Computer Organization and Programming free university past papers

INSTRUCTIONS:

ANSWER QUESTION ONE AND ANY OTHER TWO QUESTIONS

QUESTION ONE (30MKS) COMPULSORY

1. a) Explain the trend in computing from the following points of view (6marks)
2. Cost of hardware
3. Size of memory

• Speed of hardware

1. Number of processing elements
2. b) Interpret a computer that is advertised as having a 96K byte DRAM memory and a 2.1 Gigabyte hard drive  (4marks)
3. c) The amount of time required to read a block of data from a disk into memory is composed of seek time, rotational latency, and transfer time. Describe the importance of these concepts in relation to disk data access.                      (6marks)
4. d) Part of the operating system is usually stored in ROM so that it can be used to boot up the computer. Recognize why ROM is preferred compared to RAM (4marks)
5. e) Analyze the significance of two’s complement notation as used for internal representation of integers            (4marks)
6. f) Compare uniprocessor systems with multiprocessor systems in the following aspects (6marks)
7. Ease of programming
8. The need for synchronization

• Performance evaluation

1. Run time system

QUESTION TWO (20MKS)

1. a) According to the specifications of a particular hard disk a seek takes 3 msecs (thousandths of a second) between adjacent tracks. If the disk has 100 cylinders how long will it take for the head to move from the innermost cylinder to the outermost cylinder. (4marks)
2. b) If the ASCII code for A is 1000001, B is 1000010, and C is 1000011 then the string 100001110000011000010 represents (2marks)
3. c) Virtually all computer designs are based on the von Neumann architecture. Illustrate the structure of this architecture                       (10marks)

QUESTION THREE (20MKS)

1. Modern computers are designed with integrated Cache and registers. Explain the need of these components to computers.    (4marks)
2. Describe the characteristics of optical and magnetic discs appreciating the technologies implemented in each (8marks)
3. Identify and describe THRE addressing modes used by the operating system during data access

(6marks)

1. In order to execute a program instructions must be transferred from memory along a bus to the CPU. If the bus has 8 data lines, at most one 8 bit byte can be transferred at a time. How many memory access would be needed in this case to transfer a 32 bit instruction from memory to the CPU. (2marks)

QUESTION FOUR (20MKS)

1. Illustrate the organization of the main components of a computer system clearly explaining the function of each (6marks)
2. Convert 110010011101₂ to octal and hexadecimal (4marks)
3. Describe the hierarchy that provides the structure of memory organization clearly explaining the characteristics of each level                                                                    (10marks)