. More Info
What is the main benefit of demand segmentation over paging?
Equal-sized memory blocks
Simpler allocation structures
Hardware-level isolation
No external fragmentation
Segmentation divides memory into variable-sized segments based on logical divisions, avoiding external fragmentation when loading segments on demand. However, it can suffer from fragmentation if segments vary widely. More Info
Which boot stage loads the operating system kernel into memory?
Kernel initialization
Boot loader stage
User login stage
BIOS initialization
The boot loader (e.g., GRUB or LILO) runs after BIOS/UEFI initialization to load the kernel into memory and pass control to it. BIOS sets up hardware and finds the boot loader. The kernel initialization follows once the loader transfers control. More Info
What technique avoids deadlock by ensuring a circular wait cannot occur?
Mutual exclusion
Resource hierarchy ordering
Preemption
Hold and wait prevention
Resource hierarchy ordering prevents circular wait by requiring processes to request resources in a predefined global order. This eliminates cycles in the resource allocation graph, thus avoiding deadlock. Other methods tackle different deadlock conditions. More Info
In Linux, what is the purpose of the /proc filesystem?
Storage for device drivers
Logging system events
Interface to kernel data structures
Permanent storage for user files
The /proc filesystem is a virtual filesystem that provides an interface to kernel data structures, exposing runtime system information such as process details, memory usage, and hardware. It's not on disk but generated in memory. More Info
What is the purpose of Translation Lookaside Buffer (TLB) in CPU architecture?
Store file system metadata
Buffer disk I/O operations
Cache virtual-to-physical address translations
Manage interrupt routing
A TLB caches recent virtual-to-physical address translations to speed up memory access and reduce page table lookups. Missing the TLB leads to longer memory reference times. CPUs manage TLB entries automatically. More Info
Which virtualization feature allows guest VMs to directly access CPU instructions without hypervisor intervention?
Hardware-assisted virtualization
Containerization
Paravirtualization
Full virtualization
Hardware-assisted virtualization (e.g., Intel VT-x, AMD-V) provides CPU extensions that let guest VMs execute privileged instructions natively, improving performance and isolation. Paravirtualization uses modified guests and hypercalls. More Info
What is the critical section problem?
Swapping pages in and out
Scheduling real-time tasks
Allocating memory to processes
Ensuring mutual exclusion when accessing shared data
The critical section problem involves designing protocols so that only one process or thread enters its critical section at a time, preventing race conditions when accessing shared resources. Solutions include locks, semaphores, and monitors. More Info
Which memory allocation algorithm splits memory into dynamically sized blocks to satisfy requests?
Segmentation
Paging
First-Fit
Best-Fit
Segmentation allocates memory in variable-size blocks corresponding to logical segments of a program, fitting each request exactly and preserving program structure. First-Fit and Best-Fit are strategies within contiguous allocation, not segmentation per se. More Info
What technique isolates device drivers to improve OS stability in microkernel designs?
User-space servers for drivers
Monolithic linking
Static compilation
In-kernel modules
Microkernels move device drivers into user-space servers, isolating faults and improving stability, since driver crashes cannot bring down the entire system. Communication with the kernel occurs via IPC. More Info
Which scheduling class in Linux is designed for real-time tasks?
SCHED_OTHER
Deadline Scheduling
SCHED_FIFO and SCHED_RR
CFS (Completely Fair Scheduler)
Linux real-time scheduling policies include SCHED_FIFO and SCHED_RR, offering deterministic scheduling for time-critical tasks. CFS handles normal tasks, while Deadline Scheduling is a newer policy for hard deadlines. More Info
What is the effect of a write-back cache on memory consistency?
Caches are bypassed for writes
Writes update main memory immediately
Writes update only the cache and delay main memory updates
Cache is write-through only
Write-back caches buffer writes in cache lines and update main memory on eviction, improving performance but requiring coherence protocols to maintain consistency across processors. Write-through caches update memory immediately. More Info
In NUMA architectures, what does locality mean?
Accessing memory physically close to the CPU
Accessing remote memory faster than local
Accessing CPU registers directly
Uniform memory access time
In Non-Uniform Memory Access (NUMA) systems, locality refers to the performance benefit of accessing memory attached to the same CPU socket (local memory) rather than remote memory. OS schedulers optimize placement to exploit locality. More Info
Which mechanism provides secure, isolated execution environments on modern CPUs?
Trusted Execution Environments (TEEs)
Containers
Chroot jails
Hypervisors
Trusted Execution Environments like Intel SGX or ARM TrustZone create secure enclaves isolated from the rest of the OS, protecting code and data from unauthorized access. Hypervisors and containers isolate VMs and processes but not at the hardware trust level. More Info
What is kernel preemption?
Preventing interrupts during kernel execution
Locking kernel modules in memory
Enabling the kernel to be preempted for lower-latency response
Allowing user processes to preempt each other
Kernel preemption allows interrupt handlers or higher-priority tasks to interrupt a running kernel thread, reducing latency in real-time or interactive systems. Traditional kernels disable preemption during critical sections. More Info
Which system component translates virtual addresses to physical addresses?
Scheduler
Linker
Device driver
Memory Management Unit (MMU)
The Memory Management Unit (MMU) in hardware uses page tables to translate virtual addresses generated by programs into physical memory addresses. It also enforces access permissions. Software page table management complements the MMU. More Info
What is the principle of least privilege in OS security?
Disable all user accounts
Use default root access
Grant only necessary permissions for tasks
Give processes maximum rights
The principle of least privilege restricts processes and users to only the permissions needed to perform their tasks, minimizing potential damage from bugs or exploits. It's a fundamental security best practice. More Info
Which algorithm does the Linux kernel use for memory page reclamation by default?
MRU
LRU (Approximate)
Random Replacement
FIFO
The Linux kernel uses an approximation of the Least Recently Used (LRU) algorithm for page reclamation, tracking page access patterns to free the least-used pages first. Exact LRU is expensive, so approximations like CLOCK are used. More Info
What is the main advantage of microkernel architectures over monolithic kernels?
Smaller trusted computing base and improved modularity
Single address space for all services
Bundled device drivers in kernel
Faster system calls
Microkernels minimize code running in kernel mode, moving services like drivers and file systems to user space. This reduces the trusted computing base and enhances modularity and fault isolation. Monolithic kernels can be faster but less robust. More Info
Which hardware feature allows safe context switching of CPU register state between processes?
Interrupt Descriptor Table (IDT)
Global Descriptor Table (GDT)
Page Table Entry (PTE)
Task State Segment (TSS)
The Task State Segment (TSS) on x86 architectures stores CPU register states for tasks, enabling hardware-assisted context switches under certain OS configurations. It holds stack pointers and segment selectors for privilege changes. More Info
What is strace used for in Unix-based systems?
Monitoring system calls made by a process
Profiling CPU usage per thread
Tracing network packets
Checking file system integrity
strace intercepts and records system calls and signals invoked by a process, allowing developers and admins to debug interactions with the kernel, file I/O, and IPC. It's invaluable for diagnosing permission or library issues. More Info
Which Linux kernel facility provides per-CPU variables accessible without locks?
spin_lock()
__percpu variables
rcu_read_lock()
task_struct
__percpu variables allocate separate instances of data for each CPU, allowing fast access without synchronization overhead. They are used in performance-critical sections of the kernel. More Info
What is the purpose of the OOM killer in Linux?
Optimize memory usage periodically
Terminate hung processes gracefully
Recover from out-of-memory situations by killing processes
Monitor GPU memory
The Out-Of-Memory (OOM) killer activates when the system runs critically low on memory. It selects and terminates processes based on heuristics to free memory and keep the system operational. More Info
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Study Outcomes

  1. Understand core system software concepts -

    Grasp fundamental principles like operating systems, kernels, and utility software to build a solid foundation in system software.

  2. Differentiate key system software components -

    Analyze the roles of processors, memory managers, device drivers, and system libraries through targeted software quiz questions and answers.

  3. Apply troubleshooting strategies to system software scenarios -

    Use practical examples from the quiz to diagnose and solve common system software issues, improving real”world problem”solving skills.

  4. Evaluate detailed software question answers for deeper insight -

    Critically review explanations provided in the software quiz to understand why specific answers are correct and reinforce conceptual knowledge.

  5. Recall essential command”line operations and utilities -

    Memorize and practice key commands and tools tested in the quiz to enhance proficiency with command”line interfaces.

  6. Leverage software quiz questions and answers to self”assess knowledge -

    Use the quiz's variety of software questions and answers to measure your understanding, identify gaps, and track your progress.

Cheat Sheet

  1. Core Operating System Components -

    Review the kernel, shell, and file system layers as outlined in Silberschatz et al.'s Operating System Concepts (2020). Use the mnemonic "KISS" (Kernel, I/O, Scheduling, Security) to recall main services. Mastering these basics ensures you'll tackle software quiz questions and answers with confidence.

  2. Process Scheduling Algorithms -

    Compare First-Come-First-Serve (FCFS), Shortest Job First (SJF), and Round Robin (RR) as detailed in Tanenbaum's Modern Operating Systems (4th Ed.). Remember "SJF Gets Short Jobs" to track which algorithm minimizes waiting time. Practicing these concepts can boost your score on any software quiz.

  3. Memory Management Techniques -

    Understand paging vs. segmentation, using Intel's official documentation on memory models. A quick trick: "Pages are fixed, segments are sized" to differentiate the two. Frequent self-testing with software question answer drills helps solidify this topic.

  4. File System Structures -

    Examine FAT32, NTFS, and ext4 attributes from Microsoft Docs and Linux Kernel docs. Recall "fat tables track clusters" to remember FAT32 structures. Regularly practicing software questions and answers on file systems will make this intuitive.

  5. Virtualization & Hypervisors -

    Distinguish Type 1 (bare-metal) vs. Type 2 (hosted) hypervisors using VMware and KVM white papers. Think "Type 1 on the metal, Type 2 on the OS" to keep them straight. Reviewing virtualization scenarios is essential for many software quiz questions and answers.

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