C Questions by Anudeep

Question
1. What does static variable mean?

2. What is a pointer?
3. What are the uses of a pointer?
4. What is a structure?
5. What is a union?
6. What are the differences between structures and union?
7. What are the differences between structures and arrays?
8. In header files whether functions are declared or defined?
9. What are the differences between malloc () and calloc ()?
10. What are macros? What are its advantages and disadvantages?
11. Difference between pass by reference and pass by
12. What is static identifier?
13. Where is the auto variables stored?
14. Where does global, static, and local, register
15. Difference between arrays and linked list?
16. What are enumerations?
17. Describe about storage allocation and scope of
18. What are register variables? What are the advantages
19. What is the use of typedef?
20. Can we specify variable field width in a scanf()
21. Out of fgets() and gets() which function is safe to use and why?
22. Difference between strdup and strcpy?
23. What is recursion?
24. Differentiate between a for loop and a while loop? What are it uses?
25. What is storage class.What are the different storage classes in C?
26. What the advantages of using Unions?
27. What is the difference between Strings and Arrays?
28. What is a far pointer? where we use it?
29. What is a huge pointer?
30. What is a normalized pointer ,how do we normalize a pointer?
31. What is near pointer.
32. In C, why is the void pointer useful? When would you use it?
33. What is a NULL Pointer? Whether it is same as an uninitialized
pointer?
34. Are pointers integer ?
35. What does the error Null Pointer Assignment means and what
causes this error?
36. What is generic pointer in C?
37. Are the expressions arr and &arr same for an array of integers?
38. How pointer variables are initialized ?
39. What is static memory allocation ?
40. What is dynamic memory allocation?
41. What is the purpose of realloc ?
42. What is pointer to a pointer.
43. What is an array of pointers ?
44. Difference between linker and linkage ?
45. Is it possible to have negative index in an array?
46. Why is it necessary to give the size of an array in an array
declaration ?
47. What modular programming ?
48. What is a function ?
49. What is an argument ?
50. What are built in functions ?
51. Difference between formal argument and actual argument ?
52. Is it possible to have more than one main() function in a C program ?
53. What is the difference between an enumeration and a set of pre-
processor # defines?
54. How are Structure passing and returning implemented by the
complier?
55. What is the similarity between a Structure, Union and enumeration?
56. Can a Structure contain a Pointer to itself?
57. How can we read/write Structures from/to data files?
58. Write a program which employs Recursion ?
59. Write a program which uses Command Line Arguments?
60. Difference between array and pointer ?
61. What do the c and v in argc and argv stand for?
62. What are C tokens ?
63. What are C identifiers?
64. Difference between syntax vs logical error?
65. What is preincrement and post increment ?
66. Write a program to interchange 2 variables without using the third
one.
67. What is the maximum combined length of command line arguments
including the space between adjacent arguments?
68. What are bit fields? What is the use of bit fields in a Structure
declaration?
69. What is a preprocessor, What are the advantages of preprocessor ?
70. What are the facilities provided by preprocessor ?
71. What are the two forms of #include directive ?
72. How would you use the functions randomize() and random()?
73. What do the functions atoi(), itoa() and gcvt() do?
74. How would you use the functions fseek(), freed(), fwrite() and
ftell()?
75. What is the difference between the functions memmove() and
memcpy()?
76. What is a file ?
77. What are the types of file?
78. What is a stream ?
79. What is meant by file opening ?
81. What is a file pointer ?
82. How is fopen()used ?
83. How is a file closed ?
84. What is a random access file ?
85. What is the purpose of ftell ?
86. What is the purpose of rewind() ?
87. Difference between a array name and a pointer variable ?
88. Represent a two-dimensional array using pointer ?
89. Difference between an array of pointers and a pointer to an array ?
90. Can we use any name in place of argv and argc as command line
arguments ?
91. What are the pointer declarations used in C?
92. Differentiate between a constant pointer and pointer to a constant ?
93. Is the allocated space within a function automatically deallocated
when the function returns?
94. Discuss on pointer arithmetic?
95. What are the invalid pointer arithmetic ?
96. What are the advantages of using array of pointers to string instead
of an array of strings?
97. Are the expressions *ptr ++ and ++ *ptr same ?
98. What would be the equivalent pointer expression foe referring the
same element as a[p][q][r][s] ?
99. Are the variables argc and argv are always local to main ?
100. Can main () be called recursively?
101. Can we initialize unions?
102. Whats the difference between these two declarations?
103. Why doesnt this code: a[i] = i++; work?
104. Why doesnt struct x { };x thestruct; work?
105. Why cant we compare structures?
106. How are structure passing and returning implemented?
C language interview questions | Part1

1. What does static variable mean?
Ans: Static variables are the variables which retain their values between
the function calls. They are initialized only once their scope is within the
function in which they are defined.
2. What is a pointer?
Ans: Pointers are variables which stores the address of another variable.
That variable may be a scalar (including another pointer), or an
aggregate (array or structure). The pointed-to object may be part of a
larger object, such as a field of a structure or an element in an array.
3. What are the uses of a pointer?
Ans: Pointer is used in the following cases
i) It is used to access array elements
ii) It is used for dynamic memory allocation.
iii) It is used in Call by reference
iv) It is used in data structures like trees, graph, linked list etc.
4. What is a structure?
Ans: Structure constitutes a super data type which represents several
different data types in a single unit. A structure can be initialized if it is
static or global.
5. What is a union?
Ans: Union is a collection of heterogeneous data type but it uses
efficient memory utilization technique by allocating enough memory to
hold the largest member. Here a single area of memory contains values
of different types at different time. A union can never be initialized.
6. What are the differences between structures and union?
Ans: A structure variable contains each of the named members, and its
size is large enough to hold all the members. Structure elements are of
same size.
A union contains one of the named members at a given time and is large
enough to hold the largest member. Union element can be of different
sizes.
7. What are the differences between structures and arrays?
Ans: Structure is a collection of heterogeneous data type but array is a
collection of homogeneous data types.
Array
1-It is a collection of data items of same data type.
2-It has declaration only
3-.There is no keyword.
4- array name represent the address of the starting element.
Structure
1-It is a collection of data items of different data type.
2- It has declaration and definition
3- keyword struct is used
4-Structure name is known as tag it is the short hand notation of the
declaration.
8. In header files whether functions are declared or defined?
Ans: Functions are declared within header file. That is function
prototypes exist in a header file,not function bodies. They are defined in
library (lib).
9. What are the differences between malloc () and calloc ()?
Ans: Malloc Calloc 1-Malloc takes one argument Malloc(a);where a
number of bytes 2-memory allocated contains garbage values
1-Calloc takes two arguments Calloc(b,c) where b no of object and c
size of object
2-It initializes the contains of block of memory to zerosMalloc takes one
argument, memory allocated contains garbage values.
It allocates contiguous memory locations. Calloc takes two arguments,
memory allocated contains all zeros, and the memory allocated is not
contiguous.
10. What are macros? What are its advantages and disadvantages?
Ans: Macros are abbreviations for lengthy and frequently used
statements. When a macro is called the entire code is substituted by a
single line though the macro definition is of several lines.
The advantage of macro is that it reduces the time taken for control
transfer as in case of
function.
The disadvantage of it is here the entire code is substituted so the
program becomes
lengthy if a macro is called several times.
c language interview questions | Part2

11. Difference between pass by reference and pass by value?
Ans: Pass by reference passes a pointer to the value. This allows the
callee to modify the variable directly.Pass by value gives a copy of the
value to the callee. This allows the callee to modify the value without
modifying the variable. (In other words, the callee simply cannot modify
the variable, since it lacks a reference to it.)
12. What is static identifier?

Ans: A file-scope variable that is declared static is visible only to
functions within that file. A
function-scope or block-scope variable that is declared as static is visible
only within that scope. Furthermore, static variables only have a single
instance. In the case of function- or block-scope variables, this means
that the variable is not automatic and thus retains its value across
function invocations.
13. Where is the auto variables stored?
Ans: Auto variables can be stored anywhere, so long as recursion works.
Practically, theyre stored on
the stack. It is not necessary that always a stack exist. You could
theoretically allocate function invocation records from the heap.
14. Where does global, static, and local, register variables, free
memory and C Program instructions get stored?
Ans: Global: Wherever the linker puts them. Typically the BSS
segment on many platforms.
Static: Again, wherever the linker puts them. Often, theyre intermixed
with the globals. The only difference between globals and statics is
whether the linker will resolve the symbols across compilation
units.Local: Typically on the stack, unless the variable gets register
allocated and never spills.Register: Nowadays, these are equivalent to
Local variables. They live on the stack unless they get register-
allocated.
15. Difference between arrays and linked list?
Ans: An array is a repeated pattern of variables in contiguous storage. A
linked list is a set of
structures scattered through memory, held together by pointers in each
element that point to the next element. With an array, we can (on most
architectures) move from one element to the next by adding a fixed
constant to the integer value of the pointer. With a linked list, there is a
next pointer in each structure which says what element comes next.
16. What are enumerations?
Ans: They are a list of named integer-valued constants. Example:enum
color { black , orange=4,
yellow, green, blue, violet };This declaration defines the symbols
black, orange, yellow, etc. to have the values 1, 4, 5, etc.
The difference between an enumeration and a macro is that the enum
actually declares a type, and therefore can be type checked.
17. Describe about storage allocation and scope of global, extern,
static, local and register variables?
Ans:
Globals have application-scope. Theyre available in any compilation
unit that includes an
appropriate declaration (usually brought from a header file). Theyre
stored wherever the linker puts them, usually a place called the BSS
segment.
Extern? This is essentially global.
Static: Stored the same place as globals, typically, but only available to
the compilation unit that contains them. If they are block-scope global,
only available within that block and its subblocks.
Local: Stored on the stack, typically. Only available in that block and its
subblocks.
(Although pointers to locals can be passed to functions invoked from
within a scope where that local is valid.)
Register: See tirade above on local vs. register. The only difference
is that
the C compiler will not let you take the address of something youve
declared as register.
18. What are register variables? What are the advantages of using
register variables?
Ans: If a variable is declared with a register storage class,it is known as
register variable.The
register variable is stored in the cpu register instead of main
memory.Frequently used variables
are declared as register variable as its access time is faster.
19. What is the use of typedef?
Ans: The typedef help in easier modification when the programs are
ported to another machine.
A descriptive new name given to the existing data type may be easier to
understand the code.
20. Can we specify variable field width in a scanf() format string? If
possible how?
Ans: All field widths are variable with scanf(). You can specify a
maximum field width for a given
field by placing an integer value between the % and the field type
specifier. (e.g. %64s). Such a specifier will still accept a narrower field
width.
The one exception is %#c (where # is an integer). This reads EXACTLY
# characters, and it is the
only way to specify a fixed field width with scanf().

July 18th, 2010
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21. Out of fgets() and gets() which function is safe to use and why?
Ans: fgets() is safer than gets(), because we can specify a maximum
input length. Neither one is completely safe, because the compiler cant
prove that programmer wont overflow the buffer he pass to fgets ().
22. Difference between strdup and strcpy?

Ans: Both copy a string. strcpy wants a buffer to copy into. strdup
allocates a buffer using malloc().
Unlike strcpy(), strdup() is not specified by ANSI .
23. What is recursion?
Ans: A recursion function is one which calls itself either directly or
indirectly it must halt at a definite point to avoid infinite recursion.
24. Differentiate between for loop and a while loop? What are it
uses?
Ans: For executing a set of statements fixed number of times we use for
loop while when the number of
iterations to be performed is not known in advance we use while loop.
25. What is storage class? What are the different storage classes in
C?
Ans: Storage class is an attribute that changes the behavior of a variable.
It controls the lifetime, scope and linkage. The storage classes in c are
auto, register, and extern, static, typedef.
26. What the advantages of using Unions?
Ans: When the C compiler is allocating memory for unions it will
always reserve enough room for the
largest member.
27. What is the difference between Strings and Arrays?
Ans: String is a sequence of characters ending with NULL .it can be
treated as a one dimensional array
of characters terminated by a NULL character.
28. What is a far pointer? Where we use it?
Ans: In large data model (compact, large, huge) the address B0008000
is acceptable because in these
model all pointers to data are 32bits long. If we use small data
model(tiny, small, medium) the above address wont work since in these
model each pointer is 16bits long. If we are working in a small data
model and want to access the address B0008000 then we use far pointer.
Far pointer is always treated as a 32bit pointer and contains a segment
address and offset address both of 16bits each. Thus the address is
represented using segment : offset format B000h:8000h. For any
given memory address there are many possible far address segment :
offset pair. The segment register contains the address where the segment
begins and offset register contains the offset of data/code from where
segment begins.
29. What is a huge pointer?
Ans: Huge pointer is 32bit long containing segment address and offset
address. Huge pointers are
normalized pointers so for any given memory address there is only one
possible huge address segment: offset pair. Huge pointer arithmetic is
doe with calls to special subroutines so its arithmetic slower than any
other pointers.
30. What is a normalized pointer, how do we normalize a pointer?
Ans: It is a 32bit pointer, which has as much of its value in the segment
register as possible. Since
a segment can start every 16bytes so the offset will have a value from 0
to F. for normalization convert the address into 20bit address then use
the 16bit for segment address and 4bit for the offset address. Given a
pointer 500D: 9407,we convert it to a 20bitabsolute address
549D7,Which then normalized to 549D:0007.

July 18th, 2010
31. What is near pointer?
Ans: A near pointer is 16 bits long. It uses the current content of the CS
(code segment) register (if
the pointer is pointing to code) or current contents of DS (data segment)
register (if the pointer is pointing to data) for the segment part, the offset
part is stored in a 16 bit near pointer. Using near pointer limits the
data/code to 64kb segment.
32. In C, why is the void pointer useful? When would you use it?
Ans: The void pointer is useful because it is a generic pointer that any
pointer can be cast into and
back again without loss of information.
33. What is a NULL Pointer? Whether it is same as an uninitialized
pointer?
Ans: Null pointer is a pointer which points to nothing but uninitialized
pointer may point to anywhere.
34. Are pointers integer?
Ans: No, pointers are not integers. A pointer is an address. It is a
positive number.
35. What does the error Null Pointer Assignment means and what
causes this error?
Ans: As null pointer points to nothing so accessing a uninitialized
pointer or invalid location may cause an error.
36. What is generic pointer in C?
Ans: In C void* acts as a generic pointer. When other pointer types are
assigned to generic pointer,
conversions are applied automatically (implicit conversion).
37. Are the expressions arr and &arr same for an array of integers?
Ans: Yes for array of integers they are same.
38. IMP>How pointer variables are initialized?
Ans: Pointer variables are initialized by one of the following ways.
I. Static memory allocation
II. Dynamic memory allocation
39. What is static memory allocation?
Ans: Compiler allocates memory space for a declared variable. By using
the address of operator, the
reserved address is obtained and this address is assigned to a pointer
variable. This way of assigning pointer value to a pointer variable at
compilation time is known as static memory allocation.
40. What is dynamic memory allocation?
Ans: A dynamic memory allocation uses functions such as malloc() or
calloc() to get memory dynamically. If these functions are used to get
memory dynamically and the values returned by these function are
assigned to pointer variables, such a way of allocating memory at run
time is known as dynamic memory allocation.
July 18th, 2010
41. What is the purpose of realloc?
Ans: It increases or decreases the size of dynamically allocated array.
The function realloc (ptr,n) uses two arguments. The first argument ptr is
a pointer to a block of memory for which the size is to be altered. The
second argument specifies the new size. The size may be increased or
decreased. If sufficient space is not available to the old region the
function may create a new region.
42. What is pointer to a pointer?

Ans: If a pointer variable points another pointer value. Such a situation
is known as a pointer to a pointer.
Example:
int *p1,**p2,v=10;
P1=&v; p2=&p1;
Here p2 is a pointer to a pointer.
43. What is an array of pointers?
Ans: if the elements of an array are addresses, such an array is called an
array of pointers.
44. Difference between linker and linkage?
Ans: Linker converts an object code into an executable code by linking
together the necessary built in
functions. The form and place of declaration where the variable is
declared in a program determine the linkage of variable.
45. Is it possible to have negative index in an array?
Ans: Yes it is possible to index with negative value provided there are
data stored in this location. Even if it is illegal to refer to the elements
that are out of array bounds, the compiler will not produce error because
C has no check on the bounds of an array.
46. Why is it necessary to give the size of an array in an array
declaration?
Ans: When an array is declared, the compiler allocates a base address
and reserves enough space in
memory for all the elements of the array. The size is required to allocate
the required space and hence size must be mentioned.
47. What modular programming?
Ans: If a program is large, it is subdivided into a number of smaller
programs that are called modules or subprograms. If a complex problem
is solved using more modules, this approach is known as modular
programming.
48. What is a function?
Ans: A large program is subdivided into a number of smaller programs
or subprograms. Each subprogram
specifies one or more actions to be performed for the larger program.
Such sub programs are called functions.
49. What is an argument?
Ans: An argument is an entity used to pass data from the calling to a
called function.
50. What are built in functions?
Ans: The functions that are predefined and supplied along with the
compiler are known as built-in functions. They are also known as library
functions.
c language interview questions | Part 6

July 18th, 2010
51. Difference between formal argument and actual argument?
Ans: Formal arguments are the arguments available in the function
definition. They are preceded by
their own data type. Actual arguments are available in the function call.
These arguments are given
as constants or variables or expressions to pass the values to the
function.
52. Is it possible to have more than one main() function in a C

program ?
Ans: The function main() can appear only once. The program execution
starts from main.
53. What is the difference between an enumeration and a set of pre-
processor # defines?
Ans: There is hardly any difference between the two, except that
#defines has a global effect (throughout the file) whereas an enumeration
can have an effect local to the block if desired. Some advantages of
enumeration are that the numeric values are automatically assigned
whereas in #define we have to explicitly define them. A disadvantage is
that we have no control over the size of enumeration variables.
54. How are Structure passing and returning implemented by the
complier?
Ans: When structures are passed as argument to functions, the entire
structure is typically pushed on
the stack. To avoid this overhead many programmer often prefer to pass
pointers to structure instead of actual structures. Structures are often
returned from functions in a location pointed to by an extra, compiler-
supported hidden argument to the function.
55. IMP>what is the similarity between a Structure, Union and
enumeration?
Ans: All of them let the programmer to define new data type.
56. Can a Structure contain a Pointer to itself?
Ans: Yes such structures are called self-referential structures.
57. How can we read/write Structures from/to data files?
Ans: To write out a structure we can use fwrite() as Fwrite( &e,
sizeof(e),1,fp);Where e is a structure
variable. A corresponding fread() invocation can read the structure back
from file. calling fwrite() it writes out sizeof(e) bytes from the address
&e. Data files written as memory images with fwrite(),however ,will not
be portable, particularly if they contain floating point fields or Pointers.
This is because memory layout of structures is machine and compiler
dependent. Therefore, structures written as memory images cannot
necessarily be read back by programs running on other machine, and this
is the important concern if the data files youre writing will ever be
interchanged between machines.
58. Write a program which employs Recursion?
Ans: int fact(int n) { return n > 1 ? n * fact(n 1) : 1; }
59.Write a program which uses Command Line Arguments?
Ans:
#include
void main(int argc,char *argv[])
{
int i;
clrscr();
for(i=0;i
printf(\n%d,argv[i]);
}
60. Difference between array and pointer?
Ans:
Array
1- Array allocates space automatically
2- It cannot be resized
3- It cannot be reassigned
4- sizeof (arrayname) gives the number of bytes occupied by the array.
Pointer
1-Explicitly assigned to point to an allocated space.
2-It can be sized using realloc()
3-pointer can be reassigned.
4-sizeof (p) returns the number of bytes used to store the pointer variable
p.

July 18th, 2010
61. What do the c and v in argc and argv stand for?
Ans: The c in argc(argument count) stands for the number of command
line argument the program is
invoked with and v in argv(argument vector) is a pointer to an array of
character string that contain the arguments.
62. IMP>what are C tokens?

Ans: There are six classes of tokens: identifier, keywords, constants,
string literals, operators and other separators.
63. What are C identifiers?
Ans: These are names given to various programming element such as
variables, function, arrays.It is a combination of letter, digit and
underscore.It should begin with letter. Backspace is not allowed.
64. Difference between syntax vs logical error?
Ans:
Syntax Error
1-These involves validation of syntax of language.
2-compiler prints diagnostic message.
Logical Error
1-logical error are caused by an incorrect algorithm or by a statement
mistyped in such a way
that it doesnt violet syntax of language.
2-difficult to find.
65. What is preincrement and post increment?
Ans: ++n (pre increment) increments n before its value is used in an
assignment operation or any
expression containing it. n++ (post increment) does increment after the
value of n is used.
66. Write a program to interchange 2 variables without using the
third one.
Ans:
a ^= b; ie a=a^b
b ^= a; ie b=b^a;
a ^= b ie a=a^b;
here the numbers are converted into binary and then xor operation is
performed.
You know, youre just asking have you seen this overly clever trick
thats not worth applying on
modern architectures and only really applies to integer variables?
67. What is the maximum combined length of command line
arguments including the space between adjacent arguments?
Ans: It depends on the operating system.
68. What are bit fields? What is the use of bit fields in a Structure
declaration?
Ans: A bit field is a set of adjacent bits within a single implementation
based storage unit that we
will call a word.
The syntax of field definition and access is based on structure.
Struct {
unsigned int k :1;
unsigned int l :1;
unsigned int m :1;
}flags;
the number following the colon represents the field width in bits.Flag is
a variable that contains three bit fields.
69. What is a preprocessor, what are the advantages of
preprocessor?
Ans: A preprocessor processes the source code program before it passes
through the compiler.
1- a preprocessor involves the readability of program
2- It facilitates easier modification
3- It helps in writing portable programs
4- It enables easier debugging
5- It enables testing a part of program
6- It helps in developing generalized program
70. What are the facilities provided by preprocessor?
Ans:
1-file inclusion
2-substitution facility
3-conditional compilation

July 18th, 2010
71. What are the two forms of #include directive?
Ans:
1.#includefilename
2.#include
the first form is used to search the directory that contains the source
file.If the search fails in the home directory it searches the
implementation defined locations.In the second form ,the preprocessor
searches the file only in the implementation defined locations.
72. How would you use the functions randomize() and random()?
Ans:
Randomize() initiates random number generation with a random value.
Random() generates random number between 0 and n-1;
73. What do the functions atoi(), itoa() and gcvt() do?
Ans:
atoi() is a macro that converts integer to character.
itoa() It converts an integer to string
gcvt() It converts a floating point number to string
74. How would you use the functions fseek(), freed(), fwrite() and
ftell()?
Ans:
fseek(f,1,i) Move the pointer for file f a distance 1 byte from location i.
fread(s,i1,i2,f) Enter i2 dataitems,each of size i1 bytes,from file f to
string s.
fwrite(s,i1,i2,f) send i2 data items,each of size i1 bytes from string s to
file f.
ftell(f) Return the current pointer position within file f.
The data type returned for functions fread,fseek and fwrite is int and ftell
is long int.
75. What is the difference between the functions memmove() and
memcpy()?
Ans: The arguments of memmove() can overlap in memory. The
arguments of memcpy() cannot.
76. What is a file?
Ans: A file is a region of storage in hard disks or in auxiliary storage
devices.It contains bytes of
information .It is not a data type.
77. IMP>what are the types of file?
Ans: Files are of two types
1-high level files (stream oriented files) :These files are accessed using
library functions
2-low level files(system oriented files) :These files are accessed using
system calls
78. IMP>what is a stream?
Ans: A stream is a source of data or destination of data that may be
associated with a disk or other
I/O device. The source stream provides data to a program and it is
known as input stream. The destination stream eceives the output from
the program and is known as output stream.
79. What is meant by file opening?
Ans: The action of connecting a program to a file is called opening of a
file. This requires creating
an I/O stream before reading or writing the data.
80. What is FILE?
Ans: FILE is a predefined data type. It is defined in stdio.h file.

July 18th, 2010
81. What is a file pointer?
Ans: The pointer to a FILE data type is called as a stream pointer or a
file pointer. A file pointer points to the block of information of the
stream that had just been opened.
82. How is fopen()used ?

Ans: The function fopen() returns a file pointer. Hence a file pointer is
declared and it is assigned
as
FILE *fp;
fp= fopen(filename,mode);
filename is a string representing the name of the file and the mode
represents:
r for read operation
w for write operation
a for append operation
r+,w+,a+ for update operation
83How is a file closed ?
Ans: A file is closed using fclose() function
Eg. fclose(fp);
Where fp is a file pointer.
84. What is a random access file?
Ans:
A file can be accessed at random using fseek() function
fseek(fp,position,origin);
fp file pointer
position number of bytes offset from origin
origin 0,1 or 2 denote the beginning ,current position or end of file
respectively.
85. What is the purpose of ftell ?
Ans: The function ftell() is used to get the current file represented by the
file pointer.
ftell(fp);
returns a long integer value representing the current file position of the
file pointed by the
file pointer fp.If an error occurs ,-1 is returned.
86. What is the purpose of rewind() ?
Ans: The function rewind is used to bring the file pointer to the
beginning of the file.
Rewind(fp);
Where fp is a file pointer.Also we can get the same effect by
feek(fp,0,0);
87. Difference between a array name and a pointer variable?
Ans: A pointer variable is a variable where as an array name is a fixed
address and is not a
variable. A
pointer variable must be initialized but an array name cannot be
initialized. An array name being a constant value , ++ and operators
cannot be applied to it.
88. Represent a two-dimensional array using pointer?
Ans:
Address of a[I][j] Value of a[I][j]
&a[I][j]
or
a[I] + j
or
*(a+I) + j
*&a[I][j] or a[I][j]
or
*(a[I] + j )
or
*( * ( a+I) +j )
89. Difference between an array of pointers and a pointer to an
array?
Ans:
Array of pointers
1- Declaration is: data_type *array_name[size];
2-Size represents the row size.
3- The space for columns may be dynamically
Pointers to an array
1-Declaration is data_type ( *array_name)[size];
2-Size represents the column size.
90. Can we use any name in place of argv and argc as command line
arguments ?
Ans: yes we can use any user defined name in place of argc and argv;

July 18th, 2010
91. What are the pointer declarations used in C?
Ans:
1- Array of pointers, e.g , int *a[10]; Array of pointers to integer
2-Pointers to an array,e.g , int (*a)[10]; Pointer to an array of into
3-Function returning a pointer,e.g, float *f( ) ; Function returning a
pointer to float
4-Pointer to a pointer ,e.g, int **x; Pointer to apointer to int
5-pointer to a data type ,e.g, char *p; pointer to char
92. Differentiate between a constant pointer and pointer to a

constant?
Ans:
const char *p; //pointer to a const character.
char const *p; //pointer to a const character.
char * const p; //const pointer to a char variable.
const char * const p; // const pointer to a const character.
93. Is the allocated space within a function automatically deallocated
when the function returns?
Ans: No pointer is different from what it points to .Local variables
including local pointers
variables in a function are deallocated automatically when function
returns.,But in case of a
local pointer variable ,deallocation means that the pointer is deallocated
and not the block of
memory allocated to it. Memory dynamically allocated always persists
until the allocation is freed
or the program terminates.
94. Discuss on pointer arithmetic?
Ans:
1- Assignment of pointers to the same type of pointers.
2- Adding or subtracting a pointer and an integer.
3-subtracting or comparing two pointer.
4-incrementing or decrementing the pointers pointing to the elements of
an array. When a pointer
to an integer is incremented by one , the address is incremented by two.
It is done automatically
by the compiler.
5-Assigning the value 0 to the pointer variable and comparing 0 with the
pointer. The pointer
having address 0 points to nowhere at all.
95. What is the invalid pointer arithmetic?
Ans:
i) adding ,multiplying and dividing two pointers.
ii) Shifting or masking pointer.
iii) Addition of float or double to pointer.
iv) Assignment of a pointer of one type to a pointer of another type ?
96. What are the advantages of using array of pointers to string
instead of an array of strings?
Ans:
i) Efficient use of memory.
ii) Easier to exchange the strings by moving their pointers while sorting.
97. Are the expressions *ptr ++ and ++ *ptr same?
Ans: No,*ptr ++ increments pointer and not the value pointed by it.
Whereas ++ *ptr
increments the value being pointed to by ptr.
98. What would be the equivalent pointer expression foe referring
the same element as
a[p][q][r][s] ?
Ans : *( * ( * ( * (a+p) + q ) + r ) + s)
99. Are the variables argc and argv are always local to main?
Ans: Yes they are local to main.
100. Can main () be called recursively?
Ans: Yes any function including main () can be called recursively.
c language interview questions | Part

11
July 18th, 2010
101. IMP>Can we initialize unions?
Ans: ANSI Standard C allows an initializer for the first member of a
union. There is no standard way
of initializing any other member (nor, under a pre-ANSI compiler, is
there generally any way of
initializing a union at all).
102. Whats the difference between these two declarations?

Ans: struct x1 { };
typedef struct { } x2;
The first form declares a structure tag; the second declares a typedef.
The main difference is that the second declaration is of a slightly more
abstract type.its users dont necessarily know that it is a structure, and
the keyword struct is not used when declaring instances of it.
103. Why doesnt this code: a[i] = i++; work?
Ans: The subexpression i++ causes a side effect.it modifies is
value.which leads to undefined
behavior since i is also referenced elsewhere in the same expression.
104.WHy doesnt struct x { };
x thestruct;
work?
Ans:
C is not C++. Typedef names are not automatically generated for
structure tags.
105. Why cant we compare structures?
Ans:
There is no single, good way for a compiler to implement structure
comparison which is consistent with Cs low-level flavor. A simple byte-
by-byte comparison could founder on random bits present in unused
holes in the structure (such padding is used to keep the alignment of
later fields correct). A field-by-field comparison might require
unacceptable amounts of repetitive code for large structures.
106. How are structure passing and returning implemented?
Ans: When structures are passed as arguments to functions, the entire
structure is typically pushed on
the stack, using as many words as are required. Some compilers merely
pass a pointer to the structure, though they may have to make a local
copy to preserve pass-by-value semantics.
Structures are often returned from functions in a location pointed to by
an extra,compiler-supplied hidden argument to the function. Some
older compilers used a special,static location for structure returns,
although this made structure-valued functions non-reentrant, which
ANSI C disallows.
C++ Questions
1.What is a class?
2.What is an object?
3.What is the difference between an object and a class?
4.What is the difference between class and structure?
5.Define object based programming language ?
6.Define object oriented language ?
7.Define OOPs?
8.What is public, protected, private?
9.What is a scope resolution operator?
10.What do you mean by inheritance?
11.What is abstraction?
12.What is encapsulation?
13.How variable declaration in c++ differs that in c ?
14.What are the c++ tokens ?
15.what do you mean by reference variable in c++ ?
16.what do you mean by implicit conversion ?
17.what is the difference between method overloading and method
overriding?
18.What are the defining traits of an object-oriented language?
19.What is polymorphism ?
20.What do you mean by inline function?
21 What is the difference between a NULL pointer and a void pointer?
22.What is difference between C++ and Java?
23.What do you mean by multiple inheritance in C++ ?
24.What do you mean by virtual methods ?
25.What do you mean by static methods ?
26.How many ways are there to initialize an int with a constant?
27.What is constructors?
28.What is destructors?
29.What is an explicit constructor?
30 What is the Standard Template Library?
31.What problem does the namespace feature solve?
32.What is the use of using declaration ?
33.What is a template ?
34.Differentiate between a template class and class template ?
35.What is the difference between a copy constructor and an overloaded
assignment operator?
36.What is a virtual destructor?
37.What is an incomplete type?
38.What do you mean by Stack unwinding?
39.What is a container class? What are the types of container classes?
40.Name some pure object oriented languages ?
41.Name the operators that cannot be overloaded ?
42.What is an adaptor class or Wrapper class?
43.What is a Null object?
44.What is class invariant?
45.What is a dangling pointer?
46.Differentiate between the message and method ?
47.How can we access protected and private members of a class ?
48.Can you handle exception in C++ ?
49.What is virtual function ?
50.What do you mean by early binding ?
51.What do you mean by late binding ?
c++ interview questions and answers |
Part1
July 24th, 2010
If you would like to view All C++ language interview questions only, at
one place, visit below link
All C++ Language Interview Questions
1. What is a class?
Ans: The objects with the same data structure (attributes) and behavior
(operations) are called class.
2. What is an object?
Ans: It is an entity which may correspond to real-world entities such as
students, employees, bank account. It may be concrete such as file
system or conceptual such as scheduling policies in multiprocessor
operating system.
Every object will have data structures called attributes and behavior
called operations.
3. What is the difference between an object and a class?
Ans: All objects possessing similar properties are grouped into class.
Example :person is a class, ram, hari are objects of person class. All
have similar attributes like name, age, sex and similar operations like
speak, walk.
Class person
{
private:
char name[20];
int age;
char sex;
public: speak();
walk();
};
4. What is the difference between class and structure?
Ans: In class the data members by default are private but in structure
they are by default public
5. Define object based programming language?
Ans: Object based programming language support encapsulation and
object identity without supporting some important features of OOPs
language.
Object based language=Encapsulation + object Identity
6. Define object oriented language?
Ans: Object-oriented language incorporates all the features of object
based programming languages along with inheritance and
polymorphism.
Example: c++, java.
7. Define OOPs?
Ans: OOP is a method of implementation in which programs are
organized as co-operative collection of objects, each of which represents
an instance of some class and whose classes are all member of a
hierarchy of classes united through the property of inheritance.
8. What is public, protected, and private?
Ans: These are access specifier or a visibility lebels .The class member
that has been declared as private can be accessed only from within the
class. Public members can be accessed from outside the class also.
Within the class or from the object of a class protected access limit is
same as that of private but it plays a prominent role in case of
inheritance
9. What is a scope resolution operator?(::)
Ans: The scope resolution operator permits a program to reference an
identifier in the global scope that has been hidden by another identifier
with the same name in the local scope.
10. What do you mean by inheritance?
Ans: The mechanism of deriving a new class (derived) from an old class
(base class) is called inheritance. It allows the extension and reuse of
existing code without having to rewrite the code from scratch.
Part2
July 24th, 2010
11. What is abstraction?
Ans: The technique of creating user-defined data types, having the
properties of built-in data types and a set of permitted operators that are
well suited to the application to be programmed is known as data
abstraction. Class is a construct for abstract data types (ADT).
12. What is encapsulation?
Ans: It is the mechanism that wraps the data and function it manipulates
into single unit and keeps it safe from external interference.
13. How variable declaration in c++ differs that in c?
Ans: C requires all the variables to be declared at the beginning of a
scope but in c++ we can declare variables anywhere in the scope. This
makes the programmer easier to understand because the variables are
declared in the context of their use.
14. What are the c++ tokens?
Ans: c++ has the following tokens
I. keywords
II. Identifiers
III. Constants
IV. Strings
V. operators
15. What do you mean by reference variable in c++?
Ans: A reference variable provides an alias to a previously defined
variable.
Data type & reference-name = variable name
16. What do you mean by implicit conversion?
Ans: Whenever data types are mixed in an expression then c++ performs
the conversion automatically.
Here smaller type is converted to wider type.
Example- in case of integer and float integer is converted into float type.
17. What is the difference between method overloading and method
overriding?
Ans: Overloading a method (or function) in C++ is the ability for
functions of the same name to be defined as long as these methods have
different signatures (different set of parameters). Method overriding is
the ability of the inherited class rewriting the virtual method of the base
class.
18. What are the defining traits of an object-oriented language?
The defining traits of an object-oriented language are:
encapsulation
inheritance
polymorphism
Ans:
Polymorphism: is a feature of OOPL that at run time depending upon
the type of object the appropriate method is called.
Inheritance: is a feature of OOPL that represents the is a relationship
between different objects (classes). Say in real life a manager is a
employee. So in OOPL manger class is inherited from the employee
class.
Encapsulation: is a feature of OOPL that is used to hide the
information.
19. What is polymorphism?
Ans: Polymorphism is the idea that a base class can be inherited by
several classes. A base class pointer can point to its child class and a
base class array can store different child class objects.
20. What do you mean by inline function?
Ans: An inline function is a function that is expanded inline when
invoked.ie. the compiler replaces the function call with the
corresponding function code. An inline function is a function that is
expanded in line when it is invoked. That is the compiler replaces the
function call with the corresponding function code (similar to macro).

Part3
July 24th, 2010
21 What is the difference between a NULL pointer and a void
pointer?
Ans: A NULL pointer is a pointer of any type whose value is zero. A
void pointer is a pointer to an object of an unknown type, and is
guaranteed to have enough bits to hold a pointer to any object. A void
pointer is not guaranteed to have enough bits to point to a function
(though in general practice it does).
22. What is difference between C++ and Java?
Ans: C++ has pointers Java does not.
Java is platform independent C++ is not.
Java has garbage collection C++ does not.
23. What do you mean by multiple inheritance in C++ ?
Ans: Multiple inheritance is a feature in C++ by which one class can be
of different types. Say class teaching Assistant is inherited from two
classes say teacher and Student.
24. What do you mean by virtual methods?
Ans: virtual methods are used to use the polymorphism feature in C++.
Say class A is inherited from class B. If we declare say function f() as
virtual in class B and override the same function in class A then at
runtime appropriate method of the class will be called depending upon
the type of the object.
25. What do you mean by static methods?
Ans: By using the static method there is no need creating an object of
that class to use that method. We can directly call that method on that
class. For example, say class A has static function f(), then we can call
f() function as A.f(). There is no need of creating an object of class A.
26. How many ways are there to initialize an int with a constant?
Ans: Two.
There are two formats for initializers in C++ as shown in the example
that follows. The first format uses the traditional C notation. The second
format uses constructor notation.
int foo = 123;
int bar (123);
27. What is a constructor?
Ans: Constructor is a special member function of a class, which is
invoked automatically whenever an instance of the class is created. It
has the same name as its class.
28. What is destructor?
Ans: Destructor is a special member function of a class, which is
invoked automatically whenever an object goes out of the scope. It has
the same name as its class with a tilde character prefixed.
29. What is an explicit constructor?
Ans: A conversion constructor declared with the explicit keyword. The
compiler does not use an explicit constructor to implement an implied
conversion of types. Its purpose is reserved explicitly for construction.
30 What is the Standard Template Library?
Ans: A library of container templates approved by the ANSI committee
for inclusion in the standard C++ specification. A programmer who then
launches into a discussion of the generic programming model, iterators,
allocators, algorithms, and such, has a higher than average
understanding of the new technology that STL brings to C++
programming.

Part4
July 25th, 2010
31. What problem does the namespace feature solve?
Ans: Multiple providers of libraries might use common global
identifiers causing a name collision when an application tries to link
with two or more such libraries. The namespace feature surrounds a
librarys external declarations with a unique namespace that eliminates
the potential for those collisions. This solution assumes that two library
vendors dont use the same namespace identifier, of course.
32. What is the use of using declaration?
Ans: A using declaration makes it possible to use a name from a
namespace
33. What is a template?
Ans: Templates allow us to create generic functions that admit any data
type as parameters and return a value without having to overload the
function with all the possible data types. Until certain point they fulfill
the functionality of a macro. Its prototype is any of the two following
ones:
template function_declaration;
template function_declaration;
34. Differentiate between a template class and class template?
Ans:
Template class:
A generic definition or a parameterized class not instantiated until the
client provides the needed information. Its jargon for plain templates.
Class template:
A class template specifies how individual classes can be constructed
much like the way a class specifies how individual objects can be
constructed. Its jargon for plain classes.
35. What is the difference between a copy constructor and an
overloaded assignment operator?
Ans: A copy constructor constructs a new object by using the content of
the argument object. An overloaded assignment operator assigns the
contents of an existing object to another existing object of the same
class.
36. What is a virtual destructor?
Ans: The simple answer is that a virtual destructor is one that is declared
with the virtual attribute.
37. What is an incomplete type?
Ans: Incomplete type refers to pointers in which there is non availability
of the implementation of the referenced location or it points to some
location whose value is not available for modification.
Example:
int *i=0400 // i points to address 400
*i=0; //set the value of memory location pointed by i.
Incomplete types are otherwise called uninitialized pointers.
38. What do you mean by Stack unwinding?
Ans: It is a process during exception handling when the destructor is
called for all local objects between the place where the exception was
thrown and where it is caught.
39. What is a container class? What are the types of container
classes?
Ans: A container class is a class that is used to hold objects in memory
or external storage. A container class acts as a generic holder. A
container class has a predefined behavior and a well-known interface. A
container class is a supporting class whose purpose is to hide the
topology used for maintaining the list of objects in memory. When a
container class contains a group of mixed objects, the container is called
a heterogeneous container; when the container is holding a group of
objects that are all the same, the container is called a homogeneous
container
40. Name some pure object oriented languages?
Ans: Smalltalk, Java, Eiffel, Sather.

Part5
July 25th, 2010
If you would like to view All C++ language interview questions only at
one place visit below link
41. Name the operators that cannot be overloaded?
Ans: sizeof, ., .*, .->, ::, ?:
42. What is an adaptor class or Wrapper class?
Ans: A class that has no functionality of its own. Its member functions
hide the use of a third party software component or an object with the
non-compatible interface or a non-object-oriented implementation.
43. What is a Null object?
Ans: It is an object of some class whose purpose is to indicate that a real
object of that class does not exist. One common use for a null object is a
return value from a member function that is supposed to return an object
with some specified properties but cannot find such an object.
44. What is class invariant?
Ans: A class invariant is a condition that defines all valid states for an
object. It is a logical condition to ensure the correct working of a class.
Class invariants must hold when an object is created, and they must be
preserved under all operations of the class. In particular all class
invariants are both preconditions and post-conditions for all operations
or member functions of the class.
45. What is a dangling pointer?
Ans: A dangling pointer arises when you use the address of an object
after its lifetime is over. This may occur in situations like returning
addresses of the automatic variables from a function or using the address
of the memory block after it is freed. Example: The following code
snippet shows this:
class Sample
{
public:
int *ptr;
Sample(int i)
{
ptr = new int(i);
}
~Sample()
{
delete ptr;
}
void PrintVal()
{
cout << The value is << *ptr;
}
};
void SomeFunc(Sample x)
{
cout << Say i am in someFunc << endl;
}
int main()
{
Sample s1= 10;
SomeFunc(s1);
s1.PrintVal();
}
In the above example when PrintVal() function is called it is called by
the pointer that has been freed by the destructor in SomeFunc.
46. Differentiate between the message and method?
Ans:
Message:
Objects communicate by sending messages to each other.
A message is sent to invoke a method.
Method
Provides response to a message and it is an implementation of an
operation
47. How can we access protected and private members of a class?
Ans: In the case of members protected and private, these could not be
accessed from outside the same class at which they are declared. This
rule can be transgressed with the use of the friend keyword in a class, so
we can allow an external function to gain access to the protected and
private members of a class.
48. Can you handle exception in C++?
Ans: Yes we can handle exception in C++ using keyword: try, catch and
throw. Program statements that we want to monitor for exceptions are
contained in a try block. If an exception occurs within the try block, it is
thrown (using throw).The exception is caught, using catch, and
processed.
49. What is virtual function?
Ans: A virtual function is a member function that is declared within a
base class and
redefined by a derived class .To create a virtual function, the function
declaration in the base class is preceded by the keyword virtual.
50. What do you mean by early binding?
Ans:Early binding refers to the events that occur at compile time. Early
binding occurs when
all information needed to call a function is known at compile time.
Examples of early binding include normal function calls, overloaded
function calls, and overloaded operators. The advantage of early binding
is efficiency.
51. What do you mean by late binding?
Ans: Late binding refers to function calls that are not resolved until run
time. Virtual functions are used to achieve late binding. When access is
via a base pointer or reference, the virtual function actually called is
determined by the type of object pointed to by the pointer.
RDBMS Questions
1. What is a Database?
2. What is DBMS?
3 What is a Catalog?
4. What is data ware housing & OLAP?
5. What is real time database technology?
6. What is program-data independence?
7. What is ORDBMS?
8. What is program-operation independence?
9. What is a view?
10. What is OLTP?
11. What is the job of DBA?
12. Who are db designer?
13. What are different types of end users?
14. What are the advantages of using a dbms?
15. What are the disadvantages of using a dbms?
16. What is a data model?
17. What are different categories of data models?
18. What is schema?
19. What are types of schema?
20. What is Data independency?
21. What are different DBMS languages?
22. What are different types of DBMS?
23. What is an entity?
24. What are attributes?
25. What are diff. types of attributes?
26. What is difference between entity set and entity type?
27. What is domain value or value set of an attribute?
28. What is degree of a relationship?
29. What is recursive relationship?
30. What are relationship constraints?
31. What is Cardinality ratio?
32. What is a Participation constraint?
33. What is a weak entity types?
34. What is an ER Diagram?
35. What is an EER?
36. What is specialization?
38. What is generalization?
38. What are constraints on generalization and specialization?
39. What is a ternary relationship?
40. What is aggregation and association?
41. What is RAID Technology?
42. What is Hashing technique?
43. What are different types of relational constraints?
44. What is difference between a super key, a key, a candidate key and a
primary key?
45. What is a foreign key?
46. What is a transaction?
47. What are the properties of transaction?
48. What are the basic data base operations?
49. What are the disadvantages of not controlling concurrency?
50. What are serial, non serial?
51. What are conflict serializable schedules?
52. What is result equivalent?
53. What are conflict equivalent schedules?
54. What is a conflict serializable schedule?
55. What is view equivalence?
56. What is view serializable?
57. What are the various methods of controlling concurrency?
58. What is a lock?
59. What are various types of locking techniques?
60. What is a binary lock?
61. What is shared or exclusive lock?
62. What are different types of two phase lockings(2pl)?
63. What is a deadlock?
64. What are triggers?
DBMS interview questions and
answers | Part1
July 20th, 2010
If you would like to view All All DBMS interview questions only, at one
place, visit below link
All DBMS Interview Questions
1.What is a Database?
Ans: A database is a collection of related data .A database is a logically
coherent
collection of data with some inherent meaning.
2. What is DBMS?
Ans: Database Management system is a collection of programs that
enables user to create and maintain a database.
Thus a DBMS is a general purposed s/w system that facilitates the
process of defining constructing and manipulating a database for various
applications. (Defining a data base involves specifying the data types,
structures and constraints for the data to be stored in the data database.
Constructing a data base is the process of storing data itself on some
storage medium that is controlled by DBMS. Manipulating a database
includes such functions as querying the data base to retrieve specific
data, updating the database to reflect the changes in the mini-world.
3. What is a Catalog?
Ans: A catalog is a table that contain the information such as structure of
each file ,
the type and storage format of each data item and various constraints on
the data .
The information stored in the catalog is called Metadata . Whenever a
request is
made to access a particular data, the DBMS s/w refers to the catalog to
determine
the structure of the file.
4. What is data ware housing & OLAP?
Ans: Data warehousing and OLAP (online analytical processing )
systems are the
techniques used in many companies to extract and analyze useful
information
from very large databases for decision making .
5. What is real time database technology?
Ans: These are all the techniques used in controlling industrial and
manufacturing
processes.
6. What is program-data independence?
Ans: Unlike in the traditional file sys. the structure of the data files is
stored in the
DBMS catalog separately from the access programs . This property is
called
program-data independence.i.e. We neednt to change the code of the
DBMS if the
structure of the data is changed .Which is not supported by traditional
file sys .
7. What is ORDBMS?
Ans: Object oriented RDBMS is a relational DBMS in which every
thing is treated as
objects. User can define operations on data as a part of the database
definition.
8. What is program-operation independence?
Ans: An operation is specified in two parts .
1. Interface (operation name and data types of its arguments).
2. Implementation (the code part)
The implementation part can be changed without affecting the interface.
This is called
program-operation independence.
9. What is a view?
Ans: A view may be a subset of the database or it may contain virtual
data that is
derived from the database files but is not explicitly stored .
10. What is OLTP?
Ans: Online transaction processing is an application that involve
multiple database accesses
from different parts of the world . OLTP needs a multi-user DBMS s/w
to ensure that concurrent
transactions operate correctly.

answers | Part2
July 20th, 2010
11. What is the job of DBA?
Ans: A database administrator is a person or a group responsible for
authorizing access to the
database, for coordinating and monitoring its use, and for acquiring s/w
and h/w resources as needed.
12. Who are db designer?
Ans: Data base designers are responsible for identifying the data to be
stored in the database and for
choosing appropriate structure to represent and store this data .
13. What are different types of end users?
Ans:
1. Casual end-users
2. Naive or parametric end users
3. Sophisticated end users
4. Stand alone users.
14. What are the advantages of using a dbms?
Ans:
1. Controlling redundancy.
2. Restricting unauthorized access.
3. Providing persistent storage for program objects and data structures.
4. Permitting inferencing and actions using rules.
5. Providing multi-user interfaces.
6. Representing complex relationships among data.
7. Enforcing integrity constraints.
8. Providing backups and recovery.
15. What are the disadvantages of using a dbms?
Ans:
1. High initial investments in h/w, s/w, and training.
2. Generality that a DBMS provides for defining and processing data.
3. Overhead for providing security, concurrency control, recovery, and
integrity functions.
16. What is a data model?
Ans: It is a collection of concepts that can be used to describe the
structure of a database. It provides necessary means to achieve this
abstraction. By structure of a database we mean the data types, relations,
and constraints that should hold on the data.
17. What are different categories of data models?
Ans:
1. High-level or conceptual data models.
2. Representational data models.
3. Low-level or physical data models.
High level data models provide the concepts that are close to the way
many users perceive data.
Representational data models are provide concepts that provide the
concepts that may be understood by end users but that are not too far
removed from organization of data in the database.
Physical data models describe the details of how data is stored in the
computers.
18. What is schema?
Ans: The description of a data base is called the database schema ,
which is specified during database design and is not expected to change
frequently . A displayed schema is called schema diagram .We call each
object in the schema as schema construct.
19. What are types of schema?
Ans:
1. internal schema.
2. Conceptual schema.
3. External schemas or user views.
20. What is Data independency?
Ans: Data independency is defined as the capacity to change the
conceptual schema without having to change the schema at the next
higher level. We can define two types of data independence:
1. Logical data independence.
2. Physical data independence.
LDI is the capacity to change the conceptual schema without having to
change external schemas or application programs.
PDI is the capacity to change the internal schema without having to
change conceptual (or external) schemas.
answers | Part3
July 20th, 2010
21. What are different DBMS languages?
Ans:
1. DDL (Data definition language)
2. SDL (Storage definition language)
3. VDL (View definition language)
4. DML (Data manipulation language)
22. What are different types of DBMS?
Ans:
1. DBMS
2. RDBMS (Relational)
3. ORDBMS (Object Relational)
4. DDBMS (Distributed)
5. FDBMS (Federated)
6. HDDBMS (Homogeneous)
7. HDBMS (Hierarchical)
8. NDBMS (Networked)
23. What is an entity?
Ans: An entity is a thing in the real world with an independent
existence.
24. What are attributes?
Ans: These are the particular properties that describe an entity.
25. What are diff. types of attributes?
Ans:
1. Composite Vs simple attributes.
2. Single valued Vs multi-valued attributes.
3. Stored Vs derived attribute.
4. Null valued attributes.
5. Complex attributes.
26. What is difference between entity set and entity type?
27. What is domain value or value set of an attribute?
Ans: It is the set of values that may be assigned to that attribute for each
individual entities .
28. What is degree of a relationship?
Ans: The no of entities participating in that relation .
29. What is recursive relationship?
Ans: It is the relationship where both the participating entities belong to
same entity type .
30. What are relationship constraints?
Ans:
1. Cardinality ratio.
2. Participation constraints.

answers | Part4
July 21st, 2010
31. What is Cardinality ratio?
Ans: The cardinality ratio for a binary relationship specifies the number
of relationship instances that an entity can participate in.
32. What is a Participation constraint?
Ans: The participation constraint specifies whether the existence of an
entity depends on its being related to another entity via the relationship
type. This is of two types:
1. Total participation.
2. Partial participation.
33. What is a weak entity types?
Ans: The entity types that do not have key attributes of their own are
called weak entity types.
Rests are called strong entity types .The entity that gives identity to a
weak entity is called owner entity. And the relationship is called
identifying relationship. A weak entity type always has a total
participation constraint with respect to its identifying relationship.
34. What is an ER Diagram?
Ans:
This data model is based on real world that consists of basic objects
called entities and of relationship among these objects. Entities are
described in a database by a set of attributes.
35. What is an EER?
Ans:
==
36. What is specialization?
Ans: It is the process of defining a set of subclasses of an entity type
where each subclass contain all the attributes and relationships of the
parent entity and may have additional attributes and relationships which
are specific to itself.
37. What is generalization?
Ans: It is the process of finding common attributes and relations of a
number of entities and defining a common super class for them.
38. What are constraints on generalization and specialization?
Ans:
1. disjoint ness constraints.
2. Completeness constraints.
Disjointness constraint specifies that the subclasses of the specialization
must be disjoint .i.e. an entity can be a member of at most one of the
subclasses of the specialization. The reverse of it is overlapping.
Completeness constraint is a participation constraint which may be
1. Total
2. Partial
Total specialization constraint tells that each entity in the super class
must be a member of some subclass in the specialization. And partial
specialization constraint allows an entity not to belong to any of the
subclasses .Thus we do have the following 4 types of constraints on
specialization:
1. Disjoint, total
2. Disjoint, partial
3. Overlapping, total
4. Overlapping, partial
39. What is a ternary relationship?
Ans: A relationship with a degree 3 is called a ternary relationship.
40. What is aggregation and association?
Ans: Aggregation is an abstraction concept for building composite
objects from their component objects. The abstraction of association is
used to associate objects from several independent classes.

answers | Part5
July 21st, 2010
41. What is RAID Technology?
Ans: Redundant array of inexpensive (or independent) disks. The main
goal of raid technology is to even out the widely different rates of
performance improvement of disks against those in memory and
microprocessor. Raid technology employs the technique of data striping
to achieve higher transfer rates.
42. What is Hashing technique?

Ans: This is a primary file organization technique that provides very fast
access to records on certain search conditions. The search condition
must be an equality condition on a single field, called hash field of the
file.
1. Internal hashing
2. External hashing
3. Extendible hashing
4. Linear hashing
5. Partitioned hashing
43. What are different types of relational constraints?
Ans:
1. Domain constraints
2. Key constraints
3. Entity integrity constraints
4. Referential integrity constraints
Domain constraints specify that the value of each attribute must be an
atomic value from the domain of the attributes.
Key constraints tell that no two tuples can have the same combination of
values for all their attributes.
Entity integrity constraint states that no primary key value can be null.
Referential integrity constraints states that a tuple in one relation that
refers to another relation must refer to an existing tuple in that relation it
is specified between two relations and is used to maintain the
consistency among tuples of the two relations.
44. What is difference between a super key, a key, a candidate key
and a primary key?
Ans: A super key specifies a uniqueness constrain that no two distinct
tuples in a state
can have the same value for the super key. Every relation has at least one
default super key.
A key is a minimal super key or the subset of the super key which is
obtained after
removing redundancy. A relation schema may have more than one key
.In this case
each key is called a candidate key. One of the candidate key with
minimum number
of attributes is chosen as primary key.
45. What is a foreign key?
Ans: A key of a relation schema is called as a foreign key if it is the
primary key of
some other relation to which it is related to.
46. What is a transaction?
Ans: A transaction is a logical unit of database processing that includes
one or more
database access operations.
47. What are the properties of transaction?
Ans:
1. Atomicity
2. Consistency preservation
3. Isolation
4. Durability (permanence)
48. What are the basic data base operations?
Ans:
1. Write_item(x)
2. Read_item(x)
49. What are the disadvantages of not controlling concurrency?
Ans:
1. Lost update problem
2. Temporary update(Dirty read) problem
3. Incorrect summary problem
50. What are serial, non serial?
Ans: A schedule S is serial if, for every transaction T participating in the
schedule, all the operations of T is executed consecutively in the
schedule, otherwise, the schedule is called non-serial schedule.

answers | Part6
July 21st, 2010
51. What are conflict serializable schedules?
Ans: A schedule S of n transactions is serializable if it is equivalent to
some serial schedule of the same n transactions.
52. What is result equivalent?

Ans: Two schedules are called result equivalent if they produce the same
final state of the data base.
53. What are conflict equivalent schedules?
Ans: Two schedules are said to be conflict equivalent if the order of any
two conflicting operations is the same in both schedules.
54. What is a conflict serializable schedule?
Ans: A schedule is called conflict serializable if it is conflict equivalent
to some serial schedule.
55. What is view equivalence?
Ans: Two schedules S and S are said to be view equivalent if the
following three conditions hold :
1. Both S and S contain same set of transactions with same operations
in them.
2. If any read operation read(x) reads a value written by a write
operation or the original value of x the same conditions must hold in the
other schedule for the same read(x) operation.
3. If an operation write1(y) is the last operation to write the value of y in
schedule S then the same operation must be the last operation in
schedule S.
56. What is view serializable?
Ans: A schedule is said to be view serializable if it is view equivalent
with some serial schedule.
57. What are the various methods of controlling concurrency?
Ans:
1. Locking
2. Time stamp
Locking data item to prevent multiple transactions from accessing the
item concurrently.
A time stamp is a unique identifier for each transaction, generated by the
system.
58. What is a lock?
Ans: A lock is a variable associated with a data item that describes the
status of the item with respect to the possible operations that can be
applied to it.
59. What are various types of locking techniques?
Ans:
1. a binary lock
2. Shared/Exclusive lock
3. Two phase locking
60. What is a binary lock?
Ans: A binary lock can have two states or values:
1. locked (1)
2. unlocked(0)
If locked it cannot be accessed by any other operations, else can be.
61. What is shared or exclusive lock?
Ans: It implements multiple-mode lock. Allowing multiple accesses for
read operations but exclusive access for write operation.
62. Explain two phase locking?
Ans: All the locking operations must precede the first unlock operation
in the transaction .It does have two phases:
1. expanding phase (Locks are issued)
2. Shrinking phase (Locks are released)
63. What are different types of two phase lockings (2pl)?
Ans:
1. Basic
2. Conservative
3. Strict
4. Rigorous
this is the basic technique of 2pl described above.
Conservative 2pl requires a transaction to lock all the items it accesses
before the transaction begins its execution, by pre-declaring its read-set
and write-set.
Strict 2pl guarantees that a transaction doesnt release any of its
exclusive locks until after it commits or aborts.
Rigorous guarantees that a transaction doesnt release any of its locks
(including shared locks) until after it commits or aborts.
Ans: Dead lock occurs when each transaction T in a set of two or more
transactions is waiting for some item that is locked by some other
transaction T in the set. Hence each transaction is in a waiting queue,
waiting for one of the other transactions to release the lock on them.
65. What are triggers?
Ans: Triggers are the PL/SQL blocks definining an action the database
should take when some database related event occurs. Triggers may be
used to supplement declarative referential integrity, to enforce complex
business rules, or to audit changes to data.
data structure Questions
1.What is data structure?
2.What are the goals of Data Structure ?
3.What does abstract Data Type Mean?
4.What is the difference between a Stack and an Array?
5.What do you mean by recursive definition?
6.What is sequential search?
7.What actions are performed when a function is called?
8.What actions are performed when a function returns?
9.What is a linked list ?
10.What are the advantages of linked list over array(static data
structure) ?
11.Can we apply binary search algorithm to a sorted linked
list,why ?
12.What do you mean by free pool ?
13.What do you mean by garbage collection ?
14.What do you mean by overflow and underflow ?
15.What are the disadvantages array implementation of linked list
?
16.What is a queue ?
17. What is a priority queue ?
18.What are the disadvantages of sequential storage?
19.What are the disadvantages of representing a stack or queue
by a linked list ?
20.What is dangling pointer and how to avoid it ?
21.What are the disadvantages of linear list ?
22.Define circular list ?
23. What are the disadvantages of circular list ?
24.Define double linked list?
25.Is it necessary to sort a file before searching a particular item ?
26.What are the issues that hampers the efficiency in sorting a
file ?
27.Calculate the efficiency of sequential search ?
28. Is any implicit arguments are passed to a function when it is
called ?
29.Parenthesis is never required in Postfix or Prefix expressions,
Why?
30.List out the areas in which data structures are applied
extensively?
31.What are the major data structures used in the following
areas : network data model & Hierarchical data model.
32.If you are using C language to implement the heterogeneous
linked list, what pointer type will you use?
33.Minimum number of queues needed to implement the priority
queue?
34.What is the data structures used to perform recursion?
35.What are the notations used in Evaluation of Arithmetic
Expressions using prefix and postfix forms?
36. Convert the expression ((A + B) * C (D E) ^ (F + G)) to
equivalent Prefix and Postfix notations.
37. Sorting is not possible by using which of the following
methods?
38. List out few of the Application of tree data-structure?
39. List out few of the applications that make use of Multilinked
Structures?
40. In tree construction which is the suitable efficient data
structure?
41. What is the type of the algorithm used in solving the 8 Queens
problem?
42 .In an AVL tree, at what condition the balancing is to be done?
43 .There are 8, 15, 13, 14 nodes were there in 4 different trees.
Which of them could have formed a full binary tree?
44.In RDBMS, what is the efficient data structure used in the
internal storage representation?
45. Of the following tree structure, which is, efficient considering
space and time complexities?
(a) Incomplete Binary Tree.
(b) Complete Binary Tree.
(c) Full Binary Tree.
46.What is a spanning Tree?
47.Does the minimum spanning tree of a graph give the shortest
distance between any 2 specified nodes?
48.Whether Linked List is linear or Non-linear data structure?
Data Structures Question and Answers

| Part1
July 25th, 2010
If you would like to view All Data Structures interview questions only,
at one place, visit below link
All Data Structures Interview Questions
1. What is data structure?
Ans: The logical and mathematical model of a particular organization of
data is called data structure. There are two types of data structure
i) Linear
ii) Nonlinear
2. What are the goals of Data Structure?
Ans: It must rich enough in structure to reflect the actual relationship of
data in real world.
The structure should be simple enough for efficient processing of data.
3. What does abstract Data Type Mean?
Ans: Data type is a collection of values and a set of operations on these
values. Abstract data type refer to the mathematical concept that define
the data type.
It is a useful tool for specifying the logical properties of a data type.
ADT consists of two parts
1) Values definition
2) Operation definition
Example:-The value definition for the ADT RATIONAL states that
RATIONAL value consists of two integers, second doesnt equal to zero.
The operator definition for ADT RATIONAL includes the operation of
creation (make rational) addition, multiplication and test for equality.
4. What is the difference between a Stack and an Array?
Ans:
i) Stack is a ordered collection of items
ii) Stack is a dynamic object whose size is constantly changing as items
are pushed and popped .
iii) Stack may contain different data types
iv) Stack is declared as a structure containing an array to hold the
element of the stack, and an integer to indicate the current stack top
within the array.
ARRAY
i) Array is an ordered collection of items
ii) Array is a static object i.e. no of item is fixed and is assigned by the
declaration of the array
iii) It contains same data types.
iv) Array can be home of a stack i.e. array can be declared large enough
for maximum size of the stack.
5. What do you mean by recursive definition?
Ans: The definition which defines an object in terms of simpler cases of
itself is called recursive definition.
6. What is sequential search?
Ans: In sequential search each item in the array is compared with the
item being searched until a match occurs. It is applicable to a table
organized either as an array or as a linked list.
7. What actions are performed when a function is called?
Ans: When a function is called
i) arguments are passed
ii) local variables are allocated and initialized
ii) transferring control to the function
8. What actions are performed when a function returns?
Ans:
i) Return address is retrieved
ii) Functions data area is freed
iii) Branch is taken to the return address
9. What is a linked list?
Ans: A linked list is a linear collection of data elements, called nodes,
where the linear order is given by pointers. Each node has two parts first
part contain the information of the element second part contains the
address of the next node in the list.
10. What are the advantages of linked list over array (static data
structure)?
Ans:
The disadvantages of array are
i) unlike linked list it is expensive to insert and delete elements in the
array
ii) One cant double or triple the size of array as it occupies block of
memory space.
In linked list
i) each element in list contains a field, called a link or pointer which
contains the address of the next element
ii) Successive elements need not occupy adjacent space in memory.

| Part2
July 25th, 2010
11. Can we apply binary search algorithm to a sorted linked list,
why?
Ans: No we cannot apply binary search algorithm to a sorted linked list,
since there is no way of indexing the middle element in the list. This is
the drawback in using linked list as a data structure.
12. What do you mean by free pool?
Ans: Pool is a list consisting of unused memory cells which has its own
pointer.
13. What do you mean by garbage collection?
Ans: It is a technique in which the operating system periodically collects
all the deleted space onto the free storage list.
It takes place when there is minimum amount of space left in storage list
or when CPU is ideal.
The alternate method to this is to immediately reinsert the space into free
storage list which is time consuming.
14. What do you mean by overflow and underflow?
Ans: When new data is to be inserted into the data structure but there is
no available space i.e. free storage list is empty this situation is called
overflow.
When we want to delete data from a data structure that is empty this
situation is called underflow.
15. What are the disadvantages array implementations of linked
list?
Ans:
i) The no of nodes needed cant be predicted when the program is
written.
ii) The no of nodes declared must remain allocated throughout its
execution
16. What is a queue?
Ans: A queue is an ordered collection of items from which items may be
deleted at one end (front end) and items inserted at the other end (rear
end).
It obeys FIFO rule there is no limit to the number of elements a queue
contains.
17. What is a priority queue?
Ans: The priority queue is a data structure in which the intrinsic
ordering of the elements (numeric or alphabetic)
Determines the result of its basic operation. It is of two types
i) Ascending priority queue- Here smallest item can be removed
(insertion is arbitrary)
ii) Descending priority queue- Here largest item can be removed
(insertion is arbitrary)
18. What are the disadvantages of sequential storage?
Ans:
i) Fixed amount of storage remains allocated to the data structure even if
it contains less element.
ii) No more than fixed amount of storage is allocated causing overflow
19. What are the disadvantages of representing a stack or queue by
a linked list?
Ans:
i) A node in a linked list (info and next field) occupies more storage than
a corresponding element in an array.
ii) Additional time spent in managing the available list.
20. What is dangling pointer and how to avoid it?
Ans: After a call to free(p) makes a subsequent reference to *p illegal,
i.e. though the storage to p is freed but the value of p(address) remain
unchanged .so the object at that address may be used as the value of *p
(i.e. there is no way to detect the illegality).Here p is called dangling
pointer.
To avoid this it is better to set p to NULL after executing free(p).The
null pointer value doesnt reference a storage location it is a pointer that
doesnt point to anything.

| Part3
July 25th, 2010
21. What are the disadvantages of linear list?
Ans:
i) We cannot reach any of the nodes that precede node (p)
ii) If a list is traversed, the external pointer to the list must be persevered
in order to reference the list again
22. Define circular list?
Ans: In linear list the next field of the last node contain a null pointer,
when a next field in the last node contain a pointer back to the first node
it is called circular list.
Advantages From any point in the list it is possible to reach at any
other point
23. What are the disadvantages of circular list?
Ans:
i) We cant traverse the list backward
ii) If a pointer to a node is given we cannot delete the node
24. Define double linked list?
Ans: It is a collection of data elements called nodes, where each node is
divided into three parts
i) An info field that contains the information stored in the node
ii) Left field that contain pointer to node on left side
iii) Right field that contain pointer to node on right side
25. Is it necessary to sort a file before searching a particular item ?
Ans:
If less work is involved in searching a element than to sort and then
extract, then we dont go for sort
If frequent use of the file is required for the purpose of retrieving
specific element, it is more efficient to sort the file.
Thus it depends on situation.
26. What are the issues that hamper the efficiency in sorting a file?
Ans: The issues are
i) Length of time required by the programmer in coding a particular
sorting program
ii) Amount of machine time necessary for running the particular program
iii)The amount of space necessary for the particular program .
27. Calculate the efficiency of sequential search?
Ans: The number of comparisons depends on where the record with the
argument key appears in the table
If it appears at first position then one comparison
If it appears at last position then n comparisons
Average=(n+1)/2 comparisons
Unsuccessful search n comparisons
Number of comparisons in any case is O (n).
28. Is any implicit arguments are passed to a function when it is
called?
Ans: Yes there is a set of implicit arguments that contain information
necessary for the function to execute and return correctly. One of them is
return address which is stored within the functions data area, at the time
of returning to calling program the address is retrieved and the function
branches to that location.
29. Parenthesis is never required in Postfix or Prefix expressions,
why?
Ans: Parenthesis is not required because the order of the operators in the
postfix /prefix expressions determines the actual order of operations in
evaluating the expression
30. List out the areas in which data structures are applied
extensively?
Ans:
Compiler Design,
Operating System,
Database Management System,
Statistical analysis package,
Numerical Analysis,
Graphics,
Artificial Intelligence,
Simulation

| Part4
July 25th, 2010
31. What are the major data structures used in the following areas :
network data model & Hierarchical data model.
Ans:
RDBMS Array (i.e. Array of structures)
Network data model Graph
Hierarchical data model Trees
32. If you are using C language to implement the heterogeneous
linked list, what pointer type will you use?
Ans: The heterogeneous linked list contains different data types in its
nodes and we need a link, pointer to connect them. It is not possible to
use ordinary pointers for this. So we go for void pointer. Void pointer is
capable of storing pointer to any type as it is a generic pointer type.
33. Minimum number of queues needed to implement the priority
queue?
Ans: Two. One queue is used for actual storing of data and another for
storing priorities.
34. What is the data structures used to perform recursion?
Ans: Stack. Because of its LIFO (Last In First Out) property it
remembers its caller so knows whom to return when the function has to
return. Recursion makes use of system stack for storing the return
addresses of the function calls.
Every recursive function has its equivalent iterative (non-recursive)
function. Even when such equivalent iterative procedures are written,
explicit stack is to be used.
35. What are the notations used in Evaluation of Arithmetic
Expressions using prefix and postfix forms?
Ans: Polish and Reverse Polish notations.
36. Convert the expression ((A + B) * C (D E) ^ (F + G)) to
equivalent Prefix and Postfix notations.
Ans: Prefix Notation:
^ * +ABC DE + FG
Postfix Notation:
AB + C * DE FG + ^
37. Sorting is not possible by using which of the following methods?

(a) Insertion
(b) Selection
(c) Exchange
(d) Deletion
Ans: (d) Deletion.
Using insertion we can perform insertion sort, using selection we can
perform selection sort, using exchange we can perform the bubble sort
(and other similar sorting methods). But no sorting method can be done
just using deletion.
38. List out few of the Application of tree data-structure?
Ans:
The manipulation of Arithmetic expression,
Symbol Table construction,
Syntax analysis.
39. List out few of the applications that make use of Multilinked
Structures?
Ans: Sparse matrix, Index generation.
40. in tree construction which is the suitable efficient data structure?
(A) Array (b) Linked list (c) Stack (d) Queue (e) none
Ans: (b) Linked list

| Part5
July 25th, 2010
41. What is the type of the algorithm used in solving the 8 Queens
problem?
Ans: Backtracking
42. In an AVL tree, at what condition the balancing is to be done?
Ans: If the pivotal value (or the Height factor) is greater than 1 or
less than 1.
43. There are 8, 15, 13, 14 nodes were there in 4 different trees.
Which of them could have formed a full binary tree?
Ans: 15
In general:
There are 2n-1 nodes in a full binary tree.
By the method of elimination:
Full binary trees contain odd number of nodes. So there cannot be full
binary trees with 8 or 14 nodes, so rejected. With 13 nodes you can form
a complete binary tree but not a full binary tree. So the correct answer is
15.
Note: Full and Complete binary trees are different. All full binary trees
are complete binary trees but not vice versa.
44. In RDBMS, what is the efficient data structure used in the
internal storage representation?
Ans: B+ tree. Because in B+ tree, all the data is stored only in leaf
nodes, that makes searching easier. This corresponds to the records that
shall
be stored in leaf nodes.
45. One of the following tree structures, which is, efficient
considering space and time complexities?
a) Incomplete Binary Tree.
b) Complete Binary Tree.
c) Full Binary Tree.
Ans:
b) Complete Binary Tree.
By the method of elimination:
Full binary tree loses its nature when operations of insertions and
deletions are done. For incomplete binary trees,
extra property of complete binary tree is maintained even after
operations like additions and deletions are done on it.
46. What is a spanning Tree?
Ans: A spanning tree is a tree associated with a network. All the nodes
of the graph appear on the tree once. A minimum spanning tree is a
spanning tree organized so that the total edge weight between nodes is
minimized.
47. Does the minimum spanning tree of a graph give the shortest
distance between any 2 specified nodes?
Ans: No.
Minimal spanning tree assures that the total weight of the tree is kept at
its minimum. But it doesnt mean that the distance between any two
nodes involved in the minimum-spanning tree is minimum.
48. Whether Linked List is linear or Non-linear data structure?
Ans: According to Storage Linked List is a Non-linear one.
Operating system Questions
1. What is an operating system?
2. What are the various components of a computer system?
3. What is purpose of different operating systems?
4. What are the different operating systems?
5. What are operating system services?
6. What is a boot-strap program?
7. What is BIOS?
8. Explain the concept of the batched operating systems?
9. Explain the concept of the multi-programmed operating systems?
10. Explain the concept of the timesharing operating systems?
11. Explain the concept of the multi-processor systems or parallel
systems?
12. Explain the concept of the Distributed systems?
13. Explain the concept of Real-time operating systems?
14. Define MULTICS?
15. What is SCSI?
16. What is a sector?
17. What is cache-coherency?
18. What are residence monitors?
19. What is dual-mode operation?
20. What are the operating system components?
21. What are operating system services?
22. What are system calls?
23. What is a layered approach and what is its advantage?
24. What is micro kernel approach and site its advantages?
25. What are a virtual machines and site their advantages?
26. What is a process?
27. What are the states of a process?
28. What are various scheduling queues?
29. What is a job queue?
30. What is a ready queue?
31. What is a device queue?
32. What is a long term scheduler & short term schedulers?
33. What is context switching?
34. What are the disadvantages of context switching?
35. What are co-operating processes?
36. What is a thread?
37. What are the benefits of multithreaded programming?
38. What are types of threads?
39. Which category the java thread do fall in?
40. What are multithreading models?
41. What is a P-thread?
42. What are java threads?
43. What is process synchronization?
44. What is critical section problem?
45. What is a semaphore?
46. What is bounded-buffer problem?
47. What is readers-writers problem?
48. What is dining philosophers problem?
50. What are necessary conditions for dead lock?
51. What is resource allocation graph?
52. What are deadlock prevention techniques?
53. What is a safe state and a safe sequence?
54. What are the deadlock avoidance algorithms?
55. What are the basic functions of an operating system?
56. Explain briefly about, processor, assembler, compiler, loader, linker
and the functions executed by them.
57. What is a Real-Time System?
58. What is the difference between Hard and Soft real-time systems?
59. What is virtual memory?
60. What is cache memory?
61.Differentiate between Complier and Interpreter?
62.What are different tasks of Lexical Analysis?
63. Why paging is used?
64. What is Context Switch?
65. Distributed Systems?
66.Difference between Primary storage and secondary storage?
67. What is CPU Scheduler?
68. What do you mean by deadlock?
69. What is Dispatcher?
70. What is Throughput, Turnaround time, waiting time and Response
time?
71. Explain the difference between microkernel and macro kernel?
72.What is multi tasking, multi programming, multi threading?
73. Give a non-computer example of preemptive and non-preemptive
scheduling?
74. What is starvation and aging?
75.Different types of Real-Time Scheduling?
76. What are the Methods for Handling Deadlocks?
77. What is a Safe State and its use in deadlock avoidance?
78. Recovery from Deadlock?
79.Difference between Logical and Physical Address Space?
80. Binding of Instructions and Data to Memory?
81. What is Memory-Management Unit (MMU)?
82. What are Dynamic Loading, Dynamic Linking and Overlays?
83. What is fragmentation? Different types of fragmentation?
84. Define Demand Paging, Page fault interrupt, and Trashing?
85. Explain Segmentation with paging?
86. Under what circumstances do page faults occur? Describe the actions
taken by the operating system when a page fault occurs?
87. What is the cause of thrashing? How does the system detect
thrashing? Once it detects thrashing, what can the system do to eliminate
this problem?
operating system interview questions |

Part1
July 28th, 2010
If you would like to view All operating system interview questions only
at one place visit below link
All operating system Interview Questions
1.What is an operating system?
Ans: An operating system is a program that acts as an intermediary
between the user and the computer hardware. The purpose of an OS is to
provide a convenient environment in which user can execute programs
in a convenient and efficient manner.It is a resource allocator responsible
for allocating system resources and a control program which controls the
operation of the computer h/w.
2.What are the various components of a computer system?
Ans:
1. The hardware
2. The operating system
3. The application programs
4. The users.
3.What is purpose of different operating systems?
Ans:The machine Purpose Workstation individual usability &Resources
utilization Mainframe Optimize utilization of hardware PC Support
complex games, business application Hand held PCs Easy interface &
min. power consumption
4.What are the different operating systems?
Ans:
1. Batched operating systems
2. Multi-programmed operating systems
3. timesharing operating systems
4. Distributed operating systems
5. Real-time operating systems
6.What is a boot-strap program?
7.What is BIOS?
8.Explain the concept of the batched operating systems?
Ans: In batched operating system the users gives their jobs to the
operator who sorts the programs according to their requirements and
executes them. This is time consuming but makes the CPU busy all the
time.
9.Explain the concept of the multi-programmed operating systems?
Ans: A multi-programmed operating systems can execute a number of
programs concurrently. The operating system fetches a group of
programs from the job-pool in the secondary storage which contains all
the programs to be executed, and places them in the main memory. This
process is called job scheduling. Then it chooses a
program from the ready queue and gives them to CPU to execute. When
a executing program needs some I/O operation then the operating system
fetches another program and hands it to the CPU for execution, thus
keeping the CPU busy all the time.
10.Explain the concept of the timesharing operating systems?
Ans: It is a logical extension of the multi-programmed OS where user
can interact with the program. The CPU executes multiple jobs by
switching among them, but the switches occur so frequently that the user
feels as if the operating system is running only his program.

Part2
July 28th, 2010
11.Explain the concept of the multi-processor systems or parallel
systems?
Ans: They contain a no. of processors to increase the speed of
execution, and reliability, and economy. They are of two types:
1. Symmetric multiprocessing
2. Asymmetric multiprocessing
In Symmetric multi processing each processor run an identical copy of
the OS, and these copies communicate with each other as and when
needed.But in Asymmetric multiprocessing each processor is assigned a
specific task.
12.Explain the concept of the Distributed systems?
Ans: Distributed systems work in a network. They can share the network
resources,communicate with each other
13.Explain the concept of Real-time operating systems?
Ans: A real time operating system is used when rigid time requirement
have been placed on the operation of a processor or the flow of the data;
thus, it is often used as a control device in a dedicated application. Here
the sensors bring data to the computer. The computer must analyze the
data and possibly adjust controls to
modify the sensor input.
They are of two types:
1. Hard real time OS
2. Soft real time OS
Hard-real-time OS has well-defined fixed time constraints. But soft real
time operating systems have less stringent timing constraints.
14.Define MULTICS?
Ans: MULTICS (Multiplexed information and computing services)
operating system was developed from 1965-1970 at Massachusetts
institute of technology as a computing utility. Many of the ideas used in
MULTICS were subsequently used in UNIX.
15.What is SCSI?
Ans: Small computer systems interface.
16.What is a sector?
Ans: Smallest addressable portion of a disk.
17.What is cache-coherency?
Ans: In a multiprocessor system there exist several caches each may
containing a copy of same variable A. Then a change in one cache
should immediately be reflected in all other caches this process of
maintaining the same value of a data in all the caches s called cache-
coherency.
18.What are residence monitors?
Ans: Early operating systems were called residence monitors.
19.What is dual-mode operation?
Ans: In order to protect the operating systems and the system programs
from the malfunctioning programs the two mode operations were
evolved:
1. System mode.
2. User mode.
Here the user programs cannot directly interact with the system
resources, instead they request the operating system which checks the
request and does the required task for the user programs-DOS was
written for / intel 8088 and has no dual-mode. Pentium provides dual-
mode operation.
20.What are the operating system components?
Ans:
1. Process management
2. Main memory management
3. File management
4. I/O system management
5. Secondary storage management
6. Networking
7. Protection system
8. Command interpreter system

Part3
July 28th, 2010
21.What are operating system services?
Ans:
1. Program execution
2. I/O operations
3. File system manipulation
4. Communication
5. Error detection
6. Resource allocation
7. Accounting
8. Protection
22.What are system calls?
Ans: System calls provide the interface between a process and the
operating system. System calls for modern Microsoft windows platforms
are part of the win32 API, which is available for all the compilers
written for Microsoft windows.
23.What is a layered approach and what is its advantage?
Ans: Layered approach is a step towards modularizing of the system, in
which the operating system is broken up into a number of layers (or
levels), each built on top of lower layer. The bottom layer is the hard
ware and the top most is the user interface.The main advantage of the
layered approach is modularity. The layers are
selected such that each uses the functions (operations) and services of
only lower layer. This approach simplifies the debugging and system
verification.
24.What is micro kernel approach and site its advantages?
Ans: Micro kernel approach is a step towards modularizing the
operating system where all nonessential components from the kernel are
removed and implemented as system and user level program, making the
kernel smaller.The benefits of the micro kernel approach include the
ease of extending the operating system. All new services are added to the
user space and consequently do not require modification of the kernel.
And as kernel is smaller it is easier to upgrade it. Also this approach
provides more security and reliability since most services are running as
user processes rather than kernels keeping the kernel intact.
25.What are a virtual machines and site their advantages?
Ans: It is the concept by which an operating system can create an
illusion that a process has its own processor with its own (virtual)
memory. The operating system implements virtual machine concept by
using CPU scheduling and virtual memory.
1. The basic advantage is it provides robust level of security as each
virtual machine is isolated from all other VM. Hence the system
resources are completely protected.
2. Another advantage is that system development can be done without
disrupting normal operation. System programmers are given their own
virtual machine, and as system development is done on the virtual
machine instead of on the actual
physical machine.
3. Another advantage of the virtual machine is it solves the compatibility
problem.
EX: Java supplied by Sun micro system provides a specification for java
virtual machine.
26.What is a process?
Ans: A program in execution is called a process. Or it may also be called
a unit of work. A process needs some system resources as CPU time,
memory, files, and i/o devices to accomplish the task. Each process is
represented in the operating system by a process control block or task
control block (PCB).Processes are of two types:
1. Operating system processes
2. User processes
27.What are the states of a process?
Ans:
1. New
2. Running
3. Waiting
4. Ready
5. Terminated
28.What are various scheduling queues?
Ans:
1. Job queue
2. Ready queue
3. Device queue
29.What is a job queue?
Ans: When a process enters the system it is placed in the job queue.

Part4
July 28th, 2010
30.What is a ready queue?
Ans: The processes that are residing in the main memory and are ready
and waiting to execute are kept on a list called the ready queue.
31.What is a device queue?
Ans: A list of processes waiting for a particular I/O device is called
device queue.
32.What is a long term scheduler & short term schedulers?
Ans: Long term schedulers are the job schedulers that select processes
from the job queue and load them into memory for execution. The short
term schedulers are the CPU schedulers that select a process form the
ready queue and allocate the CPU to one of them.
33.What is context switching?
Ans: Transferring the control from one process to other process requires
saving the state of the old process and loading the saved state for new
process. This task is known as context switching.
34.What are the disadvantages of context switching?
Ans: Time taken for switching from one process to other is pure over
head. Because the system does no useful work while switching. So one
of the solutions is to go for threading when ever possible.
35.What are co-operating processes?
Ans: The processes which share system resources as data among each
other. Also the processes can communicate with each other via
interprocess communication facility generally used in distributed
systems. The best example is chat program used on the www.
36.What is a thread?
Ans: A thread is a program line under execution. Thread sometimes
called a light-weight process, is a basic unit of CPU utilization; it
comprises a thread id, a program counter, a register set, and a stack.
37.What are the benefits of multithreaded programming?
Ans:
1. Responsiveness (neednt to wait for a lengthy process)
2. Resources sharing
3. Economy (Context switching between threads is easy)
4. Utilization of multiprocessor architectures (perfect utilization of the
multiple processors).
38.What are types of threads?
Ans:
1. User thread
2. Kernel thread
User threads are easy to create and use but the disadvantage is that if
they perform a blocking system calls the kernel is engaged completely to
the single user thread blocking other processes. They are created in user
space.Kernel threads are supported directly by the operating system.
They are slower to create and manage. Most of the OS like Windows
NT, Windows 2000, Solaris2, BeOS, and Tru64 Unix support kernel
threading.
39.Which category the java thread do fall in?
Ans: Java threads are created and managed by the java virtual machine,
they do not easily fall under the category of either user or kernel
thread
Part5
July 28th, 2010
40.What are multithreading models?
Ans: Many OS provide both kernel threading and user threading. They
are called multithreading models. They are of three types:
1. Many-to-one model (many user level thread and one kernel thread).
2. One-to-one model
3. Many-to many
In the first model only one user can access the kernel thread by not
allowing multi-processing. Example: Green threads of Solaris.The
second model allows multiple threads to run on parallel processing
systems. Creating user thread needs to create corresponding kernel
thread (disadvantage).Example: Windows NT, Windows 2000, OS/2.The
third model allows the user to create as many threads as necessary and
the corresponding kernel threads can run in parallel on a multiprocessor.
Example: Solaris2, IRIX, HP-UX, and Tru64 Unix.
41.What is a P-thread?
Ans: P-thread refers to the POSIX standard (IEEE 1003.1c) defining an
API for thread creation and synchronization. This is a specification for
thread behavior, not an implementation. The windows OS have generally
not supported the P-threads.
42.What are java threads?
Ans: Java is one of the small number of languages that support at the
language level for the creation and management of threads. However,
because threads are managed by the java virtual machine (JVM), not by
a user-level library or kernel, it is difficult to classify Java threads as
either user- or kernel-level.
43.What is process synchronization?
Ans: A situation, where several processes access and manipulate the
same data concurrently and the outcome of the execution depends on the
particular order in which the access takes place, is called race condition.
To guard against the race condition we need to ensure that only one
process at a time can be manipulating
the same data. The technique we use for this is called process
synchronization.
44.What is critical section problem?
Ans: Critical section is the code segment of a process in which the
process may be changing common variables, updating tables, writing a
file and so on. Only one process is allowed to go into critical section at
any given time (mutually exclusive).The critical section problem is to
design a protocol that the processes can use to
co-operate. The three basic requirements of critical section are:
1. Mutual exclusion
2. Progress
3. bounded waiting
Bakery algorithm is one of the solutions to CS problem.
45.What is a semaphore?
Ans: It is a synchronization tool used to solve complex critical section
problems. A semaphore is an integer variable that, apart from
initialization, is accessed only through two standard atomic operations:
Wait and Signal.
46.What is bounded-buffer problem?
Ans: Here we assume that a pool consists of n buffers, each capable of
holding one item. The semaphore provides mutual exclusion for accesses
to the buffer pool and is initialized to the value 1.The empty and full
semaphores count the number of empty and full buffers, respectively.
Empty is initialized to n, and full is initialized to 0.
47.What is readers-writers problem?
Ans: Here we divide the processes into two types:
1. Readers (Who want to retrieve the data only)
2. Writers (Who want to retrieve as well as manipulate)
We can provide permission to a number of readers to read same data at
same time.But a writer must be exclusively allowed to access. There are
two solutions to this problem:
1. No reader will be kept waiting unless a writer has already obtained
permission to use the shared object. In other words, no reader should
wait for other readers to complete simply because a writer is waiting.
2. Once a writer is ready, that writer performs its write as soon as
possible. In other words, if a writer is waiting to access the object, no
new may start reading.
48.What is dining philosophers problem?
Ans: Consider 5 philosophers who spend their lives thinking and eating.
The philosophers share a common circular table surrounded by 5 chairs,
each belonging to one philosopher. In the center of the table is a bowl of
rice, and the table is laid with five single chop sticks. When a
philosopher thinks, she doesnt interact with her colleagues.
From time to time, a philosopher gets hungry and tries to pick up two
chop sticks that are closest to her .A philosopher may pick up only one
chop stick at a time. Obviously she cant pick the stick in some others
hand. When a hungry philosopher has both her chopsticks at the same
time, she eats without releasing her chopsticks. When she is finished
eating, she puts down both of her chopsticks and start thinking again.
49.What is a deadlock?
Ans: Suppose a process request resources; if the resources are not
available at that time the process enters into a wait state. A waiting
process may never again change state, because the resources they have
requested are held by some other waiting processes. This situation is
called deadlock.
50.What are necessary conditions for dead lock?
Ans:
1. Mutual exclusion (where at least one resource is non-sharable)
2. Hold and wait (where a process hold one resource and waits for other
resource)
3. No preemption (where the resources cant be preempted)
4. circular wait (where p[i] is waiting for p[j] to release a resource. i=
1,2,n
j=if (i!=n) then i+1
else 1 )

Part6
July 28th, 2010
51.What is resource allocation graph?
Ans: This is the graphical description of deadlocks. This graph consists
of a set of edges E and a set of vertices V. The set of vertices V is
partitioned into two different types of nodes P={p1,p2,,pn}, the set
consisting of all the resources in the system, R={r1,r2,rn}.A directed
edge Pi?Rj is called a request edge; a directed edge Rj?
Pi is called an assignment edge. Pictorially we represent a process Pi as
a circle, and each resource type Rj as square.Since resource type Rj may
have more than one instance, we represent each such instance as a dot
within the square.When a request is fulfilled the request edge is
transformed into an assignment edge. When a process releases a
resource the assignment edge is deleted. If the cycle involves a set of
resource types, each of which has only a single instance, then a deadlock
has occurred. Each process involved in the cycle is deadlock.
52.What are deadlock prevention techniques?
Ans:
1. Mutual exclusion : Some resources such as read only files shouldnt
be mutually
exclusive. They should be sharable. But some resources such as printers
must be
mutually exclusive.
2. Hold and wait : To avoid this condition we have to ensure that if a
process is
requesting for a resource it should not hold any resources.
3. No preemption : If a process is holding some resources and requests
another
resource that cannot be immediately allocated to it (that is the process
must wait),
then all the resources currently being held are preempted(released
autonomously).
4. Circular wait : the way to ensure that this condition never holds is to
impose a
total ordering of all the resource types, and to require that each process
requests
resources in an increasing order of enumeration.
53.What is a safe state and a safe sequence?
Ans: A system is in safe state only if there exists a safe sequence. A
sequence of processes is a safe sequence for the current allocation state
if, for each Pi, the resources that the Pi can still request can be satisfied
by the currently available resources plus the resources held by all the Pj,
with j
54.What are the deadlock avoidance algorithms?
Ans: A dead lock avoidance algorithm dynamically examines the
resource-allocation state to ensure that a circular wait condition can
never exist. The resource allocation state is defined by the number of
available and allocated resources, and the maximum demand of the
process.There are two algorithms:
1. Resource allocation graph algorithm
2. Bankers algorithm
a. Safety algorithm
b. Resource request algorithm
55. What are the basic functions of an operating system?
Ans : Operating system controls and coordinates the use of the hardware
among the various applications programs for various uses. Operating
system acts as resource allocator and manager. Since there are many
possibly conflicting requests for resources the operating system must
decide which requests are allocated resources to operating the computer
system efficiently and fairly. Also operating system is control program
which controls the user programs to prevent errors and improper use of
the computer. It is especially concerned with the operation and control of
I/O devices.
56.Explain briefly about, processor, assembler, compiler, loader,
linker and the functions executed by them.
Ans :
Processor:A processor is the part a computer system that executes
instructions .It is also called a CPU
Assembler: An assembler is a program that takes basic computer
instructions and converts them into a pattern of bits that the computers
processor can use to perform its basic operations. Some people call these
instructions assembler language and others use the term assembly
language.
Compiler: A compiler is a special program that processes statements
written in a particular programming language and turns them into
machine language or code that a computers processor uses. Typically,
a programmer writes language statements in a language such as Pascal
or C one line at a time using an editor. The file that is created contains
what are called the source statements. The programmer then runs the
appropriate language compiler, specifying the name of the file that
contains the source statements.
Loader:In a computer operating system, a loader is a component that
locates a given program (which can be an application or, in some cases,
part of the operating system itself) in offline storage (such as a hard
disk), loads it into main storage (in a personal computer, its called
random access memory), and gives that program control of the compute
Linker: Linker performs the linking of libraries with the object code
to make the object code into an executable machine code.
57. What is a Real-Time System?
Ans : A real time process is a process that must respond to the events
within a certain time period. A real time operating system is an operating
system that can run real time processes successfully
58. What is the difference between Hard and Soft real-time systems?
Ans : A hard real-time system guarantees that critical tasks complete on
time. This goal requires that all delays in the system be bounded from
the retrieval of the stored data to the time that it takes the operating
system to finish any request made of it. A soft real time system where a
critical real-time task gets priority over other tasks and retains that
priority until it completes. As in hard real time systems kernel delays
need to be bounded
59. What is virtual memory?
Ans : A virtual memory is hardware technique where the system appears
to have more memory that it actually does. This is done by time-sharing,
the physical memory and storage parts of the memory one disk when
they are not actively being used
60. What is cache memory?
Ans : Cache memory is random access memory (RAM) that a computer
microprocessor can access more quickly than it can access regular RAM.
As the microprocessor processes data, it looks first in the cache memory
and if it finds the data there (from a previous reading of data), it does not
have to do the more time-consuming reading of data

Part7
July 28th, 2010
61.Differentiate between Complier and Interpreter?
Ans : An interpreter reads one instruction at a time and carries out the
actions implied by that instruction. It does not perform any translation.
But a compiler translates the entire instructions.
62.What are different tasks of Lexical Analysis?
Ans : The purpose of the lexical analyzer is to partition the input text,
delivering a sequence of comments and basic symbols. Comments are
character sequences to be ignored, while basic symbols are character
sequences that correspond to terminal symbols of the grammar defining
the phrase structure of the input
63. Why paging is used?
Ans : Paging is solution to external fragmentation problem which is to
permit the logical address space of a process to be noncontiguous, thus
allowing a process to be allocating physical memory wherever the latter
is available.
64. What is Context Switch?
Ans : Switching the CPU to another process requires saving the state of
the old process and loading the saved state for the new process. This task
is known as a context switch.Context-switch time is pure overhead,
because the system does no useful work while switching. Its speed
varies from machine to machine, depending on the memory speed, the
number of registers which must be copied, the existed of special
instructions(such as a single instruction to load or store all registers).
65. Distributed Systems?
Ans : Distribute the computation among several physical processors.
Loosely coupled system each processor has its own local memory;
processors communicate with one another through various
communications lines, such as high-speed buses or telephone lines
Advantages of distributed systems:
->Resources Sharing
->Computation speed up load sharing
->Reliability
->Communications
66.Difference between Primary storage and secondary storage?
Ans :
Main memory: only large storage media that the CPU can access
directly.
Secondary storage: extension of main memory that provides large
nonvolatile storage capacity.
67. What is CPU Scheduler?
Ans :
->Selects from among the processes in memory that are ready to
execute, and allocates the CPU to one of them.
->CPU scheduling decisions may take place when a process:
1.Switches from running to waiting state.
2.Switches from running to ready state.
3.Switches from waiting to ready.
4.Terminates.
->Scheduling under 1 and 4 is nonpreemptive.
->All other scheduling is preemptive.
68. What do you mean by deadlock?
Ans : Deadlock is a situation where a group of processes are all blocked
and none of them can become unblocked until one of the other becomes
unblocked.The simplest deadlock is two processes each of which is
waiting for a message from the other
69. What is Dispatcher?
Ans :
->Dispatcher module gives control of the CPU to the process selected by
the short-term scheduler; this involves:
Switching context
Switching to user mode
Jumping to the proper location in the user program to restart that
program
Dispatch latency time it takes for the dispatcher to stop one process
and start another running.
70. What is Throughput, Turnaround time, waiting time and
Response time?
Ans :
Throughput number of processes that complete their execution per
time unit
Turnaround time amount of time to execute a particular process
Waiting time amount of time a process has been waiting in the ready
queue
Response time amount of time it takes from when a request was
submitted until the first response is produced, not output (for time-
sharing environment)

Part8
July 28th, 2010
71. Explain the difference between microkernel and macro kernel?
Ans :Micro-Kernel: A micro-kernel is a minimal operating system that
performs only the essential functions of an operating system. All other
operating system functions are performed by system processes.
Monolithic: A monolithic operating system is one where all operating
system code is in a single executable image and all operating system
code runs in system mode.
72.What is multi tasking, multi programming, multi threading?
Ans :
Multi programming: Multiprogramming is the technique of running
several programs at a time using timesharing.It allows a computer to do
several things at the same time. Multiprogramming creates logical
parallelism.
The concept of multiprogramming is that the operating system keeps
several jobs in memory simultaneously. The operating system selects a
job from the job pool and starts executing a job, when that job needs to
wait for any i/o operations the CPU is switched to another job. So the
main idea here is that the CPU is never idle.
Multi tasking: Multitasking is the logical extension of
multiprogramming .The concept of multitasking is quite similar to
multiprogramming but difference is that the switching between jobs
occurs so frequently that the users can interact with each program while
it is running. This concept is also known as time-sharing systems. A
time-shared operating system uses CPU scheduling and
multiprogramming to provide each user with a small portion of time-
shared system.
Multi threading: An application typically is implemented as a separate
process with several threads of control. In some situations a single
application may be required to perform several similar tasks for example
a web server accepts client requests for web pages, images, sound, and
so forth. A busy web server may have several of clients concurrently
accessing it. If the web server ran as a traditional single-threaded
process, it would be able to service only one client at a time. The amount
of time that a client might have to wait for its request to be serviced
could be enormous.
So it is efficient to have one process that contains multiple threads to
serve the same purpose. This approach would multithread the web-server
process, the server would create a separate thread that would listen for
client requests when a request was made rather than creating another
process it would create another thread to service the request.
So to get the advantages like responsiveness, Resource sharing economy
and utilization of multiprocessor architectures multithreading concept
can be used
73. Give a non-computer example of preemptive and non-
preemptive scheduling?
Ans : Consider any system where people use some kind of resources and
compete for them. The non-computer examples for preemptive
scheduling the traffic on the single lane road if there is emergency or
there is an ambulance on the road the other vehicles give path to the
vehicles that are in need. The example for preemptive scheduling is
people standing in queue for tickets.
74. What is starvation and aging?
Ans :
Starvation: Starvation is a resource management problem where a
process does not get the resources it needs for a long time because the
resources are being allocated to other processes.
Aging: Aging is a technique to avoid starvation in a scheduling system.
It works by adding an aging factor to the priority of each request. The
aging factor must increase the requests priority as time passes and must
ensure that a request will eventually be the highest priority request (after
it has waited long enough)
75.Different types of Real-Time Scheduling?
Ans :Hard real-time systems required to complete a critical task within
a guaranteed amount of time.
Soft real-time computing requires that critical processes receive
priority over less fortunate ones.
76. What are the Methods for Handling Deadlocks?
Ans :
->Ensure that the system will never enter a deadlock state.
->Allow the system to enter a deadlock state and then recover.
->Ignore the problem and pretend that deadlocks never occur in the
system; used by most operating systems, including
UNIX.
77. What is a Safe State and its use in deadlock avoidance?
Ans :When a process requests an available resource, system must decide
if immediate allocation leaves the system in a safe state
->System is in safe state if there exists a safe sequence of all processes.
->Sequence is safe if for each Pi, the resources that Pi can still request
can be satisfied by
currently available resources + resources held by all the Pj, with j
If Pi resource needs are not immediately available, then Pi can wait until
all Pj have finished.
When Pj is finished, Pi can obtain needed resources, execute, return
allocated resources, and terminate.
When Pi terminates, Pi+1 can obtain its needed resources, and so on.
->Deadlock Avoidance ensure that a system will never enter an unsafe
state.
78. Recovery from Deadlock?
Ans :Process Termination:
->Abort all deadlocked processes.
->Abort one process at a time until the deadlock cycle is eliminated.
->In which order should we choose to abort?
Priority of the process.
How long process has computed, and how much longer to completion.
Resources the process has used.
Resources process needs to complete.
How many processes will need to be terminated?
Is process interactive or batch?
Resource Preemption:
->Selecting a victim minimize cost.
->Rollback return to some safe state, restart process for that state.
->Starvation same process may always be picked as victim, include
number of rollback in cost factor.
79.Difference between Logical and Physical Address Space?
Ans :
->The concept of a logical address space that is bound to a separate
physical address space is central to proper memory management.
Logical address generated by the CPU; also referred to as virtual
address.
Physical address address seen by the memory unit.
->Logical and physical addresses are the same in compile-time and load-
time address-binding schemes; logical (virtual) and physical addresses
differ in execution-time address-binding scheme
80. Binding of Instructions and Data to Memory?
Ans :Address binding of instructions and data to memory addresses can
happen at three different stages
Compile time: If memory location known a priori, absolute code can be
generated; must recompile code if starting location changes.
Load time: Must generate relocatable code if memory location is not
known at compile time.
Execution time: Binding delayed until run time if the process can be
moved during its execution from one memory segment to another. Need
hardware support for address maps (e.g., base and limit registers).

Part9
July 28th, 2010
81. What is Memory-Management Unit (MMU)?
Ans :Hardware device that maps virtual to physical address.
In MMU scheme, the value in the relocation register is added to every
address generated by a user process at the time it is sent to memory.
->The user program deals with logical addresses; it never sees the real
physical addresses
82. What are Dynamic Loading, Dynamic Linking and Overlays?
Ans :
Dynamic Loading:
->Routine is not loaded until it is called
->Better memory-space utilization; unused routine is never loaded.
->Useful when large amounts of code are needed to handle infrequently
occurring cases.
->No special support from the operating system is required implemented
through program design.
Dynamic Linking:
->Linking postponed until execution time.
->Small piece of code, stub, used to locate the appropriate memory-
resident library routine.
->Stub replaces itself with the address of the routine, and executes the
routine.
->Operating system needed to check if routine is in processes memory
address.
->Dynamic linking is particularly useful for libraries.
Overlays:
->Keep in memory only those instructions and data that are needed at
any given time.
->Needed when process is larger than amount of memory allocated to it.
->Implemented by user, no special support needed from operating
system, programming design of overlay structure is complex.
83. What is fragmentation? Different types of fragmentation?
Ans : Fragmentation occurs in a dynamic memory allocation system
when many of the free blocks are too small to satisfy any request.
External Fragmentation: External Fragmentation happens when a
dynamic memory allocation algorithm allocates some memory and a
small piece is left over that cannot be effectively used. If too much
external fragmentation occurs, the amount of usable memory is
drastically reduced.Total memory space exists to satisfy a request, but it
is not contiguous
Internal Fragmentation: Internal fragmentation is the space wasted
inside of allocated memory blocks because of restriction on the allowed
sizes of allocated blocks.Allocated memory may be slightly larger than
requested memory; this size difference is memory internal to a partition,
but not being used Reduce external fragmentation by compaction
->Shuffle memory contents to place all free memory together in one
large block.
->Compaction is possible only if relocation is dynamic, and is done at
execution time.
84. Define Demand Paging, Page fault interrupt, and Trashing?
Ans :
Demand Paging: Demand paging is the paging policy that a page is not
read into memory until it is requested, that is, until there is a page fault
on the page.
Page fault interrupt: A page fault interrupt occurs when a memory
reference is made to a page that is not in memory.The present bit in the
page table entry will be found to be off by the virtual memory hardware
and it will signal an interrupt.
Trashing: The problem of many page faults occurring in a short time,
called page thrashing,
85. Explain Segmentation with paging?
Ans : Segments can be of different lengths, so it is harder to find a place
for a segment in memory than a page. With segmented virtual memory,
we get the benefits of virtual memory but we still have to do dynamic
storage allocation of physical memory. In order to avoid this, it is
possible to combine segmentation and paging into a two-level virtual
memory system. Each segment descriptor points to page table for that
segment.This give some of the advantages of paging (easy placement)
with some of the advantages of segments (logical division of the
program).
86. Under what circumstances do page faults occur? Describe the
actions taken by the operating system when a page fault occurs?
Ans : A page fault occurs when an access to a page that has not been
brought into main memory takes place. The operating system verifies the
memory access, aborting the program if it is invalid. If it is valid, a free
frame is located and I/O is requested to read the needed page into the
free frame. Upon completion of I/O, the process table and page table are
updated and the instruction is restarted
87. What is the cause of thrashing? How does the system detect
thrashing? Once it detects thrashing, what can the system do to
eliminate this problem?
Ans : Thrashing is caused by under allocation of the minimum number
of pages required by a process, forcing it to continuously page fault. The
system can detect thrashing by evaluating the level of CPU utilization as
compared to the level of multiprogramming. It can be eliminated by
reducing the level of multiprogramming.
Operating Systems
Following are a few basic questions that cover the essentials of OS:
1. Explain the concept of Reentrancy.

It is a useful, memory-saving technique for multiprogrammed timesharing
systems. A Reentrant Procedure is one in which multiple users can share a single
copy of a program during the same period. Reentrancy has 2 key aspects: The
program code cannot modify itself, and the local data for each user process must be
stored separately. Thus, the permanent part is the code, and the temporary part is
the pointer back to the calling program and local variables used by that program.
Each execution instance is called activation. It executes the code in the permanent
part, but has its own copy of local variables/parameters. The temporary part
associated with each activation is the activation record. Generally, the activation
record is kept on the stack.
Note: A reentrant procedure can be interrupted and called by an interrupting

program, and still execute correctly on returning to the procedure.
1. Explain Belady's Anomaly.

Also called FIFO anomaly. Usually, on increasing the number of frames
allocated to a process' virtual memory, the process execution is faster, because
fewer page faults occur. Sometimes, the reverse happens, i.e., the execution time
increases even when more frames are allocated to the process. This is Belady's
Anomaly. This is true for certain page reference patterns.
1. What is a binary semaphore? What is its use?

A binary semaphore is one, which takes only 0 and 1 as values. They are
used to implement mutual exclusion and synchronize concurrent processes.
1. What is thrashing?
It is a phenomenon in virtual memory schemes when the processor spends
most of its time swapping pages, rather than executing instructions. This is due to
an inordinate number of page faults.
1. List the Coffman's conditions that lead to a deadlock.

Mutual Exclusion: Only one process may use a critical resource at a time.
Hold & Wait: A process may be allocated some resources while waiting for
others.
No Pre-emption: No resource can be forcible removed from a process holding
it.
Circular Wait: A closed chain of processes exist such that each process holds at
least one resource needed by another process in the chain.
1. What are short-, long- and medium-term scheduling?

Long term scheduler determines which programs are admitted to the system
for processing. It controls the degree of multiprogramming. Once admitted, a job
becomes a process.
Medium term scheduling is part of the swapping function. This relates to

processes that are in a blocked or suspended state. They are swapped out of real-
memory until they are ready to execute. The swapping-in decision is based on
memory-management criteria.
Short term scheduler, also know as a dispatcher executes most frequently,

and makes the finest-grained decision of which process should execute next. This
scheduler is invoked whenever an event occurs. It may lead to interruption of one
process by preemption.
1. What are turnaround time and response time?

Turnaround time is the interval between the submission of a job and its
completion. Response time is the interval between submission of a request, and the
first response to that request.
1. What are the typical elements of a process image?
User data: Modifiable part of user space. May include program data, user stack
area, and programs that may be modified.
User program: The instructions to be executed.
System Stack: Each process has one or more LIFO stacks associated with it.
Used to store parameters and calling addresses for procedure and system calls.
Process control Block (PCB): Info needed by the OS to control processes.
1. What is the Translation Lookaside Buffer (TLB)?

In a cached system, the base addresses of the last few referenced pages is
maintained in registers called the TLB that aids in faster lookup. TLB contains
those page-table entries that have been most recently used. Normally, each virtual
memory reference causes 2 physical memory accesses-- one to fetch appropriate
page-table entry, and one to fetch the desired data. Using TLB in-between, this is
reduced to just one physical memory access in cases of TLB-hit.
1. What is the resident set and working set of a process?

Resident set is that portion of the process image that is actually in real-
memory at a particular instant. Working set is that subset of resident set that is
actually needed for execution. (Relate this to the variable-window size method for
swapping techniques.)
1. When is a system in safe state?

The set of dispatchable processes is in a safe state if there exists at least one
temporal order in which all processes can be run to completion without resulting in
a deadlock.
1. What is cycle stealing?

We encounter cycle stealing in the context of Direct Memory Access
(DMA). Either the DMA controller can use the data bus when the CPU does not
need it, or it may force the CPU to temporarily suspend operation. The latter
technique is called cycle stealing. Note that cycle stealing can be done only at
specific break points in an instruction cycle.
1. What is meant by arm-stickiness?

If one or a few processes have a high access rate to data on one track of a
storage disk, then they may monopolize the device by repeated requests to that
track. This generally happens with most common device scheduling algorithms
(LIFO, SSTF, C-SCAN, etc). High-density multisurface disks are more likely to be
affected by this than low density ones.
1. What are the stipulations of C2 level security?

C2 level security provides for:
Discretionary Access Control

Identification and Authentication
Auditing
Resource reuse
1. What is busy waiting?

The repeated execution of a loop of code while waiting for an event to occur
is called busy-waiting. The CPU is not engaged in any real productive activity
during this period, and the process does not progress toward completion.
1. Explain the popular multiprocessor thread-scheduling strategies.

Load Sharing: Processes are not assigned to a particular processor. A global
queue of threads is maintained. Each processor, when idle, selects a thread from
this queue. Note that load balancing refers to a scheme where work is allocated
to processors on a more permanent basis.
Gang Scheduling: A set of related threads is scheduled to run on a set of
processors at the same time, on a 1-to-1 basis. Closely related threads /
processes may be scheduled this way to reduce synchronization blocking, and
minimize process switching. Group scheduling predated this strategy.
Dedicated processor assignment: Provides implicit scheduling defined by
assignment of threads to processors. For the duration of program execution,
each program is allocated a set of processors equal in number to the number of
threads in the program. Processors are chosen from the available pool.
Dynamic scheduling: The number of thread in a program can be altered during
the course of execution.
1. When does the condition 'rendezvous' arise?

In message passing, it is the condition in which, both, the sender and
receiver are blocked until the message is delivered.
1. What is a trap and trapdoor?

Trapdoor is a secret undocumented entry point into a program used to grant
access without normal methods of access authentication. A trap is a software
interrupt, usually the result of an error condition.
1. What are local and global page replacements?

Local replacement means that an incoming page is brought in only to the
relevant process' address space. Global replacement policy allows any page frame
from any process to be replaced. The latter is applicable to variable partitions
model only.
1. Define latency, transfer and seek time with respect to disk I/O.
Seek time is the time required to move the disk arm to the required track.
Rotational delay or latency is the time it takes for the beginning of the required
sector to reach the head. Sum of seek time (if any) and latency is the access time.
Time taken to actually transfer a span of data is transfer time.
1. Describe the Buddy system of memory allocation.

Free memory is maintained in linked lists, each of equal sized blocks. Any
such block is of size 2^k. When some memory is required by a process, the block
size of next higher order is chosen, and broken into two. Note that the two such
pieces differ in address only in their kth bit. Such pieces are called buddies. When
any used block is freed, the OS checks to see if its buddy is also free. If so, it is
rejoined, and put into the original free-block linked-list.
1. What is time-stamping?
It is a technique proposed by Lamport, used to order events in a distributed
system without the use of clocks. This scheme is intended to order events
consisting of the transmission of messages. Each system 'i' in the network
maintains a counter Ci. Every time a system transmits a message, it increments its
counter by 1 and attaches the time-stamp Ti to the message. When a message is
received, the receiving system 'j' sets its counter Cj to 1 more than the maximum of
its current value and the incoming time-stamp Ti. At each site, the ordering of
messages is determined by the following rules: For messages x from site i and y
from site j, x precedes y if one of the following conditions holds....(a) if Ti<Tj or
(b) if Ti=Tj and i<j.
1. How are the wait/signal operations for monitor different from those for
semaphores?
If a process in a monitor signal and no task is waiting on the condition
variable, the signal is lost. So this allows easier program design. Whereas in
semaphores, every operation affects the value of the semaphore, so the wait and
signal operations should be perfectly balanced in the program.
1. In the context of memory management, what are placement and replacement

algorithms?
Placement algorithms determine where in available real-memory to load a
program. Common methods are first-fit, next-fit, best-fit. Replacement algorithms
are used when memory is full, and one process (or part of a process) needs to be
swapped out to accommodate a new program. The replacement algorithm
determines which are the partitions to be swapped out.
1. In loading programs into memory, what is the difference between load-time
dynamic linking and run-time dynamic linking?
For load-time dynamic linking: Load module to be loaded is read into
memory. Any reference to a target external module causes that module to be loaded
and the references are updated to a relative address from the start base address of
the application module.
With run-time dynamic loading: Some of the linking is postponed until

actual reference during execution. Then the correct module is loaded and linked.
1. What are demand- and pre-paging?

With demand paging, a page is brought into memory only when a location
on that page is actually referenced during execution. With pre-paging, pages other
than the one demanded by a page fault are brought in. The selection of such pages
is done based on common access patterns, especially for secondary memory
devices.
1. Paging a memory management function, while multiprogramming a processor

management function, are the two interdependent?
Yes.
1. What is page cannibalizing?

Page swapping or page replacements are called page cannibalizing.
1. What has triggered the need for multitasking in PCs?

Increased speed and memory capacity of microprocessors together with the
support fir virtual memory and
Growth of client server computing
1. What are the four layers that Windows NT have in order to achieve
independence?
Hardware abstraction layer
Kernel
Subsystems
System Services.
1. What is SMP?
To achieve maximum efficiency and reliability a mode of operation known
as symmetric multiprocessing is used. In essence, with SMP any process or threads
can be assigned to any processor.
1. What are the key object oriented concepts used by Windows NT?
Encapsulation
Object class and instance
1. Is Windows NT a full blown object oriented operating system? Give reasons.

No Windows NT is not so, because its not implemented in object oriented
language and the data structures reside within one executive component and are
not represented as objects and it does not support object oriented capabilities .
1. What is a drawback of MVT?

It does not have the features like
ability to support multiple processors

virtual storage
source level debugging
1. What is process spawning?

When the OS at the explicit request of another process creates a process, this
action is called process spawning.
1. How many jobs can be run concurrently on MVT?

15 jobs
1. List out some reasons for process termination.

Normal completion
Time limit exceeded
Memory unavailable
Bounds violation
Protection error
Arithmetic error
Time overrun
I/O failure
Invalid instruction
Privileged instruction
Data misuse
Operator or OS intervention
Parent termination.
1. What are the reasons for process suspension?

swapping
interactive user request
timing
parent process request
1. What is process migration?

It is the transfer of sufficient amount of the state of process from one
machine to the target machine
1. What is mutant?
In Windows NT a mutant provides kernel mode or user mode mutual
exclusion with the notion of ownership.
1. What is an idle thread?

The special thread a dispatcher will execute when no ready thread is found.
1. What is FtDisk?
It is a fault tolerance disk driver for Windows NT.
1. What are the possible threads a thread can have?

Ready
Standby
Running
Waiting
Transition
Terminated.
1. What are rings in Windows NT?

Windows NT uses protection mechanism called rings provides by the
process to implement separation between the user mode and kernel mode.
1. What is Executive in Windows NT?

In Windows NT, executive refers to the operating system code that runs in
kernel mode.
1. What are the sub-components of I/O manager in Windows NT?

Network redirector/ Server
Cache manager.
File systems
Network driver
Device driver
1. What are DDks? Name an operating system that includes this feature.
DDks are device driver kits, which are equivalent to SDKs for writing
device drivers. Windows NT includes DDks.
1. What level of security does Windows NT meets?

C2 level security.
computer network interview questions
| Part1
July 26th, 2010
If you would like to view All computer network interview questions only
All computer network Interview Questions
1.What do you mean by data communication?
Ans: It is the exchange of data between two devices via some form of
transmission medium such as wire cable. The communicating system
must be part of a communication system made up of a combination of
hardware and software.The effectiveness of a data communication
system depends on three fundamental characteristics: delivery, accuracy
and timeliness.
2.What is simplex?
Ans: It is the mode of communication between two devices in which
flow of data is unidirectional. i.e. one can transmit and other can receive.
E.g. keyboard and monitor.
3.What is half-duplex?
flow of data is bi-directional but not at the same time. ie each station can
transmit and receive but not at the same time.
E.g walkie-talkies are half-duplex system.
4.What is full duplex?
flow of data is bi-directional and it occurs simultaneously. Here signals
going in either direction share the capacity of the link.
E.g. telephone
5.What is a network?
Ans: It is a set of devices connected by communication links. A node
can be a computer or any other device capable of sending and/or
receiving data generated by other nodes on the network.
6.What is distributed processing?
Ans: It is a strategy in which services provided by the network reside at
multiple sites.
7.What is point to point connection?
Ans:It provides a dedicated link between two devices. The entire
capacity of the link is reserved for transmission between the two devices
e.g. when we change the TV channels by remote control we establish a
point to point connection between remote control and TV control
system.
8.What is multipoint connection?
Ans: In multipoint connection more than two specific devices share a
single link.
Here the capacity of the channel is shared either separately or
temporally.
9.What is a topology?
Ans: Topology of a network is defined as the geometric representation
of the relationship of all the links and linking devices (node) to one
another.Four basic topologies are star, bus, ring and mesh.
Star Here each device has a dedicated point to point link only to a
central controller called hub.
Bus -It is multipoint. One long cable acts as a backbone to link all the
devices in the network.
Ring -Here each device has a dedicated point to point connection only
with the two devices on either side of it.
Mesh -Here every device has a dedicated point to point link to every
other device.
10.Define LAN, MAN and WAN.
Ans: LAN- A local area network (LAN) is a privately owned and links
the devices in a single office, building or campus.
It allows resources to be shared between personal computers and work
stations.
MAN- A metropolitan-area network (MAN) spreads over an entire city.
It may be wholly owned and operated by a private company, eg local
telephone company.
WAN A wide area network (WAN) provides long distance
transmission of data, voice, image and video information over large
geographic areas that comprise a country, a continent or even whole
world.

| Part2
July 26th, 2010
11.Define internet?
Ans: It is a network of networks.
12.What is a protocol?
Ans: It is a set of rules that governs data communication. A protocol
defines what is communicated, how it is communicated, and when it is
communicated. The key elements of protocol are syntax, semantics and
timing.
13.What is TCP/IP protocol model?
Ans: It is a five layered model which provides guidelines for the
development of universally compatible networking protocols.
The five layers are physical, data link, network, transport and
application.
14.Describe the functions of five layers?
Ans: Physical- It transmits raw bits over a medium. It provides
mechanical and electrical specification.
Data link- It organizes bits into frames. It provides hop to hop delivery.
Network-It moves the packets from source to destination.It provide
internetworking.
Transport-It provides reliable process to process message delivery and
error recovery.
Application-It allows ti access to network resources.
15.What is ISO-OSI model?
Ans: Open Systems Interconnection or OSI model was designed by the
International Organization for Standardization (ISO) .It is a seven layer
model. It is a theoretical model designed to show how a protocol stack
should be implemented.
It defines two extra layers in addition to TCP/IP model.
Session -It was designed to establish, maintain, and synchronize the
interaction between communicating system.
Presentation-It was designed to handle the syntax and semantics of the
information exchanged between the two systems. It was designed for
data translation, encryption, decryption, and compression.
16. What is multiplexing?
Ans: Multiplexing is the process of dividing a link, the phycal medium,
into logical channels for better efficiency. Here medium is not changed
but it has several channels instead of one.
16.What is switching?
Ans: Switching in data communication is of three types
Circuit switching
Packet switching
Message switching
17.How data is transmitted over a medium?
Ans: Data is transmitted in the form of electromagnetic signals.
18. Compare analog and digital signals?
Ans: Analog signals can have an infinite number of values in a range but
digital signal can have only a limited number of values.
19.Define bandwidth?
Ans: The range of frequencies that a medium can pass is called
bandwidth. It is the difference between the highest and lowest
frequencies that the medium can satisfactorily pass.
20.What are the factors on which data rate depends?
Ans: Data rate ie.how fast we can send data depends upon
i) Bandwidth available
ii) The levels of signals we can use
iii) The quality of the channel (level of noise)

| Part3
July 26th, 2010
21.Define bit rate and bit interval?
Ans: Digital signals are aperiodic.so instead of using period and
frequency we use bit interval and bit rate respectively.Bit interval is the
time required to send one single bit.Bit rate is the number of bit intervals
per second.
22.What is Nyquist bit rate formula?
Ans: For a noiseless channel, the Nyquist bit rate formula defines the
theoretical maximum bit rate
Bitrate=2* Bandwidth*log2L
Where Bandwidth is the bandwidth of the channel
L is the number of signal level used to represent the data
Bitrate is the bit rate in bits per second.
23.Define Shannon Capacity?
Ans: Shannon Capacity determines the theoretical highest data rate foe a
noise channel.
Capacity= Bandwidth * log2 (1+SNR)
Bandwidth is the bandwidth of the channel.
SNR is the signal to noise ratio, it is the statical ratio of the power of the
signal to the power of the noise.
Capacity is the capacity of the channel in bits per second
24.What is sampling?
Ans: It is the process of obtaining amplitude of a signal at regular
intervals.
25.Define pulse amplitude modulation?
Ans: It is an analog to digital conversion method which takes analog
signals, samples it and generates a series of pulse based on the results of
the sampling. It is not used in data communication because the series of
pulses generated still of any amplitude. To modify it we use pulse code
modulation.
26.Define pulse code modulation?
Ans: Pulse code Modulation modifies pulses created by PAM to create a
completely digital signal.
For this PCM first quantizes the PAM pulse. Quantization is the method
of assigning integral values in a specific tange to sampled
instances.PCM is made up of four separate processes: PAM,
quantization, binary encoding and line encoding.
27.What is Nyquist Theorem?
Ans: According to this theorem, the sampling rate must be at least 2
times the highest frequency of the original signal.
28.What are the modes of data transmission?
Ans: Data transmission can be serial or parallel in mode
In parallel transmission, a group of bits is sent simultaneously, with each
bit on a separate line.In serial transmission there is only one line and the
bits are sent sequentially.
29.What is Asynchronous mode of data transmission?
Ans: It is a serial mode of transmission.
In this mode of transmission, each byte is framed with a start bit and a
stop bit. There may be a variable length gap between each byte.
30.What is Synchronous mode of data transmission?
Ans: It is a serial mode of transmission.In this mode of transmission,
bits are sent in a continuous stream without start and stop bit and without
gaps between bytes. Regrouping the bits into meaningful bytes is the
responsibility of the receiver.

| Part4
July 26th, 2010
31.What are the different types of multiplexing?
Ans: Multiplexing is of three types. Frequency division multiplexing
and wave division multiplexing is for analog signals and time division
multiplexing is for digital signals.
32.What is FDM?
Ans: In frequency division multiplexing each signal modulates a
different carrier frequency. The modulated carrier combines to form a
new signal that is then sent across the link.
Here multiplexers modulate and combine the signal while
demultiplexers decompose and demodulate.
Guard bands keep the modulating signal from overlapping and
interfering with one another.
32.What is TDM ?
Ans: In TDM digital signals from n devices are interleaved with one
another, forming a frame of data.
Framing bits allow the TDM multiplexer to synchronize properly.
33.What are the different transmission media?
Ans: The transmission media is broadly categorized into two types
i)Guided media(wired)
i)Unguided media(wireless)
34.What are the different Guided Media?
Ans: The media which provides a conduct from one device to another is
called a guided media. These include twisted pair cable, coaxial cable,
and fiber-optic cable.
35.Describe about the different Guided Medias.
Ans: Twisted pair cable consists of two insulated cupper wires twisted
together. It is used in telephone line for voice and data communications.
Coaxial cable has the following layers: a metallic rod-shaped inner
conductor, an insulator covering the rod, a metallic outer conductor
(shield), an insulator covering the shield, and a plastic cover.Coaxial
cable can carry signals of higher frequency ranges than twisted-pair
cable.
Coaxial cable is used in cable TV networks and Ethernet LANs.Fiber-
optic cables are composed of a glass or plastic inner core surrounded by
cladding, all encased in an outer jacket.Fiber-optic cables carry data
signals in the form of light. The signal is propagated along the inner core
by reflection. Its features are noise resistance, low attenuation, and high
bandwidth capabilities.
It is used in backbone networks, cable TV nerworks, and fast Ethernet
networks.
36.What do you mean by wireless communication?
Ans: Unguided media transport electromagnetic waves without using a
physical conductor. This type of communication is referred as wireless
communication.
Here signals are broadcaster through air and thus available to anyone
who has a device to receive it.
37.What do you mean by switching?
Ans: It is a method in which communication devices are connected to
one another efficiently.
A switch is intermediary hardware or software that links devices
together temporarily.
38.What are the switching methods?
Ans: There are three fundamental switching methods: circuit switching,
packet switching,
And message switching.In circuit switching, a direct physical connection
between two devices is created by space division switches, time division
switches or both.
In packet switching data is transmitted using a packet switched network.
Packet switched network is a network in which data are transmitted in
independent units called packets.
39.What are the duties of data link layer?
Ans: Data link layer is responsible for carrying packets from one hop
(computer or router) to the next. The duties of data link layer include
packetizing, adderssing, error control, flow control, medium access
control.
40.What are the types of errors?
Ans: Errors can be categorized as a single-bit error or burst error. A
single bit error has one bit error per data unit. A burst error has two or
more bits errors per data unit.

| Part5
July 26th, 2010
41.What do you mean by redundancy?
Ans: Redundancy is the concept of sending extra bits for use in error
detection. Three common redundancy methods are parity check, cyclic
redundancy check (CRC), and checksum.
42.Define parity check.
Ans: In parity check, a parity bit is added to every data unit so that the
total number of 1s is even (or odd for odd parity).Simple parity check
can detect all single bit errors. It can detect burst errors only if the total
number of errors in each data unit is odd.In two dimensional parity
checks, a block of bits is divided into rows and a redundant row of bits is
added to the whole block.
43. Define cyclic redundancy check (CRC).
Ans: C RC appends a sequence of redundant bits derived from binary
division to the data unit. The divisor in the CRC generator is often
represented as an algebraic polynomial.
44. What is hamming code?
Ans: The hamming code is an error correction method using redundant
bits. The number of bits is a function of the length of the data bits. In
hamming code for a data unit of m bits, we use the formula 2r >= m+r+1
to determine the number of redundant bits needed. By rearranging the
order of bit transmission of the data units, the hamming code can correct
burst errors.
45.What do you mean by flow control?
Ans: It is the regulation of senders data rate so that the receiver buffer
doesnt become overwhelmed.i.e. flow control refers to a set of
procedures used to restrict the amount of data that the sender can send
before waiting for acknowledgement.
46.What do you mean by error control?
Ans: Error control refers primarily to methods of error detection and
retransmission. Anytime an error is detected in an exchange, specified
frames are retransmitted. This process is called automatic repeat request
(ARQ).
47.Define stop and wait ARQ.
Ans: In stop and wait ARQ, the sender sends a frame and waits for an
acknowledgement from the receiver before sending the next frame.
48.Define Go-Back-N ARQ?
Ans: In Go-Back-N ARQ, multiple frames can be in transit at the same
time. If there is an error, retransmission begins with the last
Unacknowledged frame even if subsequent frames arrived correctly.
Duplicate frames are discarded.
49.Define Selective Repeat ARQ?
Ans: In Selective Repeat ARQ, multiple frames can be in transit at the
same time. If there is an error, only unacknowledged frame is
retransmitted.
50.What do you mean by pipelining, is there any pipelining in error
control?
Ans: The process in which a task is often begun before the previous task
has ended is called pipelining. There is no pipelining in stop and wait
ARQ however it does apply in Go-Back-N ARQ and Selective Repeat
ARQ.

| Part6
July 26th, 2010
51.What is HDLC?
Ans: It is a bit oriented data link protocol designed to support both half
duplex and full duplex communication over point to point and multi
point links.HDLC is characterized by their station type,configuration
and their response modes.
52.What do you mean by point to point protocol?
Ans: The point to point protocol was designed to provide a dedicated
line for users who need internet access via a telephone line or a cable TV
connection. Its connection goes through three phases: idle, establishing,
authenticating, networking and terminating.
At data link layer it employs a version of HDLC.
53. What do you mean by point to point protocol stack?
Ans: Point to point protocol uses a stack of other protocol to use the
link, to authenticate the parties involved, and to carry the network layer
data. Three sets of protocols are defined: link control protocol,
Authentication protocol, and network control protocol.
54.What do you mean by line control protocol?
Ans: It is responsible for establishing, maintaining, configuring, and
terminating links.
55.What do you mean by Authentication protocol?
Ans: Authentication means validating the identity of a user who needs to
access a set of resources.
It is of two types
i)Password Authentication Protocol(PAP)
ii)Challenge Handshake Authentication Protocol(CHAP)
PAP is a two step process. The user sends a authentication identification
and a password. The system determines the validity of the Information
sent.CHAP is a three step process. The system sends a value to the user.
The user manipulates the value and sends the result. The system Verifies
the result.
56.What do you mean by network control protocol?
Ans: Network control protocol is a set of protocols to allow the
encapsulation of data coming from network layer protocol that requires
the services of PPP.
57. What do you mean by CSMA?
Ans: To reduce the possibility of collision CSMA method was
developed. In CSMA each station first listen to the medium (Or check
the state of the medium) before sending. It cant eliminate collision.
58.What do you mean by Bluetooth?
Ans: It is a wireless LAN technology designed to connect devices of
different functions such as telephones, notebooks, computers, cameras,
printers and so on. Bluetooth LAN Is an adhoc network that is the
network is formed spontaneously? It is the implementation of protocol
defined by the IEEE 802.15 standard.
59.What is IP address?
Ans: The internet address (IP address) is 32bits that uniquely and
universally defines a host or router on the internet.
The portion of the IP address that identifies the network is called netid.
The portion of the IP address that identifies the host or router on the
network is called hostid.
60.What do you mean by subnetting?
Ans: Subnetting divides one large network into several smaller ones. It
adds an intermediate level of hierarchy in IP addressing.

| Part7
July 26th, 2010
61.What are the advantages of fiber optics cable ?
Ans: The advantages of fiber optics cable over twisted pair cable are
Noise resistance-As they use light so external noise is not a factor. Less
signal attenuation-fiber optics transmission distance is significantly
greater than that of other guided media.Higher bandwidth-It can support
higher bandwidth.
62.What are the disadvantages of fiber optics cable?
Ans: The disadvantages of fiber optics cable over twisted pair cable are
Cost-It is expensive Installation/maintenance-Any roughness or cracking
defuses light and alters the signal Fragility-It is more fragile.
63.What are the propagation type of radio wave ?
Ans: Radio wave propagation is dependent upon frequency.There are
five propagation type.
i)surface propagation
ii)Tropospheric propagation
iii)Ionospheric propagation
iv)Line of sight propagation
v)space propagation
64.What do you mean by Geosynchronous Satellites ?
Ans: Satellite communication uses a satellite in geosynchronous orbit to
relay signals.The Satellite must move at the same speed as the earth so
that it seems to remain fixed above a certain spot..Only one orbit can be
geosynchronous.This orbit occurs at the equatorial plane and is
approximately 22,000 miles from the surface of earth.
65.What are the factors for evaluating the suitability of the media ?
Ans: The factors are cost,throughput,attenuation,Electromagneric
interference(EMI),securtty.
66.What do you mean by medium access control(MAC) sublayer.
Ans: The protocols used to determine who goes next on a multi-access
channel belong to a sublayer of the data link layer is called the multi-
access channel(MAC) sublayer.It is the buttom part of data link layer.
67.What do you mean by ALOHA ?
Ans: It is the method used to solve the channel allocation problem .It is
used for:
i)ground based radio broadcasting
ii)In a network in which uncoordinated users are competing for the use
of single channel.
It is of two types:
1.Pure aloha
2.Slotted aloha
68.What is pure ALOHA?
Ans: It lets users transmit whenever they have data to sent.Collision
may occur but due to feedback property sender can know the status of
message.conflict occur when at one time more bits are transmitted.The
assumptions are :
i)all frame size is same for all user.
ii)collision occur when frames are transmitted simultaneously
iii)indefinite population of no of user.
iv)N=number of frames/frame time
iv)it obeys poissons distribution if N>1 there will be collision 0<1
69.What is slotted ALOHA?
Ans: In this method time is divided into discrete intervals,each interval
corresponding to one frame.It requires user to agree on slot
boundaries.Here data is not send at any time instead it wait for beginning
of the next slot.Thus pure ALOHA is tuened into discrete one.
70.What do you mean by persistent CSMA(carrier sense multiple
access) ?
Ans: When a station has data to send,it first listens to the channel to see
if anyone else is transmitting at that moment.If channel is busy it waits
until the station becomes idle. When collision occurs it waits and then
sends.It sends frame with probability 1 when channel is idle.

| Part8
July 26th, 2010
71.What do you mean by non persistent CSMA(carrier sense
multiple access) ?
Ans: Here if no one else is sending the station begins doing so
itself.However if the channel is already in use,the station doest
continuously sense it rather it waits for a random period of time and then
repeats.It leads better channel utilization but longer delay.
72.What do you mean by p persistent CSMA(carrier sense multiple
access) ?
Ans: It applies to slotted channels.when a station becomes ready to
send,it senses the channel.If it is idle it transmits with a probability
P,with a probability Q=P-1
It defers until the next slot.If that slot is also idle,it either transmits or
defers again with probability P and Q.The process is repeated until either
the frame has been transmitted or another station begins transmitting.
73.What is FDDI?
Ans: It is high performance fiber optic token ring LAN running at
100Mbps over distance up 1000 stations.FDDI access is limited by
time.A FDDI cabling consist of two fiber rings.
i)one transmitting clockwise
ii)one transmitting counterclockwise
74.What is Firewalls?
Ans: It is an electronic downbridge which is used to enhance the
security of a network. Its configuration has two components.
i)Two routers
ii)Application gateway
the packets traveling through the LAN are inspected here and packets
meeting certain criteria are forwarded and others are dropped.
75.What is Repeaters ?
Ans: A receiver receives a signal before it becomes too weak or
corrupted,regenerates the original bit pattern,and puts the refreshed copy
back onto the link.It operates on phycal layer of OSI model.
76.What is Bridges?
Ans: They divide large network into smaller components.They can relay
frames between two originally separated LANs.They provide security
through partitioning traffic.They operate on phycal and data link layer of
OSI model.
77.What is Routers ?
Ans: Router relay packets among multiple interconnected
networks.They receive packet from one connected network and pass it to
another network.They have access to network layer addresses and
certain software that enables them to determine which path is best for
transmission among several paths.They operate on phycal,data link and
network layer of OSI model.
78.What is Gateway ?
Ans: It is a protocol converter.A gateway can accept a packet formatted
for one protocol and convert it to a packet formatted for another
protocol.It operates on all the seven layers of OSI model.
79.What do you mean by Data Terminal Equipment(DTE) ?
Ans: It is any device that is source of or destination for binary digital
data.At phycal layer it can be a terminal computer. They generate or
consume information.
80.What do you mean by Data Terminating Equipment (DCE) ?
Ans: Data circuit terminating equipment includes any functional unit
that transmit or receives data in the form of an analog or digital signal
through a network.DTE generates digital data and passes them to a
DCE ,the DCE converts the data to a form acceptable to the transmission
media and sends the converted signal to another DCE on the network.

| Part9
July 26th, 2010
81.What do you mean by protocol stack ?
Ans: The list of protocols used by certain system ,one protocol per layer
is called protocol stack.
82.What do you mean by peer ?
Ans: Entities comprising the corresponding layers on different machines
are called peers.It may be
hardware device.
processes
human being
peers communicate by using protocol.
83.What do you mean by broadcasting ?
Ans: Broadcast system allow addressing a packet to all destination by
using a special code in address field.when packet is transmitted it is
received and processed by every machine on the network.
84.What are the advantages of broadcast network.
Ans:
a single communication channel is shared by all computers.
packets are transmitted and received by all the computer.
address field is attached to whom it is intended.
multicasting is used in network.
85.What do you mean by point to point network?
Ans: Point to point network consist of many connections between
individual pair of machines.large networks are point to point.Routing
algorithm plays an important in point to point network.It uses stored ad
forword technique.It is a packet switching network.
86.What are the design issue of layers ?
Ans: The design issue of layer are
Addressing technique.ie source and destination address
Types of communication
Error control
Order of message.
Speed matching
Multiplexing and demultiplexing.
87.What are the protocols in application layer ?
Ans: The protocols defined in application layer are
TELNET
FTP
SMTP
DNS
88.What are the protocols in transport layer ?
Ans: The protocols defined in transport layer are
TCP
UDP
89.Define TCP ?
Ans: It is connection oriented protocol.It consist byte streams
oeiginating on one machine to be delivered without error on any other
machine in the network.while transmitting it fragments the stream to
discrete messages and passes to interner layer.At the destination it
reassembles the messages into output stream.
90.Define UDP ?
Ans: It is unreliable connectionless protocol.It is used for one-
shot,client-server type,requesr-reply queries and applications in which
prompt delivery is required than accuracy.

| Part10
July 26th, 2010
91.Define IP ?
Ans: Internetwork protocol (IP) is the transmission mechanism used by
TCP/IP protocol.It is an unreliable and connectionless datagram
protocol.It provides no error checking and tracking.
92.What do you mean by client server model ?
Ans: In client server model ,the client runs a program to request a
service and the server runs a program to provide the service.These two
programs communicate with each other. One server program can provide
services to many client programs.
93.What are the information that a computer attached to a TCP/IP
internet must possesses ?
Ans: Each computer attached to TCP/IP must possesses the following
information
Its IP addesss
Its subnet mask
The IP addesss of the router.
The Ip address of the name server.
94.What is domain name system(DNS)?
Ans: Domain Name System (DNS )is a client server application that
identifies each host on the internet with a unique user friendly name.
95.What is TELNET ?
Ans: TELNET is a client server application that allows a user to log on
to a remote machine,giving the user access to the remote system.
TELNET is an abbreviation of terminal Network.
96.What do you mean by local login and remote login ?
Ans: When a user logs into a local time-sharing system ,it is called local
login. When a user wants to access an application program or utility
located on a remote machine,he or she performs remote login.
97.What is Network Virtual Terminal ?
Ans: A universal interface provided by TELNET is called Network
Virtual Terminal(NVT) character set.Via this interface TELNET
translates characters (data or command) that come from local terminal
into NVT form and delivers them to the network.
98.What do you mean by Simple Mail Transfer Protocol ?
Ans: The TCP/IP protocol that supports electronic mail on the internet is
called Simple Mail Transfer Protocol.SMTP provides for mail exchange
between users on the same or different computer and supports Sending a
single message to one or more recipient Sending message that include
text, voice,video,or graphics.Sending message to users on network
outside the internet.
99.What is Hypertext Transfer Protocol(HTTP) ?
Ans: It is the main protocol used to access data on the World Wide
Web .the protol transfers data in the form of plain
text,hypertext,audio,video,and so on. It is so called because its efficiency
allows its use in a hypertext environment where there are rapid jumps
from one document to another.
100.What is URL ?
Ans: It is a standard for specifying any kind of information on the World
Wide Web.
101. What is World Wide Web ?
Ans: World Wide Web is a repository of information spread all over the
world and linked together.It is a unique combination of
flexibility,portability,and user-friendly features .The World Wide Web
today is a distributed client-server service,in which a client using a
browser can access a service using a server.The service provided is
distributed over many locations called web sites.
102.What is HTML ?
Ans: Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) is a language for creating
static web pages

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