IT 221
Quiz #1
Research
Topics
Questions:
A. Research
the size of operating system software by finding the amount of secondary
storage (disk) space required of the same operating system or different
operating systems. If their sizes are substantially different, explain why that
may be the case, such as platform issues, features, etc. Cite your sources.
B. Consult current
literature to research file-naming conventions for four different operating
systems. Note the acceptable range of characters, maximum length, case
sensitivity, etc. Give example of both acceptable and unacceptable filenames.
For extra credit, how File Managers for those operating system shorten long
filenames in their internal lists to make them easier to manipulate. Cite your
sources.
Answers:
A.
A Windows 7 Operating System Requires 16 GB
of Hard Disk space for (32-bit) and 20 GB for (64-bit).
A Windows 8 Operating System Requires 16 GB
of Hard Disk space for (32-bit) and 20 GB for (64-bit) which has the same
requirements as Windows 7 for the Hard Disk space.
Windows XP Professional 1.5 GB or higher Hard disk space
is needed, additional 661 MB for Dervice Pack 1 and 1a additional 1.8 GB for
Service Pack 2 and additional 900 MB for Service pack 3.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_XP
B.
Mac OS X allows you to name your files with up to 255
characters, including spaces and punctuation. The only illegal character for
file and folder names in Mac OS X is the colon “:” and in some applications
slashes (/) in naming a file. File names cannot start with a dot ".".
Sources: http://newitsc1405.blogspot.com/2011/10/chapter-8-file-naming-conventions.html
Exercises
Questions:
1. Explain
in your words why file deallocation is important and what would happen if it
did not occur on a regular basis.
2. Describe how the File Manager
allocates a file to a single user. List steps that you think would be followed
and explain your reasoning.
3. Is
device independence important to the file manager? Why or why not? Describe the
consequences if that were not the case.
4. Do you
think file retrieval is different on a menu-driven system and a command-driven
system? Explain your answer and describe any differences between two. Give an
example of when each would be preferred over the other.
5. Imagine one real-life example of each:
multi-file volume and a multi-volume file. Include a description of the media
used for storage and a general description of the data in the file.
6. As
described in this chapter, files can be formatted with fixed-length fields or
variable-length fields. In your opinion, would it be feasible to combine both
formats in a single disk? Explain the reasons for your answer.
7. Explain
why it’s difficult to support direct access to files with variable-length
records. Suggest a method for handling this type of file if direct access is
required.
8. Give an
example of the names of three files from your own computer that do not reside
at the root or master directory. For each file, list both the relative filename
and its complete filename.
Answers:
1. File deallocation is important
because it is how to remove
from the set of resources put aside for a particular user or purpose. It can cause a file problem when it will not occur on a
regular basis.
2. File manager allocates a
file to a sigle user through read, write, create delete and modify.
3. Device independence is important to
the File manager because it is the capability of a program, operating system
or programming language to work on a varity of computers or peripherals,
despite their electronic variation.
4. File retrieval is different on a menu-driven
system and a command-driven system because File retrieval is the act or process of retrieving file while menu-driven
system is an interactive computer system in which
the operator requests the processing to be performed by making selections from
a series of menus and command-driven system is a program that
accepts commands as typed-in phrases. It is usually harder to learn, but may
offer more flexibility than a menu-driven program. Once learned, command-driven
programs may be faster to use, because the user can state a request succinctly.
5.One real-life example of Multi-file volume is texting when you are going
to send your message to more than two recepients because it contains many files in a single file which is compressed to a
smaller size. One example of multi-volume file is a more than one CD for a product. The
first example splits a large product distribution of a theoretical 2.1GB into 1
root installer and 3 more installers of 700 MB each (to fit on 700 MB compact
disks. The second example is one installer which copies files from multiple
disks onto the users' hard drive.
6. Yes they have the same way
in formatting files.
7. It is difficult
because to support direct access because it depends on what data is stored in
the field. Tape storage is useful to introduce basic structures. Tape
is simple in structure, easy to understand, and a good starting point for the
study of fixed-length records with fixed-length fields. This combination is by
far the most frequently used file structure, both in file systems and in
database management systems.
8.
