CPSC 461: Copyright © 2002 Katrin Becker 1998-2002 Last Modified October 21, 2001 02:19 PM

FILE ANATOMY REVIEW QUESTIONS

SHORT ANSWER QUESTIONS

1. [ 4 marks ] Distinguish between move mode and locate mode methods of buffering I/O and name one advantage of each.
2. [ 5 marks ] Compare disk vs. RAM in terms of storage/access.
3. [ 2 marks ] _______________ fragmentation from the perspective of a file is the same thing as _______________ fragmentation from the file system's point of view.
4. [ 2 marks ] What is the main drawback to using a special character to mark the end of a file?
5. [ 2 marks ] What kind of records are NOT bound?
6. [ 5 marks ] How does UNIX view files and how does this affect file access?
7. [ 3 marks ] How can compaction be used with fixed length record files?
8. [ 4 marks ] What is the best placement strategy to use for re-using entries in the free-list of a fixed-length record file? Why?
9. [ 4 marks ] Distinguish between compaction and compression.

LONG QUESTIONS

1. [ 10 marks ] Compare and contrast move mode vs locate mode for buffering I/O. { limited credit will be given to information taken from the course notes or text book - this must be in your own words with more than just a re-wording of the given notes }

CPSC 461: Copyright © 2002 Katrin Becker 1998-2002 Last Modified October 21, 2001 02:19 PM