UNIVERSITY EXAMINATIONS: 2013/2014
ORDINARY EXAMINATION FOR THE BACHELOR OF SCIENCE
IN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
BIT 1109 BBIT 102 BIT 100 COMPUTER ORGANISATION AND
APPLICATIONS
COMPUTER APPLICATIONS/ COMPUTER ORGANISATION AND
ARCHITECTURE
DATE: APRIL, 2014 TIME: 2 HOURS
INSTRUCTIONS: Answer Question ONE and any other TWO
QUESTION ONE
a) Identify the distinctive technologies that are associated with computer hardware
(8 Marks)
b) Why is the CPU considered the heart of a computer and components that define
its functionality (5 Marks)
c) What are the four reasons why bar-code reader would be preferred for a
supermarket outlet (4 Marks)
d) Identify five major functions of the operating system (5 Marks)
e) What are the three disadvantages of custom-developed application (3 Marks)
f) What are the FIVE features of a user-friendly software (5 Marks)
QUESTION TWO
a) Distinguish between CISC and RISC architectures (8 Marks)
b) Differentiate between computer organization and computer architecture (4 Marks)
c) Define the terms
i) Pipelining (2 Marks)
ii) Multitasking (2 Marks)
iii) Multiprocessing (2 Marks)
d) State the Moore’s law (2 Marks)
QUESTION THREE
a) In selecting software applications tough decisions ought to be made between a
bespoke or a off-the-shelf. Identify TEN factors that you will consider in your
evaluation (10 Marks)
b) Define the term open source software (2 Marks)
c) State the reasons why you would select linux as an operating system other than
Microsoft windows (5 Marks)
d) What do the following commands execute (3 Marks)
i) Cls
ii) Exit
iii) prompt
QUESTION FOUR
a) Identify suitable applications for the following within Microsoft products and
other software houses for each
b) Distinguish between the following and give appropriate examples
i) Interpreter and Compiler (4 Marks)
ii) 3GL and 4GL (4 Marks)
iii) Wordprocessor (4 Marks)
QUESTION FIVE
a) Define a
i) network topology (1 Mark)
ii) Trojan horse (1 Mark)
iii) Word length (1 Mark)
b) State FIVE benefits of a database management systems (5 Marks)
c) Perform the following arithmetic on octal
i) 33.26 + 55.74 (3 Marks)
ii) 33 x 22 (3 Marks)
iii) 63366-17777 (3 Marks)
d) Calculate the capacity of a magnetic tape in gigabytes with the following
specifications :6000 feet in length, 6 tracks and 512 bytes per inch per track
(3 Marks)
