Question Bank for the Mid-Term Exams
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GSAS 222

Question Bank for the Mid-Term Exams

Short-Answer Questions

1. What does online mean?

2. What is the difference between system software and application software?

3. Briefly define cyberspace.

4. What is the difference between software and hardware?

5. What is multimedia?

6. What is the difference between microcomputers and supercomputers?

7. What is the function of RAM?

8. What does downloading mean?

9. What is meant by connectivity?

10. Describe some ways that information technology can be used to help people find jobs and to

help jobs find people.

11. Compare the use of email to the use of the telephone and of conventional letters sent via the

postal system. Which kinds of communications are best suited for which medium?

12. What is the basic meaning of cloud computing?

II.

13. Name three methods of data transmission that are faster than a dial-up connection.

14. What is netiquette, and why is it important?

15. Briefly define bandwidth.

16. Many web documents are “linked.” What does that mean?

17. Compare and contrast a cable modem service to a DSL service.

18. Explain the basics of how the Internet works.

19. Briefly explain TCP/IP..

20. What’s the difference between a dynamic IP address and a static IP address?

21. State your answer to a person who asks you the question, “Who owns the Internet?”

22. How does the Internet affect your life?

III.

23. Briefly define booting.

24. What is the difference between a command-driven interface and a graphical user interface

(GUI)?

25. Why can’t you run your computer without system software?

26. Why is multitasking useful?

27. What is a device driver?

28. What is a utility program?

29. What are the three components of system software? What is the basic function of each?

30. What is open-source software?

31. What are the following types of application software used for?

a. project management software

2

b. desktop-publishing software

c. database software

d. spreadsheet software

e. word processing software

32. Explain what computer-aided design (CAD) programs do.

IV

33. What is ASCII, and what do the letters stand for?

34. Why should measures of capacity matter to computer users?

35. What’s the difference between RAM and ROM?

36. What is the significance of the term gigahertz?

37. What is a motherboard? Name at least four components of a motherboard.

38. What are the most convenient forms of backup storage? Why?

39. Why is it important for your computer to be expandable?

40. What is nanotechnology?

41. What are the uses of a surge protector, voltage regulator, and UPS, and why are these devices

important?

42. Explain the binary system.

43. What is Unicode?

V.

44. What is a common use of dumb terminals?

45. What characteristics determine the clarity of a computer screen?

46. Describe two situations in which scanning is useful.

47. What is source data entry?

48. What is pixel short for? What is a pixel?

49. Discuss the different types of printers and their features.

50. What is OCR used for?

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Long Answer Questions

1. Do you wish there was an invention to make your life easier or better? Describe it. What would

it do for you? Come up with ideas on how that device may be constructed.

2. From what you’ve read and what you have experienced and/or observed in your life, do you

have a positive, negative, or impartial view of our rapidly converging technological society?

Why? Reevaluate your answers as you work through the course.

3. Computers are almost everywhere, and they affect most walks of life—business, education,

government, military, hobbies, shopping, socializing, research, and so on. What aspects of your

life can you think of that still seem relatively unaffected by computers and technology? Is this a

good thing or a bad thing, and is it likely to last? What aspects of your life have been the most

conspicuously affected by technology? Has anything been made worse or harder in your life by

the advance of computers? What about things that have been made better or easier?

4. Have you become extremely dependent on some technologies? Some people no longer write

down telephone numbers anywhere; instead, they simply program them into their cellphones.

Some people feel helpless in a foreign country unless they have a calculator in hand to compute

currency conversions. Many people rely on their email archive or cellphone to hold essential

information, such as addresses and appointments. When any of these technologies fails us, we

can feel lost.

5. Make a list of technologies that have become indispensable to your life. Imagine the

consequences if any of these technologies should fail you. What can you do to protect yourself

against such failure?

6. Write down what you think are the advantages and disadvantages of social networking (for

example, Facebook).

7. It has been said that the computer is a “meta medium” because it can simulate (behave as) any

other medium. Thus a computer can present text that can be read from virtual “pages” as if it

were a book; it can let you compose and print text as if it were a typewriter; it can play music

like an MP3 player; it can display video as if it were a television set; it can make telephone calls

as if it were a telephone; it can let you “draw” and “paint”; it can be programmed to serve as an

answering machine; and so forth.

8. Imagine a future in which digital electronic devices have replaced all the things they can

emulate. What benefits to your life can you see in such a future? What things might be worse?

What dangers can you see? Do you think this kind of radical convergence is likely? If so, how

long do you think it will take?

9. Distance learning uses electronic links to extend college campuses to people who otherwise

would not be able to take college courses. Are you, or is someone you know, involved in

distance learning? If so, research the system’s components and uses. What hardware and

software do students need in order to communicate with the instructor and classmates? What

courses are offered? Discuss the pros and cons of distance learning compared to classroom-

based learning.

10. As more and more homes get high-speed broadband Internet connections, the flow of data will

become exponentially faster and will open up many new possibilities for sharing large files such

as video. What types of interactive services can you envision for the future?

11. Draw a diagram of what happens when you log onto your ISP; include all the connections you

think possible for your situation.

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12. How do the latest smartphones incorporate the Internet into their functions? What functions

could be improved? Have any of these extra functions affected your daily life?

13. Imagine that a relative or friend wants to start using the Internet for the first time. You want to

help this beginner get started, but you need to be careful not to get carried away and bombard

him or her with more information than he or she can use. What three or four things would you

tell and show this person first? What things do you think will be hardest for him or her to

master? How do you think using the Internet is likely to change this person’s life?

14. How do you think you will obtain software for your computer in the future? Explain your

answer.

15. Design your own handheld. Draw what your ideal handheld would look like, and draw screens of

what your user interface would look like. Describe the key features of your handheld.

16. What sorts of tasks do operating systems not do that you would like them to do?

17. If you were in the market for a new microcomputer today, what application software would you

want to use on it? Why? What are some “dream” applications that you would like that have not

yet been developed?

18. Several websites include libraries of shareware programs. Visit the www.5star-shareware.com

site, and identify three shareware programs that interest you. State the name of each program,

the operating system it runs on, and its capabilities. Also, describe the contribution you must

make to receive technical support. What about freeware? Check out www.freewarehome.com.

19. How do you think you could use desktop publishing at home? For personal items? Family

occasions? Holidays? What else? What hardware and software would you have to buy?

20. Think of three new ways that software companies could prevent people from pirating their

software.

21. What is your favorite application software program of all? Why?

22. Storing humans: If the human genome is 800 million bytes (according to Raymond Kurzweil),

how many humans could you fit on a 120-GB hard drive?

23. Paperless office is a term that has been around for some time. However, the paperless office has

not yet been achieved. Do you think the paperless office is a good idea? Do you think it’s

possible? Why do you think it has not yet been achieved?

24. Compare and contrast the pros and cons of different types of monitors. Decide which one is best

for you, and explain why.

25. Biometrics: Which form of biometric technology do you prefer for identification purposes:

fingerprints, voice intonation, facial characteristics, or retinal identification? Which do you think

will become most commonly used in the future?

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