Sample questions for CS 1011 Midterm 1 (Spring 2003).

NOTE: the actual midterm will have 30 six point multiple choice questions
and nine 15-20 point short answer questions.  The questions below are samples
of questions you might see on the midterm.


MULTIPLE CHOICE (6 points each) - circle the LETTER of the single BEST answer:

1. The term computer, as used today, commonly refers to __________.

    (a) An electronic device operating under a set of instructions that can
        receive, process, and produce data
    (b) Any device involving chips and circuits
    (c) A person performing a series of repetitive calculations
    (d) A device capable of performing complex calculations with storage
        capabilities
    (e) A mechanism used to control complex machinery and devices

2. John von Neumann is credited with the stored program concept which involves
   __________.

    (a) Mechanisms for writing programs to punch cards
    (b) Mechanisms for writing programs to disk drives
    (c) Treating programs and data as things that can be stored in memory
    (d) Storing programs in a special type of memory
    (e) Storing data in a special type of memory

3. Ada Lovelace is often referred to as __________.

    (a) The first programmer
    (b) The first computer scientist
    (c) The inventor of the Ada programming language
    (d) The person who coined the term "Bug"
    (e) None of these

4. Application software _________ .

    (a) Is the same thing as system software.
    (b) Is software for filling out applications.
    (c) Is software that performs specific tasks for the user
    (d) Includes database software, word processing, and CAD software.
    (e) (c) and (d)

5. The system clock is used to __________.

    (a) Report the time to users
    (b) Measure how many instructions are being executed
    (c) Control the cycles of the CPU
    (d) Synchronize the components of a computer
    (e) Remember the time zone and daylight savings information

6. Which of the following is NOT an input device?
   keyboard?

    (a) A keyboard
    (b) A mouse
    (c) A joystick
    (d) A microphone
    (e) All of these are input devices

7. Speech recognition software allows a computer to __________.

    (a) Distinguish words spoken by the user
    (b) Make speeches to the user
    (c) Critique the speeches of its user
    (d) Input sounds made by the user
    (e) None of these

8. A spreadsheet _____________ .

    (a) Represents data the way we would represent data on a piece of paper
    (b) Is used to store and manage data and to answer queries about that data
    (c) Stores data in the form of cells identified by rows and columns
    (d) Is used to paint pictures
    (e) All of the above

SHORT ANSWER (15-20 points each) - briefly answer the following:

9. Why is computer literacy important?  How does this notion relate to the
   idea of a digital divide?



10. The history of computers can be broken down into four "generations" based
    on the technology used for the components of the CPU.  List the four
    generations in order by the component that characterized that generation.



11. What is a font?  What are some of the aspects that define a font?  How
    do we use a font?



12. What is a bus in a computer system?  How does the bus' width relate to
    the CPU's word size?



13. What is a bar code?  How does a bar code reader read a bar code?