Questions and Answers of Essentials Of Computer Organization

How are SIMD and MIMD similar? How are they different? Note: You are not to define the terms, but instead compare the models.
Describe one of the cache consistency protocols discussed in this chapter.
What is the difference between SIMD and SPMD?
Describe grid computing and some applications for which it is suitable.
For what type of program-level parallelism (data or control) is SIMD best suited? For what type of program-level parallelism is MIMD best suited?
What is SETI, and how does it use the distributed computing model?
Describe briefly and compare the VLIW and superscalar models with respect to instruction-level parallelism.
What is ubiquitous computing?
What differentiates dataflow architectures from “traditional” computational architectures?
Compare and contrast the superscalar architecture to the VLIW architecture.
What is reentrant code?
Why are distributed systems desirable?
What is the fundamental computing element of a neural network?
Describe how neural networks “learn.”
What are the main problems with using crossbars for interconnection networks? What problems do buses present in interconnection networks?
Through what metaphor do systolic arrays get their name? Why is the metaphor fairly accurate?
What kinds of problems are suitable for solution by systolic arrays?
How does a quantum computer differ from a classical computer? What are the obstacles that must be overcome in quantum computing?
Do neural networks process information sequentially? Explain.
Compare and contrast supervised learning and unsupervised learning with regard to neural networks.
Describe the process of supervised learning in neural networks from a mathematical perspective.
Explain the differences between SIMD and systolic array computing when the systolic array is one-dimensional.
With respect to Flynn’s taxonomy, where do systolic arrays fit? What about clusters of workstations?
Research quantum computing and provide a summary of a recent article on the topic.
What happens if an infinite loop includes a watchdog timer reset? Name one thing that can be done to guard against this.
In which ways do embedded systems differ from general-purpose computers?
In the sidebar concerning watchdog timer engineering decisions, we stated that rebooting an embedded system typically takes less time than rebooting a personal computer. Why do you think this is so?
What is the difference between a microcontroller and a system-on-achip?
How is embedded systems programming different from general applications development?
Why are watchdog timers necessary in many embedded systems?
Provide a detailed logic diagram for a multiplexer that could be used in an FPGA.
What is the difference between a PLA and a PAL?
Present arguments for and against the use of dynamic memory in embedded systems. Should it be banned for use under all circumstances? Why or why not?
How does one program an FPGA?
We say that in embedded operating systems, if the highest-priority user thread is executing when a high-priority interrupt occurs, most operating systems will continue to process the user thread and
Name the three aspects of digital synthesis as articulated by Gajski.
Explain interrupt latency. How is it related to context switch time?
Discuss the reasons that one might choose System Cover Verilog.
In an ideal embedded operating system, would all nonkernel threads always execute at lower priority than interrupts?
In what ways does SpecC differ from SystemC?
Explain the challenges of embedded software development. How do designers answer these challenges?
How do real-time operating systems differ from non-real-time operating systems?
What are the major considerations in selecting an operating system for an embedded system?
How is embedded systems software development different from general-purpose software development?
Explain what is meant when we say that a program or system is memory bound. What other types of bindings have we discussed?
What does Amdahl’s Law tell us about performance optimization?
The execution times for three systems running five benchmarks are shown in the following table. Compare the relative performance of each of these systems (i.e., A to B, B to C, and A to C) using the
Which of the means is useful for comparing rates?
For what kinds of data is the arithmetic mean inappropriate?
The execution times for three systems running five benchmarks are shown in the following table. Compare the relative performance of each of these systems (i.e., A to B, B to C, and A to C) using the
Give a definition for optimum performance.
A company that is selling database management optimization software contacts you to pitch its product. The representative claims that the memory management software will reduce page fault rates for
What are the limitations of synthetic benchmarks such as Whetstone and Dhrystone? Do you think the concept of a synthetic benchmark could be extended to overcome these limitations? Explain your
What is the shortcoming of using MIPS or FLOPS as a measure of system throughput?
What would you say to a vendor who tells you that his system runs 50% of the SPEC benchmark kernel programs twice as fast as the leading competitive system? Which statistical fallacy is at work here?
How is the Dhrystone benchmark different from Whetstone and Linpack?
Suppose that you are looking into purchasing a new computer system. You have suitable benchmark results for all of the systems that you are considering, except for System X, Model Q. The benchmark
What are the deficiencies in the Whetstone, Dhrystone, and Linpack benchmarks that are addressed by the SPEC CPU benchmarks?
What value do you think there would be in comparing the results of two different SPEC CPU releases, say, SPEC95 and SPEC2000?
Explain the term benchmarketing.
Besides the retail business sector, what other organizations would need good performance from a transaction-processing system? Justify your answer.
How is the focus of the TPC different from SPEC?
Which of the benchmarks discussed in this chapter would be most helpful to you if you were about to purchase a system to be used in DNA research? Why would you choose this one? Would any of the other
Explain delayed branching.
What is branch prediction? What is it used for?
Suppose you have just been assigned to a committee that has been tasked with purchasing a new enterprise file server that will support customer account activity as well as many administrative
Give three examples of pipeline hazards.
We discussed the limitations of the harmonic mean in its application to computer performance assessment. A number of critics have suggested that the SPEC should use the harmonic mean instead. Suggest
Define the terms loop fusion, loop fission, loop peeling, and loop interchange.
SPEC and the TPC both publish benchmarks for web server systems. Visit the respective websites of these organizations (www.spec.org and www.tpc.org) to try to find identical (or comparable) systems
According to queuing theory, what is the critical disk utilization percentage?
We mentioned that a large volume of data is gathered during system probe traces. To give you some idea of the actual volume of data involved, suppose plans are being made to install a hardware probe
What is the risk involved in using the SSTF disk scheduling algorithm?
How is LOOK different from SCAN?
What is disk prefetching? What are its advantages and disadvantages?
What are the advantages and disadvantages of caching disk writes?
In our discussion of the SSTF disk scheduling algorithm, we stated that the problem of starvation “is at its worst with low disk utilization rates.” Explain why this is so.
What was the main objective of early operating systems as compared to the goals of today’s systems?
What do you feel are the limitations of a computer that has no operating system? How would a user load and execute a program?
What improvements to computer operations were brought about by resident monitors?
Microkernels attempt to provide as small a kernel as possible, putting much of the operating system support into additional modules. What do you feel are the minimum services that the kernel must
With regard to printer output, how was the word spool derived?
Describe how multiprogramming systems differ from time-sharing systems.
What is the most critical factor in the operation of hard real-time systems?
Under what circumstances is it desirable to collect groups of processes and programs into subsystems running on a large computer? What advantages would there be to creating logical partitions on this
Multiprocessor systems can be classified by the way in which they communicate. How are they classified in this chapter?
How is a distributed operating system different from a networked operating system?
When is it appropriate to use nonrelocatable binary program code? Why is relocatable code preferred?
Suppose there were no such thing as relocatable program code. How would the process of memory paging be made more complex?
Describe the two divergent philosophies concerning operating system kernel design.
Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of dynamic linking.
What are the benefits and drawbacks to a GUI operating system interface?
What problems does an assembler have to overcome in order to produce complete binary code in one pass over the source file? How would code written for a one-pass assembler be different from code
How is long-term process scheduling different from short-term process scheduling?
Why should assembly language be avoided for general application development? Under what circumstances is assembly language preferred or required?
What is meant by preemptive scheduling?
Under what circumstances would you argue in favor of using assembly language code for developing an application program?
Which method of process scheduling is most useful in a time-sharing environment?
What are the advantages of using a compiled language over an interpreted one? Under what circumstances would you choose to use an interpreted language?
Which process scheduling method is provably optimal?

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