CPSC 120: Test #1 Topics

The test covers Chapters 1 & 2 in the text plus all class notes, handouts and lab materials. It would be a good idea to do the self-review questions and exercises at the end of each chapter.

General Concepts

• Operating Systems (Lab 0 Handouts plus class notes)
  • Know what an operating system is
  • Know terminology associated with operating systems (shell, kernel, for example)
  • Know some of the main tasks of an operating system
  • Understand the file structure of the Unix (Linux) operating system --- the tree-like organization, the absolute (full) and relative pathnames for files, shorthand notation for certain files
  • Understand the idea of file permissions -- what they are, what they mean, how you can find out the permissions in Linux
  • Know the basic Linux shell commands we have used
• Compilers, Interpreters and Languages (Chapter 1 plus class notes and lab handouts)
  • Know the programming language hierarchy
  • Know what compilers and interpreters are and what each does
  • Know the difference between the source file and the file containing bytecode (and the role of each in the compilation process); know the difference between bytecode and machine code
  • Know the command we use in this course to compile, know what file is created as a result of this command (its type and what it contains); know the command we use to run a Java application; know the difference between running an application and running an applet
• Hardware (Chapter 1 plus class notes plus Hardware Review Web Page)
  • Know the 5 hardware components -- the role of each in the computer system plus associated terminology (including the sub-components within the CPU)
  • Understand the role of controllers and the bus
  • Understand the differences between main and auxiliary memory
  • Know the various units of storage (bit, byte, KB, etc.) and how much data each would hold.
  • Know how many unique items an n bit code can represent.
  • Understand how the Control Unit works to control the execution of instructions (be sure to understand the fetch-decode-execute cycle)
  • Understand the role of the clock in executing instructions; know the terminology (and its meaning) for measuring clock speed (MHz and GHz for example)
  • Understand what is meant by the von Neumann architecture and what the stored program concept is (which is a fundamental feature of the von Neumann architecture)
• Networking
  • Understand what a network is
  • Know basic network terminology: server (plus specific types such as file server or terminal server), LAN, WAN, packet, protocol, TCP/IP, Internet (IP) address, domain name, Web, hypertext, HTML, browser, URL

Java and Programming Concepts (notes, lab, and the text)

• General Programming Concepts
  • Problem solving steps
  • Syntax versus semantics
  • Comments/Documentation
  • Use of White Space
  • Levels of programming languages (hierarchy)
  • Types of errors in programming (syntax or compile-time, run time, logic)
• Basic Programming Constructs
  • Identifiers -- what one is, syntax rules for identifiers in Java
  • Variable declarations
  • Declaration of named constants (final) & the reason for using these
  • Primitive Data types in Java
  • String and numeric (int, double, float) literals -- syntax
  • Data conversion - automatic widening conversions, explicit narrowing conversions through type casting
  • Printing
  • Assignment Statements - syntax and how one is executed
  • Expressions (including the arithmetic operators and the precedence and associativity rules) - be able to write expressions for computations; be able to evaluate expressions exactly as the computer would and show the results.
• Objects, Classes, and Methods
  • Be able to distinguish between an object and a class
  • Be able to declare a variable to be a reference to an object
  • Be able to instantiate an object with the new operator; understand that this invokes a constructor method for the class
  • Understand the use of the dot operator to invoke (call) a method
  • Be able to look at the signature of a method and from that determine how to invoke the method
  • Know how one invokes a static (class) method
  • Know the basics of using the String class, the Math class, the Keyboard class, and the Random class (be able to write an expression to generate a random number in a given range).
• Syntax and Semantics
  • Be able to find syntax errors in a Java program
  • Be able to describe the semantics of statements we have studied (for example, what does the computer do with a variable declaration, what is the relationship between memory and a variable declaration, how is an assignment statement executed, how are expressions evaluated?)
  • Be able to trace the execution of a program (show what it would do in a step by step manner)
• Know the difference between...
  • an applet and an application
  • an expression and a statement
  • a filename and a shell command