Created 06/19/03; edited: 02/17/08, 02/27/11

QUIZ on Chapter 5

Instructions: For each question, choose the single best answer. Make your choice by clicking on its button. You can change your answers at any time. When the quiz is graded, the correct answers will appear with each question.


1.   How much data does one byte correspond to?

A.   One character.
B.   Two characters.
C.   One floating point number.
D.   One machine instruction.

2.   What is the NUL byte?

A.   a byte that contains all zeros.
B.   a byte that contains all ones.
C.   a byte that contains no bits.
D.   a byte that contains any illegal pattern.

3.   What is a control character?

A.   A byte that contains an illegal pattern.
B.   The signal that shifts the carriage from lower case to upper case.
C.   A byte pattern that originally was intended to ask for a mechanical action of an output device.
D.   Any character that takes up more than one byte.

4.   What is the name of the convention that says how bit patterns in a byte represent characters?

A.   ASCII
B.   BCD
C.   CODEX
D.   DOS

5.   If characters are arranged in numeric order, what is the first printable character?

A.   A
B.   0
C.   @
D.   space

6.   What type of file contains only bytes that correspond to printable characters and a small number of control characters?

A.   object
B.   word
C.   unix
D.   text

7.   What do people sometimes call a file that contains bytes that can potentially hold any bit pattern?

A.   ascii file
B.   binary file
C.   code file
D.   text file

8.   What do the bit patterns in executable files represent?

A.   assembly language
B.   machine instructions
C.   object code
D.   backup data

9.   Could the bit patterns used to represent characters represent other things in other contexts?

A.   Yes - there is no inherent meaning in any bit pattern.
B.   Yes - the codes for characters are different for each type of machine language.
C.   No - you can tell by looking at a bit pattern that it represents a character.
D.   No - the meaning of a bit pattern does not depend on context.

10.   Does the hard disk keep track of which files are ASCII and which are binary?

A.   Yes - separate parts of the disk are used for each.
B.   Yes - different types of files are stored in different ways.
C.   No - this is what the disk controller does.
D.   No - the hard disk and controller just deliver and store bit patterns. It is up to the software of the system to keep track of the context to use with the patterns.
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