UNIVERSITY EXAMINATIONS: 2010/2011
FIRST YEAR EXAMINATION FOR THE DEGREE OF BACHELOR OF
SCIENCE IN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
BIT 1106: COMPUTER ORGANIZATION AND ARCHITECTURE
DATE: AUGUST 2011 TIME: 2 HOURS
INSTRUCTIONS: Answer question ONE and any other TWO questions
Question One (30 Marks)
a) Define the following computer architecture concepts;
i) Register (2 Marks)
ii) Pipelining (2 Marks)
iii) Transistor (2 Marks)
b) Discuss three major features of third-generation computers (6 Marks)
c) Highlight four methods of computer file organization (4 Marks)
d) i) Identify four reasons why a memory upgrade may be necessary (4 Marks)
ii) Discuss two issues that must be considered when installing a processor (4 Marks)
e) Discuss three major types of computer viruses (6 Marks)
Question Two (20 Marks)
a) Distinguish between the following electrical power issues citing their causes;
i) Blackout (2 Marks)
ii) Brownout (2 Marks)
iii) Spike (2 Marks)
b) i) Processor chip manufacturers are increasingly developing techniques to enhance
performance and reliability. Discuss any three of these techniques (6 Marks)
ii) Identify four functions of the system circuitry board (4 Marks)
c) Identify two major categories of printers listing one example of each (4 Marks)
Question Three (20 Marks)
a) i) Define the term ‘system bus’ (2 Marks)
ii) List and briefly describe three system buses (6 Marks)
b) Discuss four hard drive considerations when upgrading a computer (8 Marks)
c) Identify four differences between the mainframe and the super computer (4 Marks)
Question Four (20 Marks)
a) Identify the use of the following batch file management commands:
i) Regedit (2 Marks)
ii) Chkdsk (2 Marks)
iii)Defrag (2 Marks)
b) Convert the following denary numbers into their binary equivalents
i) 4710
ii) 16210 (4 Marks)
c) Convert the following hexadecimal numbers into their denary equivalents:
i) 210216
ii) 9F16 (4 Marks)
d) Perform the following binary arithmetic and then convert the result into denary:
i) 0 1 1 0 1 0 1 12 ii) 0 1 0 1 1 1 0 12
0 0 0 1 1 0 1 1 2 + 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 12 + (6 Marks)
Question Five (20 Marks)
a) i) Define the term ‘computer program’ (2 Marks)
ii) List any four programming languages that are in use today (2 Marks)
b) i) Distinguish between RAM and ROM (2 Marks)
ii) Highlight any four types of optical disks (8 Marks)
c) Discuss the ‘fetch-execute’ instruction cycle, citing the registers memory and control unit
(6 Marks)
