Operating System Interview Question and Answers-1

1. W h a t is a n ope r a t in g sy st e m ?
An operat ing sy st em is a program t hat act s as an int erm ediary
bet ween t he user and t he com put er hardware. The purpose of an OS is
t o prov ide a conv enient env ironm ent in which user can execut e
program s in a convenient and efficient m anner. I t is a resource
allocat or responsible for allocat ing sy st em resources and a cont rol
program which cont rols t he operat ion of t he com put er hardware.
2. W h y pa gin g is u se d?
Paging is solut ion t o ex t ernal fragm ent at ion problem which is t o perm it
t he logical address space of a process t o be noncont iguous, t hus
allowing a process t o be allocat ing phy sical m em ory wherev er t he
lat t er is av ailable.
3. Ex pla in t h e con ce pt of t h e ba t ch e d ope r a t in g sy st e m s?
I n bat ched operat ing sy st em t he users giv es t heir j obs t o t he operat or
who sort s t he program s according t o t heir requirem ent s and ex ecut es
t hem . This is t im e consum ing but m akes t he CPU busy all t he t im e.
4. W h a t is pu r pose of diffe r e n t ope r a t in g sy st e m s?
The m achine purpose workst at ion indiv idual usabilit y &resources
ut ilizat ion m ainfram e opt im ize ut ilizat ion of hardware PC support
com plex gam es, business applicat ion Hand held PCs Easy int erface &
m in. power consum pt ion.
5. W h a t is v ir t u a l m e m or y ?
Virt ual m em ory is hardware t echnique where t he sy st em appears t o
hav e m ore m em ory t hat it act ually does. This is done by t im e- sharing,
t he phy sical m em ory and st orage part s of t he m em ory one disk when
t hey are not act iv ely being used.
6. W h a t is Th rou gh pu t , Tu rn a rou n d t im e , w a itin g t im e a n d Re sponse t im e ?

Th rou gh pu t : num ber of processes t hat com plet e t heir execut ion per t im e unit .

Tu rn a r ou n d t im e : am ount of t im e t o execut e a part icular process.

W a it in g t im e : am ount of t im e a process has been wait ing in t he ready queue.

Re spon se t im e : am ount of t im e it t akes from when a request was subm it t ed unt il

t he first response is produced, not out put (for t im e- sharing environm ent ) .
7. W h a t a r e t he va r iou s com pon e n ts of a com pu t e r syst e m ?

The hardware

The operat ing syst em

The applicat ion program s

The users.

8. W h a t is a Re a l- Tim e Syst e m ?

A real t im e process is a process t hat m ust respond t o t he event swit ch in a cert ain
t im e period. A real t im e operat ing syst em is an operat ing syst em t hat can run real
t im e processes successfully.

9. Ex pla in t h e con ce pt of t he D ist r ibu te d syste m s?

Dist ribut ed syst em s work in a net work. They can share t he net work resources,
com m unicat e wit h each ot her.

10. W h a t is SCSI ?

SCSI - Sm all com put er syst em s int erface is a t ype of int erface used for com put er
com ponent s such as hard drives, opt ical drives, scanners and t ape drives. I t is a
com pet ing t echnology t o st andard I DE ( I nt egrat ed Drive Elect ronics) .

11. W h a t is a se ctor ?

Sm allest addressable port ion of a disk.

12. W h a t a r e t he diffe re n t oper a t in g syst e m s?

Bat ched operat ing syst em s

Mult i- program m ed operat ing syst em s

Tim esharing operat ing syst em s

Dist ribut ed operat ing syst em s

Real- t im e operat ing syst em s.

13. W h a t is bu sy w a it in g?

The repeat ed execut ion of a loop of code while wait ing for an event t o occur is called
busy wait ing.

14. W h a t a r e syste m ca lls?

 Syst em calls provide t he int erface bet ween a process and t he operat ing syst em .
Syst em calls for m odern Microsoft windows plat form s are part of t he win32 API ,
which is available for all t he com pilers writ t en for Microsoft windows.

15. W h a t a r e va r iou s sch e du lin g qu eu e s?

Job queue

Ready queue

Device queue

16. W h a t a r e j a va t hr e a ds?

Java is one of t he sm all num ber of languages t hat support at t he language level for
t he creat ion and m anagem ent of t hreads. However, because t hreads are m anaged by
t he j ava virt ual m achine ( JVM) , not by a user-level library or kernel, it is difficult t o
classify Java t hreads as eit her user- or kernel-level.

17. W h a t a r e t ype s of t h re a ds?

User t hread

Kernel t hread

18. W h a t is a se m a ph or e ?

I t is a synchronizat ion t ool used t o solve com plex crit ical sect ion problem s. A
sem aphore is an int eger variable t hat , apart from init ializat ion, is accessed only
t hrough t wo st andard at om ic operat ions: Wait and Signal.

19. W h a t is a de a dlock ?

Deadlock is a sit uat ion where a group of processes are all blocked and none of t hem
can becom e unblocked unt il one of t he ot her becom es unblocked. The sim plest
deadlock is t wo processes each of which is wait ing for a m essage from t he ot her.

20. W h a t is ca ch e m e m or y?

Cache m em ory is random access m em ory ( RAM) t hat a com put er m icroprocessor can
access m ore quickly t han it can access regular RAM. As t he m icroprocessor processes
dat a, it looks first in t he cache m em ory and if it finds t he dat a t here (from a previous
reading of dat a) , it does not have t o do t he m ore t im e-consum ing reading of dat a.

21. W h a t is t h r a sh in g?

I t is a phenom enon in virt ual m em ory schem es when t he processor spends m ost of
 it s t im e swapping pages, rat her t han execut ing inst ruct ions. This is due t o an
inordinat e num ber of page fault s.

22. W h a t a r e t he st a t e s of a pr oce ss?

New

Running

Wait ing

Ready

Term inat ed

23. W h a t is a bin a r y se m a ph or e ?

A binary sem aphore is one, which t akes only 0 and 1 as values. They are used t o
im plem ent m ut ual exclusion and synchronize concurrent processes.

24. W h a t is a j ob qu e u e?

When a process ent ers t he syst em it is placed in t he j ob queue.

25. W h a t is a r e a dy qu e ue ?

The processes t hat are residing in t he m ain m em ory and are ready and wait ing t o
execut e are kept on a list called t he ready queue.

26. W h a t a r e t u rn a rou n d t im e a n d r esponse t im e ?

Turnaround t im e is t he int erval bet ween t he subm ission of a j ob and it s com plet ion.
Response t im e is t he int erval bet ween subm ission of a request , and t he first
response t o t hat request .

27. W h a t a r e t he ope r a t in g syst e m com pon en ts?

Process m anagem ent

Main m em ory m anagem ent

File m anagem ent

I / O syst em m anagem ent

Secondary st orage m anagem ent

Net working

Prot ect ion syst em

 Com m and int erpret er syst em

28. W h a t is m u t e x ?

Mut ex is a program obj ect t hat allows m ult iple program t hreads t o share t he sam e
resource, such as file access, but not sim ult aneously. When a program is st art ed a
m ut ex is creat ed wot h a unique nam e. Aft er t his st age, any t hread t hat needs t he
resource m ust lock t he m ut ex from ot her t hreads while it is using t he resource. t he
m ut ex is set t o unlock when t he dat a is no longer needed or t he rout ine is finished.

29. W h a t is M a r sh a llin g?

The process of packaging and sending int erface m et hod param et ers across t hread or
process boundaries.

30. W h a t a r e r eside nce m on it or s?

Early operat ing syst em s were called residence m onit ors.

31. W h y t h r e a d is ca lle d a s a ligh t w e igh t pr ocess?

I t is called light weight process t o em phasize t he fact t hat a t hread is like a process
but is m ore efficient and uses fewer resources( n hence “light er” ) and t hey also share
t he address space.

32. W h a t a r e oper a t in g syst e m se r vice s?

Program execut ion

I / O operat ions

File syst em m anipulat ion

Com m unicat ion

Error det ect ion

Resource allocat ion

Account ing

Prot ect ion

33. W h a t is a pr ocess?

A program in execut ion is called a process. Or it m ay also be called a unit of work. A

process needs som e syst em resources as CPU t im e, m em ory, files, and i/ o devices t o
accom plish t he t ask. Each process is represent ed in t he operat ing syst em by a
 process cont rol block or t ask cont rol block ( PCB).Processes are of t wo t ypes
Ope r a t in g syste m pr oce sse s
Use r pr ocesse s

34. W h a t a r e t he diffe re n t j ob sch e du lin g in ope r a t in g syst e m s?

Scheduling is t he act ivit y of t he deciding when process will receive t he resources

t hey request .
FCFS - - - > FCSFS st ands for First Com e First Served. I n FCFS t he j ob t hat has been
wait ing t he longest is served next .

Rou n d Robin Sch e du lin g- - - > Round Robin scheduling is a scheduling m et hod
where each process get s a sm all quant it y of t im e t o run and t hen it is preem pt ed and
t he next process get s t o run. This is called t im e-sharing and gives t he effect of all t he
processes running at t he sam e t im e

Sh or te st Job Fir st - - - > The Short est j ob First scheduling algorit hm is a

nonpreem pt ive scheduling algorit hm t hat chooses t he j ob t hat will execut e t he
short est am ount of t im e.

Pr ior it y Sch e du lin g- - - > Priorit y scheduling is a scheduling m et hod where at all
t im es t he highest priorit y process is assigned t he resource.

35. W h a t is du a l- m ode ope ra t ion ?

I n order t o prot ect t he operat ing syst em s and t he syst em program s from t he
m alfunct ioning program s t he t wo m ode operat ions were evolved
Syst e m m ode
Use r m ode .

36. W h a t is a de vice qu e ue ?

A list of processes wait ing for a part icular I / O device is called device queue.

37. W h a t a r e t he diffe re n t t ype s of Re a l- Tim e Sch e du lin g?

H a r d r e a l- t im e syst e m s required t o com plet e a crit ical t ask wit hin a guarant eed
am ount of t im e.
Soft re a l- t im e com pu t in g requires t hat crit ical processes receive priorit y over less
fort unat e ones.
38. W h a t is st a r va t ion ?

St arvat ion is a resource m anagem ent problem where a process does not get t he
resources it needs for a long t im e because t he resources are being allocat ed t o ot her
processes.

39. W h a t is a lon g t e r m sch e du le r & sh or t t er m sch e du ler s?

Lon g t e r m sche du le r s are t he j ob schedulers t hat select processes from t he j ob

queue and load t hem int o m em ory for execut ion.
The Shor t t e r m sch e du le r s are t he CPU schedulers t hat select a process form t he
ready queue and allocat e t he CPU t o one of t hem .

40. W h a t is fr a gm e n ta t ion ?

Fragm ent at ion occurs in a dynam ic m em ory allocat ion syst em when m any of t he free
blocks are t oo sm all t o sat isfy any request .

41. W h a t is con te x t sw it ch in g?

Transferring t he cont rol from one process t o ot her process requires saving t he st at e
of t he old process and loading t he saved st at e for new process. This t ask is known as
cont ext swit ching.

42. W h a t is r e la t ive pa t h a n d a bsolu t e pa t h ?

Absolu te pa t h - - Exact pat h from root direct ory.

Re la t ive pa t h - - Relat ive t o t he current pat h.

43. W h a t a r e t he disa dva n t a ge s of con t e x t sw it ch in g?

Tim e t aken for swit ching from one process t o ot her is pure over head. Because t he
syst em does no useful work while swit ching. So one of t he solut ions is t o go for
t hreading when ever possible.

44. W h a t is t h e st a t e of t h e processor , w h en a pr ocess is w a it in g for som e e ve n t

t o occu r ?

Wait ing st at e

45. W h a t is t h e differ e nce be t w e e n Pr im a r y st or a ge a n d secon dar y st ora ge ?

M a in m e m or y - only large st orage m edia t hat t he CPU can access direct ly.

Se con da r y stor a ge - ext ension of m ain m em ory t hat provides large nonvolat ile
 st orage capacit y.

46. W h a t is pr ocess synch ron iza t ion ?

A sit uat ion, where several processes access and m anipulat e t he sam e dat a
concurrent ly and t he out com e of t he execut ion depends on t he part icular order in
which t he access t akes place, is called race condit ion. To guard against t he race
condit ion we need t o ensure t hat only one process at a t im e can be m anipulat ing t he
sam e dat a. The t echnique we use for t his is called process synchronizat ion.

47. W h a t is a da t a r e gist e r a n d a ddre ss re gist er ?

D a t a r e gist er s - can be assigned t o a variet y of funct ions by t he program m er. They

can be used wit h any m achine inst ruct ion t hat perform s operat ions on dat a.
Addr e ss r e gist er s - cont ain m ain m em ory addresses of dat a and inst ruct ions or
t hey cont ain a port ion of t he address t hat is used in t he calculat ion of t he com plet e
addresses.

48. W h a t a r e de a dlock pr e ven t ion t ech n ique s?

Mut ual exclusion

Hold and wait

No preem pt ion

Circular wait

49. W h a t is t h e differ e nce be t w e e n Com plie r an d I n t e r pre t e r?

An int erpret er reads one inst ruct ion at a t im e and carries out t he act ions im plied by
t hat inst ruct ion. I t does not perform any t ranslat ion. But a com piler t ranslat es t he
ent ire inst ruct ions.

50. W h a t is a Sa fe St a t e a n d w ha t is it s u se in de a dlock a voida nce ?

When a process request s an available resource, syst em m ust decide if im m ediat e

allocat ion leaves t he syst em in a safe st at e. Syst em is in safe st at e if t here exist s a
safe sequence of all processes. Deadlock Avoidance : ensure t hat a syst em will never
ent er an unsafe st at e.

5 1 . W h a t is t h e diffe r e n ce be t w e e n m icr ok e r n e l a n d m a cr o k e r n e l?
M icr o- Ke r n e l : A m icro- kernel is a m inim al operat ing sy st em t hat
perform s only t he essent ial funct ions of an operat ing sy st em . All ot her
 operat ing sy st em funct ions are perform ed by sy st em processes.
M on olit h ic : A m onolit hic operat ing sy st em is one where all operat ing
sy st em code is in a single ex ecut able im age and all operat ing sy st em
code runs in sy st em m ode.
5 2 . W h a t is D RAM ?
Dy nam ic Ram st ores t he dat a in t he form of Capacit ance, and St at ic
RAM st ores t he dat a in Volt ages.
5 3 . W h a t a r e t h e diffe r e n t fu n ct ion s of Sch e du le r ?
Scheduler deals wit h t he problem of deciding which of t he process in
t he ready queue is t o be allocat ed t he CPU. Short Term Schedulers,
Long Term Schedulers
5 4 . W h a t is a t r a p a n d t r a pdoor ?
Trapdoor is a secret undocum ent ed ent ry point int o a program used t o
grant access wit hout norm al m et hods of access aut hent icat ion. A t rap
is a soft ware int errupt , usually t he result of an error condit ion.
5 5 . W h a t a r e loca l a n d globa l pa g e r e pla ce m e n t s?
Local replacem ent m eans t hat an incom ing page is brought in only t o
t he relev ant process' address space. Global replacem ent policy allows
any page fram e from any process t o be replaced. The lat t er is
applicable t o v ariable part it ions m odel only .
56. W h a t is ca ch e - coh er e ncy?

I n a m ult iprocessor syst em t here exist several caches each m ay cont aining a copy of
sam e variable A. Then a change in one cache should im m ediat ely be reflect ed in all
ot her caches t his process of m aint aining t he sam e value of a dat a in all t he caches s
called cache-coherency.

57. W h a t a r e t he be n efit s of m u lt it h re a de d pr ogr a m m in g?

Responsiveness

Resources sharing

Econom y

Ut ilizat ion of m ult iprocessor archit ect ures.

.
 Operating System Interview Question and Answers-2
1 . Ex pla in t h e conce pt of Re e nt r a ncy?

I t is a useful, m em ory-saving t echnique for m ult iprogram m ed t im esharing syst em s.

A Reent rant Procedure is one in which m ult iple users can share a single copy of a
program during t he sam e period. Reent rancy has 2 key aspect s: The program code
cannot m odify it self, and t he local dat a for each user process m ust be st ored
separat ely. Thus, t he perm anent part is t he code, and t he t em porary part is t he
point er back t o t he calling program and local variables used by t hat program . Each
execut ion inst ance is called act ivat ion. I t execut es t he code in t he perm anent part ,
but has it s own copy of local variables/ param et ers. The t em porary part associat ed
wit h each act ivat ion is t he act ivat ion record. Generally, t he act ivat ion record is kept
on t he st ack.
N ot e: A reent rant procedure can be int errupt ed and called by an int errupt ing
program , and st ill execut e correct ly on ret urning t o t he procedure.

2 . Ex pla in Be la dy's An om a ly?

Also called FI FO anom aly. Usually, on increasing t he num ber of fram es allocat ed t o a
process virt ual m em ory, t he process execut ion is fast er, because fewer page fault s
occur. Som et im es, t he reverse happens, i.e., t he execut ion t im e increases even
when m ore fram es are allocat ed t o t he process. This is Belady's Anom aly. This is t rue
for cert ain page reference pat t erns.

3 . W h a t is a bin a r y se m a ph or e ? W ha t is it s u se ?

A binary sem aphore is one, which t akes only 0 and 1 as values. They are used t o
im plem ent m ut ual exclusion and synchronize concurrent processes.

4 . W h a t is t h r a sh in g?

I t is a phenom enon in virt ual m em ory schem es when t he processor spends m ost of
it s t im e swapping pages, rat her t han execut ing inst ruct ions. This is due t o an
inordinat e num ber of page fault s.

5 . List t h e Coffm a n 's con dit ion s t h a t le a d to a de a dlock .

1. M u t u a l Ex clu sion : Only one process m ay use a crit ical resource at a t im e.

2. H old & W a it : A process m ay be allocat ed som e resources while wait ing for
ot hers.
3. N o Pr e - e m pt ion : No resource can be forcible rem oved from a process
holding it .
4. Cir cu la r W a it : A closed chain of processes exist such t hat each process holds
 at least one resource needed by anot her process in t he chain.

6 . W h a t a r e sh or t , lon g an d m e diu m - t e r m sch e du lin g?

Lon g t e r m sche du le r det erm ines which program s are adm it t ed t o t he syst em for
processing. I t cont rols t he degree of m ult iprogram m ing. Once adm it t ed, a j ob
becom es a process.

M e diu m t e r m sch e du lin g is part of t he swapping funct ion. This relat es t o

processes t hat are in a blocked or suspended st at e. They are swapped out of real-
m em ory unt il t hey are ready t o execut e. The swapping-in decision is based on
m em ory- m anagem ent crit eria.

Sh or t te r m sch e du ler , also know as a dispat cher execut es m ost frequent ly, and
m akes t he finest - grained decision of which process should execut e next . This
scheduler is invoked whenever an event occurs. I t m ay lead t o int errupt ion of one
process by preem pt ion.

7 . W h a t a r e t ur n a rou n d t im e a n d re sponse t im e ?

Turnaround t im e is t he int erval bet ween t he subm ission of a j ob and it s com plet ion.
Response t im e is t he int erval bet ween subm ission of a request , and t he first
response t o t hat request .

8 . W h a t a r e t he t ypica l e le m e n t s of a pr ocess im a ge ?

Use r da t a : Modifiable part of user space. May include program dat a, user st ack
area, and program s t hat m ay be m odified.

Use r pr ogr a m : The inst ruct ions t o be execut ed.

Syst e m St ack : Each process has one or m ore LI FO st acks associat ed wit h it . Used
t o st ore param et ers and calling addresses for procedure and syst em calls.

Pr oce ss con t r ol Block ( PCB): I nfo needed by t he OS t o cont rol processes.

9 . W h a t is t h e Tra n sla t ion Look a side Bu ffe r ( TLB) ?

I n a cached syst em , t he base addresses of t he last few referenced pages is

m aint ained in regist ers called t he TLB t hat aids in fast er lookup. TLB cont ains t hose
page- t able ent ries t hat have been m ost recent ly used. Norm ally, each virt ual
m em ory reference causes 2 physical m em ory accesses- one t o fet ch appropriat e
page- t able ent ry, and one t o fet ch t he desired dat a. Using TLB in- bet ween, t his is
reduced t o j ust one physical m em ory access in cases of TLB-hit .
1 0 . W h a t is t h e re side n t se t a n d w or k in g set of a pr oce ss?

Resident set is t hat port ion of t he process im age t hat is act ually in real- m em ory at a
part icular inst ant . Working set is t hat subset of resident set t hat is act ually needed
for execut ion. ( Relat e t his t o t he variable- window size m et hod for swapping
t echniques.)

1 1 . W h e n is a syste m in sa fe st a t e ?

The set of dispat chable processes is in a safe st at e if t here exist s at least one
t em poral order in which all processes can be run t o com plet ion wit hout result ing in a
deadlock.

1 2 . W h a t is cycle st e a lin g?

We encount er cycle st ealing in t he cont ext of Direct Mem ory Access ( DMA) . Eit her
t he DMA cont roller can use t he dat a bus when t he CPU does not need it , or it m ay
force t he CPU t o t em porarily suspend operat ion. The lat t er t echnique is called cycle
st ealing. Not e t hat cycle st ealing can be done only at specific break point s in an
inst ruct ion cycle.

1 3 . W h a t is m e a n t by a r m - st ick in e ss?

I f one or a few processes have a high access rat e t o dat a on one t rack of a st orage
disk, t hen t hey m ay m onopolize t he device by repeat ed request s t o t hat t rack. This
generally happens wit h m ost com m on device scheduling algorit hm s ( LI FO, SSTF, C-
SCAN, et c) . High- densit y m ult isurface disks are m ore likely t o be affect ed by t his
t han low densit y ones.

1 4 . W h a t a re t h e st ipu la t ions of C2 le ve l secu r it y?

C2 level securit y provides for:

1. Discret ionary Access Cont rol

2. I dent ificat ion and Aut hent icat ion
3. Audit ing
4. Resource reuse

1 5 . W h a t is bu sy w a it in g?

The repeat ed execut ion of a loop of code while wait ing for an event t o occur is called
busy- wait ing. The CPU is not engaged in any real product ive act ivit y during t his
period, and t he process does not progress t oward com plet ion.
1 6 . Ex pla in t h e popu la r m u lt ipr oce ssor t h rea d- sch e du lin g st r a t e gies.

1. Loa d Sha r in g: Processes are not assigned t o a part icular processor. A global
queue of t hreads is m aint ained. Each processor, when idle, select s a t hread
from t his queue. Not e t hat load balancing refers t o a schem e where work is
allocat ed t o processors on a m ore perm anent basis.
2. Ga n g Sch e du lin g: A set of relat ed t hreads is scheduled t o run on a set of
processors at t he sam e t im e, on a 1-t o- 1 basis. Closely relat ed t hreads /
processes m ay be scheduled t his way t o reduce synchronizat ion blocking, and
m inim ize process swit ching. Group scheduling predat ed t his st rat egy.
3. D e dica t e d processor a ssign m en t : Provides im plicit scheduling defined by
assignm ent of t hreads t o processors. For t he durat ion of program execut ion,
each program is allocat ed a set of processors equal in num ber t o t he num ber
of t hreads in t he program . Processors are chosen from t he available pool.
4. D yn a m ic sch e du lin g: The num ber of t hread in a program can be alt ered
during t he course of execut ion.

1 7 . W h e n doe s t he con dit ion 'r en de zvous' ar ise ?

I n m essage passing, it is t he condit ion in which, bot h, t he sender and receiver are
blocked unt il t he m essage is delivered.

1 8 . W h a t is a t r a p a n d t r a pdoor ?

Trapdoor is a secret undocum ent ed ent ry point int o a program used t o grant access
wit hout norm al m et hods of access aut hent icat ion. A t rap is a soft ware int errupt ,
usually t he result of an error condit ion.

1 9 . W h a t a re loca l a n d globa l pa ge r e pla cem e n t s?

Local replacem ent m eans t hat an incom ing page is brought in only t o t he relevant
process address space. Global replacem ent policy allows any page fram e from any
process t o be replaced. The lat t er is applicable t o variable part it ions m odel only.

2 0 . D efin e la t e ncy, t r a nsfer a n d se ek t im e w it h r e spect t o disk I / O.

Seek t im e is t he t im e required t o m ove t he disk arm t o t he required t rack. Rot at ional

delay or lat ency is t he t im e it t akes for t he beginning of t he required sect or t o reach
t he head. Sum of seek t im e ( if any) and lat ency is t he access t im e. Tim e t aken t o
act ually t ransfer a span of dat a is t ransfer t im e.

2 1 . D escr ibe t he Bu ddy syst e m of m e m or y a lloca t ion .

Free m em ory is m aint ained in linked list s, each of equal sized blocks. Any such block
is of size 2^ k. When som e m em ory is required by a process, t he block size of next
higher order is chosen, and broken int o t wo. Not e t hat t he t wo such pieces differ in
address only in t heir kt h bit . Such pieces are called buddies. When any used block is
freed, t he OS checks t o see if it s buddy is also free. I f so, it is rej oined, and put int o
t he original free- block linked-list .

2 2 . W h a t is t im e - st a m pin g?

I t is a t echnique proposed by Lam port , used t o order event s in a dist ribut ed syst em
wit hout t he use of clocks. This schem e is int ended t o order event s consist ing of t he
t ransm ission of m essages. Each syst em 'i' in t he net work m aint ains a count er Ci.
Every t im e a syst em t ransm it s a m essage, it increm ent s it s count er by 1 and
at t aches t he t im e- st am p Ti t o t he m essage. When a m essage is received, t he
receiving syst em 'j ' set s it s count er Cj t o 1 m ore t han t he m axim um of it s current
value and t he incom ing t im e- st am p Ti. At each sit e, t he ordering of m essages is
det erm ined by t he following rules: For m essages x from sit e i and y from sit e j , x
precedes y if one of t he following condit ions holds....( a) if Ti< Tj or ( b) if Ti= Tj and
i< j .

2 3 . H ow a re t h e w a it / sign a l ope r a t ion s for m on it or diffe r en t fr om t hose for

se m a ph or e s?

I f a process in a m onit or signal and no t ask is wait ing on t he condit ion variable, t he
signal is lost . So t his allows easier program design. Whereas in sem aphores, every
operat ion affect s t he value of t he sem aphore, so t he wait and signal operat ions
should be perfect ly balanced in t he program .

2 4 . I n t h e con te x t of m e m or y m a n a ge m e n t, w h a t a r e pla ce m e n t a n d
r e pla ce m e n t a lgor it h m s?

Placem ent algorit hm s det erm ine where in available real-m em ory t o load a program .
Com m on m et hods are first -fit , next - fit , best - fit . Replacem ent algorit hm s are used
when m em ory is full, and one process ( or part of a process) needs t o be swapped out
t o accom m odat e a new program . The replacem ent algorit hm det erm ines which are
t he part it ions t o be swapped out .

2 5 . I n loa din g pr ogra m s in t o m e m or y, w h at is t h e diffe r en ce be t w e en loa d-

t im e dyn a m ic lin k in g a n d r u n - t im e dyn a m ic lin k in g?

For loa d- t im e dyn a m ic lin k in g: Load m odule t o be loaded is read int o m em ory.
Any reference t o a t arget ext ernal m odule causes t hat m odule t o be loaded and t he
references are updat ed t o a relat ive address from t he st art base address of t he
applicat ion m odule.

Wit h ru n - t im e dyn a m ic loa din g: Som e of t he linking is post poned unt il act ual
reference during execut ion. Then t he correct m odule is loaded and linked.

2 6 . W h a t a re de m a n d- pa gin g a n d pr e - pa gin g?

Wit h dem and paging, a page is brought int o m em ory only when a locat ion on t hat
page is act ually referenced during execut ion. Wit h pre- paging, pages ot her t han t he
one dem anded by a page fault are brought in. The select ion of such pages is done
based on com m on access pat t erns, especially for secondary m em ory devices.

2 7 . Pa gin g a m e m or y m an a ge m en t fu nct ion , w h ile m u lt ipr ogr a m m in g a

pr ocessor m a n a ge m en t fun ct ion , a r e t he t w o in t e r de pen de n t?

Yes.

2 8 . W h a t is pa ge can n iba lizin g?

Page swapping or page replacem ent s are called page cannibalizing.

2 9 . W h a t h as t r igge r e d t h e ne e d for m u lt it ask in g in PCs?

1. I ncreased speed and m em ory capacit y of m icroprocessors t oget her wit h t he

support fir virt ual m em ory and
2. Growt h of client server com put ing

3 0 . W h a t a re t h e fou r la ye rs t h a t W in dow s N T ha ve in or der t o a ch ie ve

in de pe n de nce ?

1. Hardware abst ract ion layer

2. Kernel
3. Subsyst em s
4. Syst em Services.

3 1 . W h a t is SMP?

To achieve m axim um efficiency and reliabilit y a m ode of operat ion known as

sym m et ric m ult iprocessing is used. I n essence, wit h SMP any process or t hreads can
be assigned t o any processor.

3 2 . W h a t a re t h e k e y obj e ct or ie n t e d concept s u se d by W in dow s N T?

Encapsulat ion, Obj ect class and inst ance.

3 3 . I s W in dow s N T a fu ll blow n obj e ct or ien t e d ope r a t in g syst e m ? Give

r e a son s.
No Windows NT is not so, because it s not im plem ent ed in obj ect orient ed language
and t he dat a st ruct ures reside wit hin one execut ive com ponent and are not
represent ed as obj ect s and it does not support obj ect orient ed capabilit ies.

3 4 . W h a t is a dr a w back of MVT?

I t does not have t he feat ures like

1. abilit y t o support m ult iple processors

2. virt ual st orage
3. source level debugging

3 5 . W h a t is pr oce ss spa w n in g?

When t he OS at t he explicit request of anot her process creat es a process, t his act ion
is called process spawning.

3 6 . H ow m a n y j obs can be r u n concu rr e n t ly on M VT?

15 j obs.

3 7 . List ou t som e re a son s for pr oce ss t e r m in a t ion .

1. Norm al com plet ion

2. Tim e lim it exceeded
3. Mem ory unavailable
4. Bounds violat ion
5. Prot ect ion error
6. Arit hm et ic error
7. Tim e overrun
8. I / O failure
9. I nvalid inst ruct ion
10. Privileged inst ruct ion
11. Dat a m isuse
12. Operat or or OS int ervent ion
13. Parent t erm inat ion.

3 8 . W h a t a re t h e r ea son s for pr oce ss su spen sion ?

1. swapping
2. int eract ive user request
3. t im ing
4. parent process request
3 9 . W h a t is pr oce ss m igr a t ion ?

I t is t he t ransfer of sufficient am ount of t he st at e of process from one m achine t o t he

t arget m achine.

4 0 . W h a t is m u t a n t?

I n Windows NT a m ut ant provides kernel m ode or user m ode m ut ual exclusion wit h
t he not ion of ownership.

4 1 . W h a t is a n idle t h r e a d?

The special t hread a dispat cher will execut e when no ready t hread is found.

4 2 . W h a t is Ft D isk ?

I t is a fault t olerance disk driver for Windows NT.

4 3 . W h a t a re t h e possible t h r e a ds a t hr e a d ca n h a ve?

1. Ready
2. St andby
3. Running
4. Wait ing
5. Transit ion
6. Term inat ed

4 4 . W h a t a re r in gs in W in dow s N T?

Windows NT uses prot ect ion m echanism called rings provides by t he process t o
im plem ent separat ion bet ween t he user m ode and kernel m ode.

4 5 . W h a t is Exe cu t ive in W in dow s N T?

I n Windows NT, execut ive refers t o t he operat ing syst em code t hat runs in kernel
m ode.

4 6 . W h a t a re t h e su b- com pon e n ts of I / O m a n a ge r in W in dow s N T?

1. Net work redirect or/ Server

2. Cache m anager.
3. File syst em s
4. Net work driver
5. Device driver
 4 7 . W h a t a re D D k s? N a m e a n oper a t in g syst e m t h a t in clu de s th is fe a tu r e .

DDks are device driver kit s, which are equivalent t o SDKs for writ ing device drivers.
Windows NT includes DDks.

4 8 . W h a t le ve l of se cu r it y doe s W in dow s N T m e e t s?

C2 level securit y.

Networking Interview Question and Answers

1. W h a t is a n e t w or k ?
I t is a set of devices connect ed by com m unicat ion link s. A node can be
a com put er or any ot her device capable of sending and/ or receiving
dat a generat ed by ot her nodes on t he net work .
2. W h a t is a pr ot ocol?
I t is a set of rules t hat governs dat a com m unicat ion.
3. W h a t is m u lt iple x in g?
Mult iplexing is t he process of dividing a link , t he phy cal m edium , int o
logical channels for bet t er efficiency . Here m edium is not changed but
it has several channels inst ead of one.
4. D e fin e ba n dw idt h ?
The range of frequencies t hat a m edium can pass is called bandwidt h.
I t is t he difference bet ween t he highest and lowest frequencies t hat
t he m edium can sat isfact orily pass.
5. W h a t do y ou m e a n by sw it ch in g?
I t is a m et hod in which com m unicat ion devices are connect ed t o one
anot her efficient ly . A swit ch is int erm ediary hardware or soft ware t hat
link s devices t oget her t em porarily .
6. W h a t a r e t he im por t a n t t opologie s for n e t w or k s?

BUS t opology

STAR t opology
 RI NG t opology

MESS t opology

7. W h a t a r e t he du t ie s of da t a lin k la ye r?

Dat a link layer is responsible for carrying packet s from one hop (com put er or rout er)
t o t he next . The dut ies of dat a link layer include packet izing, adderssing, error
cont rol, flow cont rol, m edium access cont rol.

8. W h a t is vir t u a l ch a nn e l?

Virt ual channel is norm ally a connect ion from one source t o one dest inat ion, alt hough
m ult icast connect ions are also perm it t ed. The ot her nam e for virt ual channel is
virt ual circuit .

9. W h a t is m u lt ica st r ou t in g?

Sending a m essage t o a group is called m ult icast ing, and it s rout ing algorit hm is
called m ult icast rout ing.

10. W h a t is TELN ET ?

TELNET is a client - server applicat ion t hat allows a user t o log on t o a rem ot e
m achine,giving t he user access t o t he rem ot e syst em . TELNET is an abbreviat ion of
t erm inal net work.

11. W h a t do you m e a n by da t a com m u n ica t ion?

I t is t he exchange of dat a bet ween t wo devices via som e form of t ransm ission
m edium such as wire cable. The com m unicat ing syst em m ust be part of a
com m unicat ion syst em m ade up of a com binat ion of hardware and soft ware.The
effect iveness of a dat a com m unicat ion syst em depends on t hree fundam ent al
charact erist ics: delivery, accuracy and t im eliness.

12. W h a t is dist r ibu t e d pr oce ssin g?

I t is a st rat egy in which services provided by t he net work reside at m ult iple sit es.

13. W h a t is poin t t o poin t con n ect ion?

I t provides a dedicat ed link bet ween t wo devices. The ent ire capacit y of t he link is
reserved for t ransm ission bet ween t he t wo devices.

14. W h a t is Re du n dan cy?

The concept of including ext ra inform at ion in t he t ransm ission solely for t he purpose
 of com parison. This t echnique is called redundancy.

15. W h a t is su bn e t?

A generic t erm for sect ion of a large net works usually separat ed by a bridge or
rout er.

16. W h a t is m u lt ipoin t conn e ct ion ?

I n m ult ipoint connect ion m ore t han t wo specific devices share a single link. Here t he
capacit y of t he channel is shared eit her separat ely or t em porally.

17. W h a t is sim ple x ?

I t is t he m ode of com m unicat ion bet ween t wo devices in which flow of dat a is
unidirect ional.

18. W h a t is h a lf- du ple x ?

I t is t he m ode of com m unicat ion bet ween t wo devices in which flow of dat a is
bidirect ional but not at t he sam e t im e. ie each st at ion can t ransm it and receive but
not at t he sam e t im e.

19. W h a t is fu ll du ple x ?

I t is t he m ode of com m unicat ion bet ween t wo devices in which flow of dat a is
bidirect ional and it occurs sim ult aneously. Here signals going in eit her direct ion share
t he capacit y of t he link.

20. W h a t is a t opology?

Topology of a net work is defined as t he geom et ric represent at ion of t he relat ionship
of all t he links and linking devices ( node) t o one anot her .

21. W h a t is Ba n dw idt h ?

Every line has an upper lim it and a lower lim it on t he frequency of signals it can
carry. This lim it ed range is called t he bandwidt h.

22. W h a t is poin t - t o- poin t prot ocol?

A com m unicat ions prot ocol used t o connect com put ers t o rem ot e net working services
including I nt ernet service providers.

23. W h a t is sw it ch in g?

Swit ching in dat a com m unicat ion is of t hree t ypes

 Circuit swit ching

Packet swit ching

Message swit ching

24. Com pa r e a n a log an d digit a l sign a ls?

Analog signals can have an infinit e num ber of values in a range but digit al signal can
have only a lim it ed num ber of values.

25. W h a t is t h e differ e nce be t w e e n ARP a n d RARP?

ARP - Address resolut ion prot ocol is used t o associat e t he 32 bit I P address wit h t he
48 bit physical address, used by a host or a rout er t o find t he physical address of
anot her host on it s net work by sending a ARP query packet t hat includes t he I P
address of t he receiver.

RARP - Reverse address resolut ion prot ocol allows a host t o discover it s I nt ernet
address when it knows only it s physical address.

26. W h a t is I CM P?

I CMP is I nt ernet Cont rol Message Prot ocol, a net work layer prot ocol of t he TCP/ I P
suit e used by host s and gat eways t o send not ificat ion of dat agram problem s back t o
t he sender.

27. W h a t is logica l lin k con t rol?

One of t wo sublayers of t he dat a link layer of OSI reference m odel, as defined by t he

I EEE 802 st andard. This sublayer is responsible for m aint aining t he link bet ween
com put ers when t hey are sending dat a across t he physical net work connect ion.

28. W h a t is diffe r en ce be t w e en ba se ban d a n d br oa dba n d t r a nsm ission?

I n a baseband t ransm ission, t he ent ire bandwidt h of t he cable is consum ed by a

single signal. I n broadband t ransm ission, signals are sent on m ult iple frequencies,
allowing m ult iple signals t o be sent sim ult aneously.

29. W h a t is m e sh n e tw or k?

A net work in which t here are m ult iple net work links bet ween com put ers t o provide
m ult iple pat hs for dat a t o t ravel.

30. D e fine bit r a t e a n d bit in t e r va l?

 Digit al signals are aperiodic.so inst ead of using period and frequency we use bit
int erval and bit rat e respect ively.Bit int erval is t he t im e required t o send one single
bit .Bit rat e is t he num ber of bit int ervals per second.

31. W h a t is sa m plin g?

I t is t he process of obt aining am plit ude of a signal at regular int ervals.

32. D e fine pu lse a m plit u de m odu la t ion?

I t is an analog t o digit al conversion m et hod which t akes analog signals, sam ples it
and generat es a series of pulse based on t he result s of t he sam pling. I t is not used in
dat a com m unicat ion because t he series of pulses generat ed st ill of any am plit ude. To
m odify it we use pulse code m odulat ion.

33. W h a t is N yqu ist Th e or e m ?

According t o t his t heorem , t he sam pling rat e m ust be at least 2 t im es t he highest

frequency of t he original signal.

34. W h a t is Asynch ron ou s m ode of da t a t r a nsm ission ?

I t is a serial m ode of t ransm ission.I n t his m ode of t ransm ission, each byt e is fram ed
wit h a st art bit and a st op bit . There m ay be a variable lengt h gap bet ween each
byt e.

35. W h a t a r e t he diffe re n t t ype s of m u lt iple x in g?

Mult iplexing is of t hree t ypes. Frequency division m ult iplexing and wave division
m ult iplexing is for analog signals and t im e division m ult iplexing is for digit al signals.

36. W h a t M AU?

I n t oken Ring, hub is called Mult ist at ion Access Unit ( MAU) .

37. W h a t do you m e a n by sw it ch in g?

I t is a m et hod in which com m unicat ion devices are connect ed t o one anot her
efficient ly.A swit ch is int erm ediary hardware or soft ware t hat links devices t oget her
t em porarily.

38. W h a t do you m e a n by flow con tr ol?

I t is t he regulat ion of sender’s dat a rat e so t hat t he receiver buffer doesn’t becom e
overwhelm ed.i.e. flow cont rol refers t o a set of procedures used t o rest rict t he
am ount of dat a t hat t he sender can send before wait ing for acknowledgem ent .
39. W h a t do you m e a n by Blu e tooth ?

I t is a wireless LAN t echnology designed t o connect devices of different funct ions

such as t elephones, not ebooks, com put ers, cam eras, print ers and so on. Bluet oot h
LAN I s an adhoc net work t hat is t he net work is form ed spont aneously? I t is t he
im plem ent at ion of prot ocol defined by t he I EEE 802.15 st andard.

40. W h a t is vir t u a l ch a nn e l?

Virt ual channel is norm ally a connect ion from one source t o one dest inat ion, alt hough
m ult icast connect ions are also perm it t ed. The ot her nam e for virt ual channel is
virt ual circuit .

41. W h a t is m u lt ica st r ou t in g?

Sending a m essage t o a group is called m ult icast ing, and it s rout ing algorit hm is
called m ult icast rout ing.

42. W h a t is M a il Ga t e w a y?

I t is a syst em t hat perform s a prot ocol t ranslat ion bet ween different elect ronic m ail
delivery prot ocols.

43. W h a t is I P a ddr e ss?

The int ernet address ( I P address) is 32bit s t hat uniquely and universally defines a
host or rout er on t he int ernet .
The port ion of t he I P address t hat ident ifies t he net work is called net id. The port ion
of t he I P address t hat ident ifies t he host or rout er on t he net work is called host id.

44. W h a t do you m e a n by su bne t t in g?

Subnet t ing divides one large net work int o several sm aller ones. I t adds an
int erm ediat e level of hierarchy in I P addressing.

45. W h a t is Fir e w a lls?

I t is an elect ronic downbridge which is used t o enhance t he securit y of a net work. I t ’s

configurat ion has t wo com ponent s.
Tw o rou t er s
Applica t ion ga t e w a y

46. W h a t is Re pe a te r s ?

A receiver receives a signal before it becom es t oo weak or corrupt ed, regenerat es

t he original bit pat t ern, sand put s t he refreshed copy back ont o t he link. I t operat es
 on phycal layer of OSI m odel.

47. W h a t is Br idge s?

They divide large net work int o sm aller com ponent s.They can relay fram es bet ween
t wo originally separat ed LANs. They provide securit y t hrough part it ioning t raffic.
They operat e on phycal and dat a link layer of OSI m odel.

48. W h a t is Ga t e w a y ?

I t is a prot ocol convert er.A gat eway can accept a packet form at t ed for one prot ocol
and convert it t o a packet form at t ed for anot her prot ocol. I t operat es on all t he
seven layers of OSI m odel.

49. W h a t do you m e a n by pe er ?

Ent it ies com prising t he corresponding layers on different m achines are called peers.

50. W h a t do you m e a n by br oa dca st in g ?

Broadcast syst em allow addressing a packet t o all dest inat ion by using a special code
in address field. when packet is t ransm it t ed it is received and processed by every
m achine on t he net work.

51. W h a t is sou rce rou t e?

I t is a sequence of I P addresses ident ifying t he rout e a dat agram m ust follow. A

source rout e m ay opt ionally be included in an I P dat agram header.

52. W h a t a r e m a j or t ype s of n e t w or k s?

Server- based net work

Peer- t o- peer net work

53. W h a t a r e t he pr ot ocols in a pplica t ion la yer ?

The prot ocols defined in applicat ion layer are

TELNET

FTP

SMTP

SMTP

54. W h a t do you m e a n by poin t t o poin t ne t w ork ?

 Point t o point net work consist of m any connect ions bet ween individual pair of
m achines.large net works are point t o point .Rout ing algorit hm plays an im port ant in
point t o point net work.I t uses st ored ad forword t echnique.I t is a packet swit ching
net work.

55. D e fine Re t ra n sm ission ?

Ret ransm ission is a t echnique in which t he receiver det ect s t he occurrence of an

error and asks t he sender t o resend t he m essage. Resending is repeat ed unt il a
m essage arrives t hat t he receiver believes is error - freed.

56. W h a t a r e m a j or t ype s of n e t w or k s?

Server- based net work

Peer- t o- peer net work

57. W h a t a r e t he pr ot ocols in a pplica t ion la yer ?

The prot ocols defined in applicat ion layer are

TELNET

FTP

SMTP

SMTP

58. W h a t do you m e a n by poin t t o poin t ne t w ork ?

Point t o point net work consist of m any connect ions bet ween individual pair of
m achines.large net works are point t o point .Rout ing algorit hm plays an im port ant in
point t o point net work.I t uses st ored ad forword t echnique.I t is a packet swit ching
net work.

59. W h a t a r e t he pr ot ocols in t r an spor t la yer ?

The prot ocols defined in t ransport layer are :

TCP

UDP

60. D e fine TCP ?

 I t is connect ion orient ed prot ocol.I t consist byt e st ream s oeiginat ing on one m achine
t o be delivered wit hout error on any ot her m achine in t he net work.while t ransm it t ing
it fragm ent s t he st ream t o discret e m essages and passes t o int erner layer.At t he
dest inat ion it reassem bles t he m essages int o out put st ream .

61. W h a t is URL ?

I t is a st andard for specifying any kind of inform at ion on t he World Wide Web.

62. D e fine UD P ?

I t is unreliable connect ionless prot ocol.I t is used for one- shot ,client - server
t ype,request reply queries and applicat ions in which prom pt delivery is required t han
accuracy.

63. W h a t is W or ld W ide W e b ?

World Wide Web is a reposit ory of inform at ion spread all over t he world and linked
t oget her.I t is a unique com binat ion of flexibilit y,port abilit y,and user-friendly feat ures
.The World Wide Web t oday is a dist ribut ed client - server service,in which a client
using a browser can access a service using a server.The service provided is
dist ribut ed over m any locat ions called web sit es.

64. W h a t is H ype r t e x t Tr a nsfer Pr otocol( HTTP) ?

I t is t he m ain prot ocol used t o access dat a on t he World Wide Web .t he prot ol
t ransfers dat a in t he form of plain t ext ,hypert ext ,audio,video,and so on. I t is so
called because it s efficiency allows it s use in a hypert ext environm ent where t here
are rapid j um ps from one docum ent t o anot her.

65. W h a t do you m e a n by Sim ple M a il Tra n sfe r Pr otocol ?

The TCP/ I P prot ocol t hat support s elect ronic m ail on t he int ernet is called Sim ple Mail
Transfer Prot ocol.SMTP provides for m ail exchange bet ween users on t he sam e or
different com put er and support s Sending a single m essage t o one or m ore recipient
Sending m essage t hat include t ext , voice,video,or graphics.Sending m essage t o
users on net work out side t he int ernet .

66. W h a t do you m e a n by loca l login a n d r e m ote login ?

When a user logs int o a local t im e- sharing syst em ,it is called local login. When a
user want s t o access an applicat ion program or ut ilit y locat ed on a rem ot e
m achine,he or she perform s rem ot e login.

67. W h a t is N e t w or k Vir t ua l Te r m ina l ?

 A universal int erface provided by TELNET is called Net work Virt ual Term inal( NVT)
charact er set . Via t his int erface TELNET t ranslat es charact ers ( dat a or com m and)
t hat com e from local t erm inal int o NVT form and delivers t hem t o t he net work.

Software Engineering Interview Question and Answers

1. D e fin e soft w a r e e n gin e e r in g?
According t o I EEE, Soft ware engineering is t he applicat ion of a
sy st em at ic, disciplined, quant ifiable approach t o t he dev elopm ent ,
operat ion and m aint enance of sofware.
2. W h a t a r e t h e ca t e g or ie s of soft w a r e ?
Sy st em soft ware
Applicat ion soft ware
Em bedded soft ware
Web Applicat ions
Art ificial I nt elligence soft ware
Scient ific soft ware.

3. D e fin e t e st in g?
Test ing is a process of execut ing a progr am wit h t he int ent of finding
of an error.
4. W h a t is w h it e box t e st in g?
Whit e box t est ing is a t est case design m et hod t hat uses t he cont rol
st ruct ure of t he procedural design t o derive t est cases. I t is ot herwise
called as st r u ct u r a l t e st in g.
5. W h a t is Bla ck box t e st in g?
Black box t est ing is a t est case design m et hod t hat focuses on t he
funct ional requirem ent s of t he soft ware. I t is ot herwise called
as fu n ct ion a l t e st in g.
6. W h a t is ve r ifica t ion a n d va lida t ion ?

Ve r ifica t ion refers t o t he set of act ivit ies t hat ensure t hat soft ware correct ly
im plem ent s a specific funct ion.

Va lida t ion refers t o t he set of act ivit ies t hat ensure t hat t he soft ware t hat has been
built is t raceable t o cust om er requirem ent s.
7. W h a t is de bu ggin g?

Debugging is t he process t hat result s in t he rem oval of error. I t occurs as a

consequence of successful t est ing.

8. D e fine cyclom a t ic com ple x it y?

Cyclom at ic com plexit y is a soft ware m et ric t hat provides a quant it at ive m easuer of
t he logical com plexit y of a program .

9. W h a t is e r r or t r a ck in g?

Error t racking is an act ivit y t hat provides a m eans for assessing t he st at us of a

current proj ect .

10. W h a t a r e case t ools?

Com put er Aided Soft ware Engineering - CASE t ools assist soft ware engineering
m anagers and pract it ioners in evey act ivit y associat ed wit h t he soft ware process.
They aut om at e proj ect m anagem ent act ivit ies m anage all work product s produced
t hroughout t he process and assist t he engineers in t heir analysis, design, coding and
t est work.

11. W h a t is da t a de sign ?

Dat a design t ransform s t he inform at ion dom ain m odel creat ed during analysis int o
t he dat a st ruct ures t hat will be required t o im plem ent t he soft ware.

12. D e fine coh e n sion a n d cou plin g?

Coh e nsion is a m easure of t he relat ive funct ional st rengt h of a m odule.

Cou plin g is a m easure of t he relat ive int erdependence am ong m odules.

13. W h a t a r e t he diffe re n t t ype s of coh e nsion ?

There are different t ypes of cohension are

Coincident al cohension

Logical cohension

Tem poral cohension

Procedural cohension

Com m unicat ional cohension

14. W h a t a r e t he diffe re n t t ype s of cou plin g?

There are different t ypes of coupling are

Dat a coupling

St am p coupling

Cont rol coupling

Ext ernal coupling

Com m on coupling

Cont ent coupling

15. W h a t is u se r in te r face de sign?

User int erface design creat es an effect ive com m unicat ion m edium bet ween a hum an
and a com put er.

16. W h a t is m e a n t by spe cifica t ion ?

A specificat ion can be a writ t en docum ent , a graphical m odel, a form al m at hem at ical
m odel, a collect ion of usage scenarios, a prot ot ype or any com binat ion of t hese.

17. D e fine pr oce ss?

A series of st eps involving act ivit ies, const raint s, and resources t hat produce an
int ended out put of som e kind is known as process.

18. H ow spir a l m ode l w or ks?

The spiral m odel is an evolut ionary soft ware process m odel t hat couples t he it erat ive
nat ure of prot ot yping wit h t he cont rolled and syst em at ic aspect s of t he wat erfall
lifecycle m odel. I t also has an em phasis on t he use of risk m anagem ent t echniques.

19. W h a t is w in w in spir a l m ode l?

Winwin spiral m odel defines a set of negot iat ion act ivit ies at t he beginning of each
pass around t he spiral. The best negot iat ions st rive for a win- win result .

20. M e n t ion t h e va r iou s vie w s in syste m e n gine e r in g h ie ra r ch y?

The various views in syst em engineering hierarchy from t op t o bot t om in order are

World view
 Dom ain view

Elem ent view

Det ailed view

21. W h a t is soft w a r e re qu ir e m en t s de fin it ion ?

A soft ware requirem ent s definit ion is an abst ract descript ion of t he services which
t he syst em should provide and t he const raint s under which t he syst em m ust operat e.

22. W h a t is SD LC ?

A soft ware cycle deals wit h various part s and phases from planning t o t est ing and
deploying. All t hese act ivit ies are carried out in different ways, as per t he needs.
Each way is known as a Soft ware Developm ent Lifecycle Model ( SDLC) .

23. W h a t a r e da t a a qu ist ion syst e m s?

Syst em s t hat collect s dat a from sensors for subsequent processing and analysis are
t erm ed as Dat a acquist ion syst em s. Dat a collect ion process and processing processes
m ay have different periods and deadlines.

24. D e fine softw a r e configu r a t ion m ode l?

SCM is t he art of ident ifying, organizing, and cont rolling m odificat ions t o t he soft ware
being built by a program m ing t eam . I t is an um brella act ivit y t hat is applied
t hroughout t he soft ware process.

25. W h a t a r e t he SCM a ct ivit ie s?

SCM act ivit ies are developed t o

I dent ify change

Cont rol change

Ensure t hat change is being properly im plem ent ed

Report changes t o ot hers who m ay have an int erest .

26. W h a t a r e t he a dva n t a ge s an d disa dva n t a ges of w h it e box te st in g?

Adva n t a ges :
Soft ware’s st ruct ure logic can be t est ed.

D isa dva n t a ges :

 Doesn’t ensure t hat user requirem ent s are m et .
I t s t est m ay not m im ic real world sit uat ions.

27. W h a t is m e a n t by loop t e st in g?

Loop t est ing is a whit e box t est ing t echniques t hat focuses exclusively on t he validit y
of loop const ruct s. This t echnique can be applied t o sim ple loops, nest ed loops,
concat enat ed loops and unst ruct ured loops.

28. W h a t is m e a n t by sm ok e t est in g?

Sm oke t est ing is an int egrat ion t est ing approach t hat is com m only used ehen “ shrink
wrapped ” soft ware product s are being developed.

29. W h a t is a lph a a n d be t a t e st s?

Alpha t est is t he t est t hat is conduct ed at t he developer’s sit e by a cust om er. Bet a
t est is t he t est t hat is conduct ed at one or m ore cust om er sit es by t he end-user of
t he soft ware.

30. W h a t is m e a n t by syst e m t e st in g?

Syst em t est ing is act ually a series of different t est s whose prim ary purpose is t o fully
exercise t he com put er based syst em . I t verifies whet her t he syst em elem ent s have
been properly int egrat ed and perform t he allocat ed funct ions.

31. M e n t ion t h e ca t e gor ie s of de bu ggin g a ppr oa ch es?

There are t hree cat egories of debugging approaches as follows :

Brut e force

Back t racking

Cause elim inat ion

32. D e fine m e t r ic?

I EEE93 defines as a quant it at ive m easure of t he degree t o which a syst em ,

com ponen, or process possesses a given at t ribut e.

33. M e n t ion som e of t h e proce ss m ode ls a ppropr ia t e for t he soft w a re t o be

e n gin e er e d?

Linear sequent ial or wat erfall m odel

Prot ot yping m odel

 Rad m odel

I ncrem ent al m odel

Spiral m odel

Winwin spiral m odel

Com ponent based developm ent m odel

34. W h a t is a da pt ive m a in t e n a nce ?

Adapt ive m aint anence is t he m aint enance t o adapt soft ware t o a different operat ing
environm ent . I t involves changing a syst em so t hat it operat es in a different
environm ent from it s init ial im plem ent at ion.

35. W h a t a r e t he a dva n t a ge s an d disa dva n t a ges of bla ck box t est in g?

Adva n t a ges:
Sim ulat es act ual syst em usage.
m akes no syst em st ruct ure assum pt ions.

D isa dva n t a ges :

Pot ent ial of m issing logical errors in soft ware.
Possibilit y of redundant t est ing.

36. W h a t a r e t he br oa d ca te gor ies of syste m r equ ir e m e n t s?

Syst em requirem ent s m ay be eit her funct ional or non- funct ional requirem ent s.

37. W h a t a r e u se r r e qu ir e m en t s?

User requirem ent s should describe funct ional and non-funct ional requirem ent s so
t hat t hey are underst andable by syst em users who don’t have det ailed t echnical
knowledge. User requirem ent s are defined using nat ural language, t ables and
diagram s.

38. W h a t is t e st sce n a r io ?

Test scenario is t he hypot het ical st ory t o t est t he part icular funct ionalit y of an
applicat ion. I t serves as an input t o funct ional t est ing. For t est scenario we need use
case.

39. D e fine a n a n a lysis m ode l?

An analysis m odel is a set of m odels t hat serves as t he t echnical represent at ion of

 syst em .

40. D e fine pr ot ot ype?

Prot ot ype is an init ial version of a soft ware syst em which is used t o dem onst rat e
concept s, t ry out design opt ions and generally t o find out m ore about t he problem
and it s possible solut ions.
4 1 . W h a t is t h e fu n ct ion of t h e u se r m ode l?
The user m odel est ablishes t he profile of end users of t he sy st em .
4 2 . W h a t is sy st e m im a ge ?
The sy st em im age com bines t he out ward m anifest at ion of t he
com put er based sy st em , coupled wit h all support ing inform at ion t hat
describes sy st em synt ax and sem ant ics.
4 3 . w h a t is t r a n sfor m m a ppin g?
Transform m apping is a set of design st eps t hat allows a DFD wit h
t ransform flow charact ersist ics t o be m apped int o a specific
archit ect ural st yle.
4 4 . W h a t is t r a ce bilit y m a t r ix ?
Traceabilit y m at rix is a docum ent in which we m ap t he t est cases wit h
t he requirem ent s. I n general we check whet her t he applicat ion work s
as per requirem ent s or whet her we had cov ered all t he required
funct ionalit y t hrough t est cases.
4 5 . List t h e m e t r ics for spe cify in g n on fu n ct ion a l r e qu ir e m e n t s?
The possible m et rics t hat specify t he non- funct ional requirem ent s are :

Speed

Size

Easy of use

Reliabilit y

46. W h a t is t h e differ e nce be t w e e n bla ck box te st in g a n d w h it e box t est in g?

Bla ck box t e st in g :
No knowledge of t he int ernal logic of t he syst em is used t o develop t est cases.
 Uses validat ion t echniques.

Applied during lat er st ages of t est ing.

Exam ples include unit t est ing, int egrat ion t est ing, syst em t est ing, accept ance
t est ing.

W h it e box t e st in g :
Knowledge of t he int ernal logic of t he syst em is used t o develop t est cases.

Uses verificat ion t echniques

Perform ed early in t he t est ing process.

47. M e n t ion t h e va r iou s t ype s of m a in t e na n ce ?

The various t ypes of m aint enance are :

Correct ive m aint enance

Adapt ive m aint enance

Perfect ive m aint enance

Prevent ive m aint enance

48. W h a t is t h e differ e nce be t w e e n soft w ar e en gin e e r in g a n d syst e m

e n gin e er in g?

Syst e m En gine e r in g - is concerned wit h all aspect s of com put er based syst em s
developm ent including hardware, soft ware and process engineering.
Syst e m En gine e r in g - are involves in syst em specificat ion archit ect ural design
int ergrat ion and deploym ent .

Data Structure Interview Question and Answers

1. W h a t is da t a st r u ct u r e ?
The logical and m at hem at ical m odel of a part icular organizat ion of dat a
is called dat a st ruct ure.
There are t wo t y pes of dat a st ruct ure

Linear
Nonlinear
2. W h a t is a lin k e d list ?
A link ed list is a linear collect ion of dat a elem ent s, called nodes, where
t he linear order is giv en by point ers. Each node has t wo part s first part
cont ain t he inform at ion of t he elem ent second part cont ains t he
address of t he nex t node in t he list .
3. W h a t is a qu e u e ?
A queue is an ordered collect ion of it em s from which it em s m ay be
delet ed at one end ( front end) and it em s insert ed at t he ot her end
( rear end) . I t obey s FI FO rule t here is no lim it t o t he num ber of
elem ent s a queue cont ains.
4. W h a t is a spa n n in g Tr e e ?
A spanning t ree is a t ree associat ed wit h a net work . All t he nodes of
t he graph appear on t he t ree once. A m inim um spanning t ree is a
spanning t ree organized so t hat t he t ot al edge weight bet ween nodes
is m inim ized.
5. W h a t is pr e cision ?
Precision refers t he accuracy of t he decim al port ion of a v alue.
Precision is t he num ber of digit s allowed aft er t he decim al point .
6. W h a t a r e t he goa ls of Da t a St ru ct ur e ?

I t m ust rich enough in st ruct ure t o reflect t he act ual relat ionship of dat a in real
world. The st ruct ure should be sim ple enough for efficient processing of dat a.

7. W h a t is t h e differ e nce be t w e e n a Sta ck a n d a n Ar r a y?

St a ck
St ack is a dynam ic obj ect whose size is const ant ly changing as it em s are pushed and
popped .

St ack m ay cont ain different dat a t ypes.

St ack is declared as a st ruct ure cont aining an array t o hold t he elem ent of t he st ack,
and an int eger t o indicat e t he current st ack t op wit hin t he array.

St ack is a ordered collect ion of it em s.

Ar r a y
Array is an ordered collect ion of it em s.
 Array is a st at ic obj ect .

I t cont ains sam e dat a t ypes.

Array can be hom e of a st ack i.e. array can be declared large enough for m axim um
size of t he st ack.

8. W h a t is se qu en t ia l se a rch ?

I n sequent ial search each it em in t he array is com pared wit h t he it em being searched
unt il a m at ch occurs. I t is applicable t o a t able organized eit her as an array or as a
linked list .

9. W h a t a r e t he disa dva n t a ge s ar r a y im ple m en t a t ion s of lin k e d list ?

The no of nodes needed can’t be predict ed when t he program is writ t en.

The no of nodes declared m ust rem ain allocat ed t hroughout it s execut ion.

10. W h a t is a pr ior it y qu e u e?

The priorit y queue is a dat a st ruct ure in which t he int rinsic ordering of t he elem ent s.

11. W h a t a r e t he disa dva n t a ge s of se que n t ia l st or a ge ?

Fixed am ount of st orage rem ains allocat ed t o t he dat a st ruct ure even if it cont ains
less elem ent .
No m ore t han fixed am ount of st orage is allocat ed causing overflow.

12. D e fine cir cu la r list ?

I n linear list t he next field of t he last node cont ain a null point er, when a next field in
t he last node cont ain a point er back t o t he first node it is called circular list .

13. W h a t doe s a bstr a ct Da t a Type M e a n?

Dat a t ype is a collect ion of values and a set of operat ions on t hese values. Abst ract
dat a t ype refer t o t he m at hem at ical concept t hat define t he dat a t ype.

14. W h a t do you m e a n by r ecu rsive de fin it ion?

The definit ion which defines an obj ect in t erm s of sim pler cases of it self is called
recursive definit ion.

15. W h a t a ct ions a r e per for m e d w h en a fu nct ion is ca lle d?

When a funct ion is called

 argum ent s are passed

local variables are allocat ed and init ialized

t ransferring cont rol t o t he funct ion

1 6 . D e fin e dou ble lin k e d list ?

I t is a collect ion of dat a elem ent s called nodes, where each node is
divided int o t hree part s

An info field t hat cont ains t he inform at ion st ored in t he node.

Left field t hat cont ain point er t o node on left side.
Right field t hat cont ain point er t o node on right side.

1 7 . W h a t do y ou m e a n by ov e r flow a n d u n de r flow ?
When new dat a is t o be insert ed int o t he dat a st ruct ure but t here is no
av ailable space i.e.free st orage list is em pt y t his sit uat ion is called
ov erflow.
When we want t o delet e dat a from a dat a st ruct ure t hat is em pt y t his
sit uat ion is called underflow.
1 8 . W h e t h e r Lin k e d List is lin e a r or N on - lin e a r da t a st r u ct u r e ?
According t o Access st rat egies Link ed list is a linear one. According t o
St orage Link ed List is a Non- linear one.
1 9 . W h a t do y ou m e a n by fr e e pool?
Pool is a list consist ing of unused m em ory cells which has it s own
point er.
2 0 . W h a t a r e t h e m e t h ods a v a ila ble in st or in g se qu e n t ia l file s ?
St raight m erging

Nat ural m erging

Polyphase sort

Dist ribut ion of I nit ial runs

2 1 . W h a t is a n ode cla ss?

A node class is a class t hat has added new services or funct ionalit y
bey ond t he services inherit ed from it s base class.
2 2 . w h a t is bin a r y t r e e ?
A binary t ree is a t ree dat a st ruct ure in which each node has at m ost
t wo child nodes, usually dist inguished as left and right .