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Java Software Solutions, 7 Edition Exercise Solutions, Ch. 1

Chapter 1 Exercise Solutions

EX 1.1. Describe the hardware components of your personal computer or of a computer
in a lab to which you have access. Include the processor type and speed,
storage capacities of main and secondary memory, and types of I/O devices.
Explain how you determined your answers.
One possible description:
Processor: Intel Celeron D, 2.53 GHz
Main Memory: 2 GB SDRAM
Secondary Memory: 500 GB Ultra ATA Hard Drive
Peripherals: CD/DVD +/- RW, keyboard, mouse, 17" flat screen monitor, HP LaserJet
printer
To find the processor and memory information, I accessed the System Information from
the control panel. To find the I/O devices, I looked in the device manager.

EX 1.2. Why do we use the binary number system to store information on a computer?
Devices that store and move information are less expensive and more reliable if they
have to represent only one of two possible values or states.

EX 1.3. How many unique items can be represented with each of the following?
a. 1 bit
2 items
b. 3 bits
8 items
c. 6 bits
64 items
d. 8 bits
256 items
e. 10 bits
1024 items
f. 16 bits
16,348 items

EX 1.4. If a picture is made up of 128 possible colors, how many bits would be needed to
store each pixel of the picture? Why?
Seven bits are needed to represent each pixel if each pixel can have up to 128 possible
colors. This is because there are 128 distinct permutations of 7 bits.

EX 1.5. If a language uses 240 unique letters and symbols, how many bits would be
needed to store each character of a document? Why?
Eight bits are needed to store each character of a document written in a language of
240 unique characters and symbols. Seven bits would be sufficient if there were only
128 different characters to represent. Eight bits is sufficient for 256 different characters.

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Java Software Solutions, 7 Edition Exercise Solutions, Ch. 1

Because 240 is greater than 128, but not greater than 256, at least 8 bits are needed if
all characters are represented by the same number of bits.

EX 1.6. How many bits are there in each of the following? How many bytes are there in
each?
a. 12 KB
12 KB = 12 x 1024 bytes = 12,288 bytes = 98,304 bits
b. 5 MB
5 MB = 5 x 1,048,576 bytes = 5,242,880 bytes = 41,943,040 bits
c. 3 GB
3 GB = 3 x 1,703,741,824 bytes = 5,111,225,472 bytes = 40,889,803,776 bits
d. 2 TB
2 TB = 2 x 1,099,511,627,776 bytes = 2,199,023,255,552 bytes = approximately 1.76 x
13
10 bits

EX 1.7. Explain the difference between random-access memory (RAM) and read-only
memory (ROM).
Both RAM and ROM are random access devices. RAM (Random Access Memory) can
be written to and read from, but ROM (Read-Only Memory) can only be read from.

EX 1.8. A disk is a random-access device but it is not RAM (random-access memory).

Explain.
The data on both can be accessed diretly (without reading intervening data). But RAM
typically refers to a set of chips that make up main memory, whereas a disk is
considered secondary memory. RAM is volatile, and a disk is not.

EX 1.9. Determine how your computer, or a computer in a lab to which you have access,
is connected to others across a network. Is it linked to the Internet? Draw a
diagram to show the basic connections in your environment.
The computers in our lab are connected to a local area network, which is connected to
the Internet. (diagram not provided)

EX 1.10. Explain the differences between a local-area network (LAN) and a wide-area
network (WAN). What is the relationship between them?
A LAN is designed to span a short distance and to connect a relatively small number of
computers. A WAN connects two or more LANs, typically across longer distances such
as throughout a group of buildings.

EX 1.11. What is the total number of communication lines needed for a fully connected
point-to-point network of eight computers? Nine computers? Ten computers?
What is a general formula for determining this result?
Eight computers: 28 communication lines
Nine computers: 36 communication lines
Ten computers: 45 communication lines
General formula for n computers: n(n-1)/2, which represents the sum of the numbers
between 1 and n-1.

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Java Software Solutions, 7 Edition Exercise Solutions, Ch. 1

EX 1.12. Explain the difference between the Internet and the World Wide Web.
The Internet is a network of networks. The World Wide Web is based on a set of
software applications that facilitates sharing of information across a network.

EX 1.13. List and explain the parts of the URLs for:

a. your school
http://www.byu.edu, where http stands for HyperText Transfer Protocol, which
determines the way the browser should communicate; the machine referenced is www,
a typical reference to a Web server; the domain is byu.edu where byu stands for
Brigham Young University, and edu indicates that it is an educational institution.
b. the Computer Science department of your school
http://www.cs.byu.edu, in which cs refers to the subdomain within the larger byu.edu
domain. So in this case the www machine refers to the standard web server designated
by the cs department.
c. your instructor's Web page
http://www.cs.byu.edu/rpburton/info.html/, which refers to a specific file,
rpburton/info.html, located on the computer science web server to be transferred to the
user's browser for viewing.

EX 1.14. Use a Web browser to access information through the Web about the following
topics. For each one, explain the process you used to find the information and
record the specific URLs you found.
All of the information below was found by entering keywords in the search engine
Google at www.google.com.
a. the Philadelphia Phillies baseball team
Keywords "Philedelphia Phillies" produced "The Official Site of the Philedelphia
Phillies" http://www.phillies.com/ as the first result.
b. wine production in California
Keywords "wine production California" produced a link to "The Wine Institute: The
Voice for California Wines" at http://www.wineinstitute.org/
c. the subway systems in two major cities
Keywords "subway map New York" produced The New York City Transit System Map
page, at http://www.mta.nyc.ny.us/nyct/maps/; from this page I was able to click on a
link to view the subway maps.
Keywords "subway map Boston" found the Massachusetts Bay Transportation
Authority Online, Subway Service at http://www.mbta.com/schedmaps/subway/
d. vacation opportunities in the Caribbean
Keywords, "Carribean vacation" The seventh result was "Carribean Vacation Travel
Guide," at http://www.vacation-destinations.com/caribbean/

EX 1.15. Give examples of the two types of Java comments and explain the differences
between them.
One kind of comment begins with a double slash (//) and continues to the end of the
line. A second kind of comment begins following an initiating slash-asterisk (/*) and
terminates immediately preceding a terminating asterisk-slash (*/). The second type of
comment can span multiple lines.

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Java Software Solutions, 7 Edition Exercise Solutions, Ch. 1

EX 1.16. Which of the following are not valid Java identifiers? Why?
a. Factorial
Valid
b. anExtremelyLongIdentifierIfYouAskMe
Valid
c. 2ndLevel
Invalid because it begins with a digit
d. level2
Valid
e. MAX_SIZE
Valid
f. highest$
Valid
g. hook&ladder
Invalid because it contains an ampersand (&)

EX 1.17. Why are the following valid Java identifiers not considered good identifiers?
a. q
The identifier q is a meaningless name.
b. totVal
The idetnifier totalValue would be more meaningful than the abbreviation.
c. theNextValueInTheList
Unnecessarily lengthy; nextValue would serve as well.

EX 1.18. Java is case sensitive. What does that mean?

Uppercase characters are considered to be distinct from lowercase letters. Therefore
the identifier HELLO is distinct from Hello which is distinct from hello.

EX 1.19. What do we mean when we say that the English language is ambiguous? Give
two examples of English ambiguity (other than the example used in this chapter)
and explain the ambiguity. Why is ambiguity a problem for programming
languages?
Something is ambiguous if it has two or more possible meanings. For example, the
statement, “Mary is the nicest teaching assistant who has helped me all day long” might
mean 1) of all the teaching assistants who have helped me today, Mary is the nicest, or
2) of those teaching assistants who have helped me for an entire day, Mary is the
nicest. As another example, the statement, “Bananas help those who help themselves”
might mean 1) bananas are good for those who attend to their own welfare or 2)
bananas are good for those who eat as many bananas as they please. If a
programming language statement could be interpreted in two or more ways, it would be
impossible to predict with certainty how it would be interpreted and what result would
be produced.

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Java Software Solutions, 7 Edition Exercise Solutions, Ch. 1

EX 1.20. Categorize each of the following situations as a compile-time error, run-time

error, or logical error.
a. multiplying two numbers when you meant to add them
A logical error
b. dividing by zero
A run-time error
c. forgetting a semicolon at the end of a programming statement
A compile-time error
d. spelling a word wrong in the output
A logical error
e. producing inaccurate results
A logical error
f. typing a { when you should have typed (
A compile-time error

©2012 Pearson Education, Inc. Upper Saddle River, NJ. All Rights Reserved.