Memory: Important Questions

Digital Principles and Computer Organization:

Chapter 11: Memory

Important Questions

1. Define a memory cell. Give an example.

2. Define a 'memory location' and a 'cell'.

3. Write a short note on semiconductor memories.

4. State various characteristics of memory devices and explain in brief any two.

5. Distinguish between volatile and non–volatile memories.

6. Explain the key characteristics of computer memory systems in details.

7. Explain the various characteristics of memory system.

8. Classify memories on the basic of principle of operation, physical characteristics, mode of access and fabrication technology.

9. Give the classification of semiconductor memories.

10. Which memory is called volatile? Why?

11. Explain static memory.

12. Give the classification of primary memory.

13. Explain the necessity of memory hierarchy. Write a note on memory hierarchy.

14. Draw different memory address layouts and brief about the technique used to increase the a rate of fetching words from the main memory.

15. Draw the memory hierarchy in a typical computer system.

16. Define registers in the context of computer memory.

17. Why are registers considered the fastest type of memory in a computer system?

18. List any four characteristics of registers.

19. Differentiate between general–purpose and special–purpose registers.

20. What are the types of RAMs? Explain them in detail.

21. Describe the organization of a typical RAM chip.

22. Write notes on static memories.

23. Describe the working principle of RAM.

24. Draw a CMOS memory cell and explain its function.

25. Differentiate DRAM and SRAM.

26. Write note on ROM technologies.

27. Give the features of a ROM cell.

28. Explain various types of ROMs.

29. Define secondary storage and give two examples.

30. Mention two characteristics of secondary storage.

31. Explain the structure of a Hard Disk Drive (HDD) with a labeled diagram.

32. Describe the working of an HDD, including the concepts of seek time and rotational latency.

33. What are tracks and sectors in a hard disk ?

34. What is rotational latency in an HDD ?

35. Discuss the advantages and limitations of HDDs.

36. Explain the structure of an SSD and the role of its main components.

37. What type of memory is used in SSDs ?

38. Explain how data is written, read, and erased in an SSD.

39. Name two types of interface ports used in SSDs.

40. Discuss the advantages and limitations of SSDs.

41. Compare HDD and SSD under the following features: Speed, durability, noise, and cost.

42. Describe the applications of HDDs and SSDs in modern computing systems.

43. What is cache memory? Why is it implemented?

44. Explain the need for cache memory.

45. Explain the block diagram of cache memory system.

46. What is program locality?

47. Define locality of reference. What are its types?

48. Define the terms: Spatial locality and temporal locality.

49. Explain the concept of block fetch.

50. Discuss the various mapping techniques used in cache memories.

51. What is a mapping function? What are the ways the cache can be mapped?

52. Explain about direct mapping in cache memory.

53. Explain about associative mapping in cache memory.

54.. Explain about set associative mapping in cache memory.

55. Write notes on set associative mapping of cache.

56. Explain different types of mapping functions in cache memory.

57. Explain the various mapping techniques associated with cache memories.

58. Explain the various cache replacement policies in the cache memory.

59. Explain mapping functions in cache memory to determine how memory blocks are placed in cache.

60. Explain the different mapping functions that can be applied on cache memories in detail.

61. Define NUMA.

62. Explain the memory bottleneck problem in UMA and why NUMA was developed.

63. What is the main difference between UMA and NUMA?

64. Describe the NUMA architecture, including local and remote memory access, with a labeled diagram.

65. What is a NUMA Node ?

66. Define local memory access in NUMA.

67. Define remote memory access in NUMA.

68. Explain the working of NUMA in detail.

69. What is the role of interconnects in a NUMA system?

70. Discuss the implications of NUMA for system performance.

71. Why is memory access non–uniform in NUMA?

72. What does "NUMA–aware" mean in modern operating systems ?

73. Explain the advantages and limitations of NUMA.

74. Compare NUMA with UMA.

75. What is DMA ?

76. State the purpose of DMA ?

77. Explain the need for error detection and correction in digital communication and computer memory systems.

78. Describe how parity bits are used for error detection in data transmission.

79. Explain the principle of hamming code for single error correction with a neat example.

80. Construct the hamming (7,4) code for the data word 1011 and show the calculation of parity bits. 5. Describe the method of detecting and correcting a single–bit error using hamming code.

81. Explain how hamming code can be extended for double error detection.

82. List and explain the four possible cases of errors in Single Error Correction and Double Error Detection (SECDED) hamming code.

83. Write short notes on:

a) Parity bit,

b) Syndrome,

c) Check bits in hamming code.