Parallel Computing: Architectures, Advantages, and Applications

Question 1

Which key advantage makes SIMD (Single Instruction Multiple Data) architecture more suitable for data-parallel applications compared to MIMD (Multiple Instruction Multiple Data) architecture?

Accepted Answer

SIMD efficiently executes data-parallel operations by performing the same instruction on multiple data elements simultaneously.

Answer

SIMD architectures consume less energy than MIMD architectures for data-parallel tasks.

Answer

SIMD architectures are easier to program than MIMD architectures, making them more suitable for data-parallel applications.

Answer

SIMD architectures are inherently more scalable than MIMD architectures for data-parallel applications.

Question 2

What defines a Multiple Instruction Multiple Data (MIMD) architecture?

Accepted Answer

Many streams of instructions, many streams of data

Answer

One stream of instructions, many streams of data

Answer

Access to shared memory

Answer

Vector processing

Question 3

According to Flynn's taxonomy, which of the following is not a fundamental type of parallel computing architecture?

Accepted Answer

Load balancing

Answer

Single Instruction Multiple Data (SIMD)

Answer

Multiple Instruction Multiple Data (MIMD)

Answer

Data parallelism

Question 4

Which of the following is NOT a type of parallel computing architecture?

Accepted Answer

Reduced Instruction Set Computer (RISC)

Answer

Single Instruction, Multiple Data (SIMD)

Answer

Multiple Instruction, Multiple Data (MIMD)

Answer

Vector processing

Question 5

Which of the following is NOT a parallel computing architecture commonly employed in contemporary computing systems?

Accepted Answer

Time-sharing operating systems

Answer

Symmetric Multiprocessing (SMP)

Answer

Graphics Processing Unit (GPU)

Answer

Distributed memory systems

Question 6

Which of the following is NOT a parallel computing architecture?

Accepted Answer

Single-core processing

Answer

Symmetric multiprocessing (SMP)

Answer

Massively parallel processing (MPP)

Answer

Graphics processing unit (GPU)

Question 7

Which of the following is NOT a type of parallel computer architecture?

Accepted Answer

Sequential

Answer

Shared memory multiprocessing (SMP)

Answer

Distributed memory multiprocessing (DMP)

Answer

Single-instruction, multiple-data (SIMD)

Question 8

Which of the following is a disadvantage of parallel computing?

Accepted Answer

Increased complexity and difficulty in programming

Answer

Increased speed and efficiency

Answer

Reduced cost of computing

Answer

Improved reliability and fault tolerance

Question 9

What is a primary advantage of parallel computing?

Accepted Answer

Increased computational efficiency

Answer

Lower complexity in instruction sets

Answer

Improved data storage capacity

Answer

Reduced energy consumption

Question 10

Which type of parallel computing architecture employs a distributed memory architecture?

Accepted Answer

Massively Parallel Processing (MPP)

Answer

Symmetric Multi-Processing (SMP)

Answer

Non-Uniform Memory Access (NUMA)

Answer

Cache-Only Memory Architecture (COMA)

Question 11

Which of the following is a classification system for parallel computing architectures?

Accepted Answer

Flynn's Taxonomy

Answer

Amdahl's Law

Answer

Scalability

Answer

Gustafson's Law

Question 12

What is a primary advantage of utilizing a parallel computing architecture?

Accepted Answer

Improved ability to process extensive datasets

Answer

Enhanced performance for sequential algorithms

Answer

Increased energy efficiency

Answer

Reduced development time

Question 13

What is the key advantage of utilizing parallel computing architectures?

Accepted Answer

Enhanced performance for applications suitable for parallelization.

Answer

Lower hardware costs compared to traditional architectures.

Answer

Simplified programming models for faster development.

Answer

Inherent energy efficiency due to reduced computational overhead.

Question 14

What is a major drawback of employing a SIMD (Single Instruction Multiple Data) architecture?

Accepted Answer

SIMD architectures pose significant programming challenges.

Answer

SIMD architectures generally perform poorly compared to MIMD architectures.

Answer

SIMD architectures are not scalable and cannot handle increased workloads.

Answer

SIMD architectures are not suitable for general-purpose computing tasks.

Question 15

What is a key advantage of utilizing parallel computing?

Accepted Answer

Boosted performance

Answer

Enhanced precision

Answer

Lower energy usage

Answer

Simplified debugging

Question 16

Which of the following is NOT a key factor influencing parallel computing performance?

Accepted Answer

Algorithmic enhancements

Answer

Number of processing cores

Answer

Interconnection network efficiency

Answer

Memory bandwidth

Question 17

Which architecture involves multiple processing elements executing the same instruction on distinct data simultaneously?

Accepted Answer

Vector processing

Answer

Flynn's taxonomy

Answer

Multithreading

Answer

Hyperthreading

Question 18

What is the defining characteristic of MIMD (Multiple Instruction Multiple Data) architectures that sets them apart from other parallel computing models?

Accepted Answer

Multiple instruction streams are executed on multiple processors with shared memory.

Answer

All processors execute the same instructions on different data.

Answer

Processors are synchronized through message passing.

Answer

Tasks are assigned to processors based on static partitioning.

Question 19

In MIMD (Multiple Instructions Multiple Data) architectures, which technique allows a single processor to execute multiple threads of execution concurrently?

Accepted Answer

Multithreading

Answer

Flynn's taxonomy

Answer

Vector processing

Answer

Load balancing

Question 20

According to Flynn's Taxonomy, which of the following is NOT a type of parallel computing architecture?

Accepted Answer

Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA)

Answer

Single Instruction Multiple Data (SIMD)

Answer

Multiple Instruction Multiple Data (MIMD)

Answer

Vector processing

Question 21

In Flynn's taxonomy, which parallel architecture type features processing elements (PEs) executing the same instruction on different data simultaneously?

Accepted Answer

SIMD (Single Instruction Multiple Data)

Answer

SISD (Single Instruction Single Data)

Answer

MIMD (Multiple Instruction Multiple Data)

Answer

MISD (Multiple Instruction Single Data)

Question 22

Scalability, a key aspect of parallel computing, offers several benefits. However, one potential **disadvantage** of scalability is:

Accepted Answer

Growing software complexity in managing and coordinating parallel processes

Answer

Enhanced performance when processing larger datasets

Answer

Cost-efficient computation with optimized resource utilization

Answer

Increased system reliability due to redundancy and fault tolerance

Question 23

In comparison to traditional sequential computing, what is a primary benefit of parallel computing?

Accepted Answer

Reduced computation time

Answer

Enhanced energy efficiency

Answer

Improved data accuracy

Answer

Simplified software development

Question 24

In multithreading, which technique enables a single physical processor core to behave like multiple logical processor cores?

Accepted Answer

Hyperthreading

Answer

Load balancing

Answer

Time-slicing

Answer

Multiplexing

Question 25

Which parallel computing architecture type is characterized by each node executing a distinct program on its own memory?

Accepted Answer

MIMD (Multiple Instruction Multiple Data)

Answer

SIMD (Single Instruction Multiple Data)

Answer

Neither SIMD nor MIMD

Question 26

In parallel computing, which application typically involves analyzing large datasets to predict future events?

Accepted Answer

Climate modeling and weather forecasting

Answer

Processing online transactions

Answer

Rendering computer graphics

Question 27

Vector processing offers several advantages over scalar processing. Which of the following is a key benefit of vector processing?

Accepted Answer

Enhanced memory efficiency

Answer

Increased data dependency

Answer

Boosted instruction count

Question 28

Which of the following is NOT typically considered an advantage of parallel computing compared to traditional computing?

Accepted Answer

Guaranteed accuracy and precision in computational results

Answer

Enhanced problem-solving capabilities due to task decomposition

Answer

Improved cost-effectiveness through resource optimization

Answer

Increased program execution speed by leveraging multiple processing units

Question 29

In a Single Instruction Multiple Data (SIMD) architecture, multiple processing units operate on what type of data?

Accepted Answer

Identical

Answer

Different

Answer

Partially Different

Question 30

Which of the following is NOT a type of parallel computing architecture?

Accepted Answer

Load balancing

Answer

SIMD (Single Instruction Multiple Data)

Answer

MIMD (Multiple Instruction Multiple Data)

Answer

Vector processing

Question 31

In distributed parallel computing systems, which load balancing technique adjusts task distribution dynamically to optimize performance by moving tasks from overloaded nodes to underutilized nodes?

Accepted Answer

Dynamic load balancing

Answer

Static load balancing

Answer

Cyclic load balancing

Answer

Centralized load balancing

Question 32

In Amdahl's Law, how does the percentage of the program that can be parallelized affect the overall speedup of the parallelized system?

Accepted Answer

The larger the parallelizable percentage, the greater the speedup.

Answer

The parallelizable percentage has no effect on the speedup.

Answer

The smaller the parallelizable percentage, the greater the speedup.

Answer

The parallelizable percentage can be greater than 100% and still provide a speedup.

Question 33

According to Flynn's taxonomy, which parallel computing architecture classification features multiple processing elements executing different instruction streams independently?

Accepted Answer

MIMD (Multiple Instruction Multiple Data)

Answer

SISD (Single Instruction Single Data)

Answer

SIMD (Single Instruction Multiple Data)

Answer

MISD (Multiple Instruction Single Data)

Question 34

In parallel computing, what potential issue can arise when scaling a system beyond its optimal capacity?

Accepted Answer

Diminished returns and potential performance degradation

Answer

Reduced communication overhead due to fewer processing elements

Answer

Enhanced performance due to more resources

Question 35

According to Amdahl's Law, parallelization can enhance performance but has an upper limit. Express Amdahl's Law mathematically and explain how it illustrates this upper bound.

Accepted Answer

Speedup = 1 / (1 - P + P / N)

Answer

Speedup = P * N

Answer

Speedup = 1 / P

Answer

Speedup = N / (N - P)

Question 36

In parallel computing, what potential issue can arise when scaling a system beyond its optimal capacity?

Accepted Answer

Diminished performance gains as overheads become more substantial

Answer

Enhanced system efficiency due to reduced resource contention

Answer

Accelerated execution times due to increased processing resources

Question 37

In parallel computing, which architecture type features a central controller that broadcasts instructions to multiple processing elements, ensuring synchronized operations on different data?

Accepted Answer

SIMD

Answer

MIMD

Answer

Vector processing

Answer

Multithreading

Question 38

According to Flynn's Taxonomy, which parallel architecture type enables multiple processors to execute the same instructions simultaneously on different data sets?

Accepted Answer

SIMD (Single Instruction Multiple Data)

Answer

MIMD (Multiple Instruction Multiple Data)

Answer

Vector Processing

Answer

Multithreading

Question 39

In MIMD (Multiple Instruction Multiple Data) architecture, which feature allows a single processor to execute multiple threads simultaneously?

Accepted Answer

Multithreading

Answer

Vector processing

Answer

Hyperthreading

Answer

Superscalar execution

Question 40

What is a potential drawback of parallel computing architectures?

Accepted Answer

Increased software development complexity

Answer

Enhanced performance

Answer

Lower energy usage

Question 41

In a distributed memory system with 'n' nodes, each node has its own memory and a network interface for communication. How is the system's memory organized?

Accepted Answer

Each node uses its own local memory, and nodes communicate via message passing to exchange data.

Answer

All nodes share a single, globally accessible memory space.

Answer

Nodes can directly access each other's local memory.

Answer

The system has a centralized memory manager that allocates and manages memory across all nodes.

Question 42

What is a key advantage of parallel computing?

Accepted Answer

Enhanced computational speed

Answer

Simplified programming

Answer

Lower energy consumption

Question 43

In evaluating the performance of parallel computing architectures, which of these factors are crucial to consider?

Accepted Answer

Number of processing elements

Accepted Answer

Problem size

Answer

Programming language choice

Question 44

In a Single Instruction Multiple Data (SIMD) architecture, what defines the execution pattern of its processing elements?

Accepted Answer

Each element processes the same instruction using different data.

Answer

Each element processes different instructions using identical data.

Answer

The architecture focuses on handling data-heavy tasks.

Answer

The architecture typically uses a network of connected computers.

Question 45

Which statement accurately reflects a disadvantage of parallel computing?

Accepted Answer

Increased complexity in program design and implementation

Answer

Enhanced performance due to simultaneous task execution

Answer

Reduced energy consumption compared to sequential processing

Answer

Improved data transfer rates between memory and processor

Question 46

Which parallel architecture consists of multiple processor cores integrated onto a single integrated circuit?

Accepted Answer

Multicore processor

Answer

Graphics processing unit (GPU)

Answer

Cluster computing system

Answer

Peer-to-peer network

Question 47

When selecting an appropriate parallel architecture for a given application, which factor is irrelevant?

Accepted Answer

Supported operating systems and software availability

Answer

Data locality considerations

Answer

Communication overhead between processing elements

Answer

Number of available processing cores

Question 48

Which type of application can benefit significantly from the parallelization of tasks?

Accepted Answer

Scientific simulations involving complex mathematical models

Answer

Database management systems

Answer

Word processing and text editing

Answer

Single-player video games

Question 49

In a virtualized parallel computing environment, what is the primary function of a hypervisor?

Accepted Answer

Managing and isolating virtual machines

Answer

Scheduling and distributing tasks across available processors

Answer

Providing fault tolerance and recovery mechanisms

Answer

Optimizing data movement and communication between virtual machines

Question 50

When debugging and profiling parallel programs, which of the following is a significant challenge?

Accepted Answer

Concurrency issues and data races

Answer

Memory management overhead

Answer

Limited debugging tools

Question 51

In parallel computing, false sharing occurs when:

Accepted Answer

Multiple processors access different shared memory locations within the same cache line.

Answer

Multiple processors access the same shared memory location.

Answer

Multiple processors access different shared memory locations within different cache lines.

Answer

Multiple processors access the same shared memory location simultaneously.

Question 52

What is a key benefit of utilizing a distributed memory system in parallel computing?

Accepted Answer

Reduced data competition

Answer

Tightly-coupled memory access

Answer

Lower communication latency

Answer

Lower power consumption

Question 53

In evaluating a parallel computing architecture's performance, which metric is essential for assessing its efficiency in utilizing resources?

Accepted Answer

Resource utilization efficiency

Answer

Throughput

Answer

Scalability

Answer

Latency

Question 54

Which of the following is NOT an advantage of parallel computing?

Accepted Answer

Increased complexity

Answer

Increased processing speeds

Answer

Reduced energy consumption

Answer

Improved efficiency

Question 55

Which parallel computing architecture utilizes multiple cores on a single chip?

Accepted Answer

Multicore processor

Answer

Graphics Processing Unit (GPU)

Answer

Distributed memory system

Answer

Vector processor

Question 56

What is the primary factor to consider when selecting a parallel computing architecture?

Accepted Answer

Performance requirements

Answer

Cost

Answer

Availability of development tools

Answer

User experience

Question 57

What is the purpose of a synchronization barrier in parallel programming?

Accepted Answer

To ensure that all threads or processes reach a specific point before proceeding

Answer

To divide the workload equally among threads or processes

Answer

To prevent data races

Answer

To manage memory access conflicts

Question 58

Which of the following techniques is used to improve load balancing in parallel applications?

Accepted Answer

Both B and C

Answer

Dynamic scheduling

Answer

Task stealing

Answer

Work stealing

Question 59

Which architectural option is most suitable for applications characterized by extensive parallelism inherent to data operations?

Accepted Answer

GPU

Answer

Multicore processor

Answer

Distributed memory system

Answer

Vector processor

Question 60

What fundamental distinction characterizes a distributed memory system when compared to a shared memory system?

Accepted Answer

Data access mechanism

Answer

Network topology

Answer

Processor architecture

Answer

Operating system

Question 61

Within parallel programming, what is the primary purpose of a synchronization barrier?

Accepted Answer

To ensure coordinated execution by requiring all threads to reach a specific point before proceeding

Answer

To prevent data races

Answer

To reduce memory contention

Answer

To increase cache efficiency

Question 62

Which of the listed concepts commonly poses a performance limitation in parallel computing environments?

Accepted Answer

Amdahl's law

Answer

Gustafson's law

Answer

Moore's law

Answer

Dennard scaling

Question 63

In a parallel computing system, what is the primary responsibility of a task scheduler?

Accepted Answer

Assigning tasks to processors

Answer

Managing resource allocation

Answer

Optimizing data locality

Answer

Handling inter-process communication

Question 64

In a multicore system with shared memory, what is **false sharing** and how do **hardware mechanisms** mitigate this issue?

Accepted Answer

False sharing occurs when multiple cores modify different parts of the same cache line, causing unnecessary cache invalidations and performance degradation.

Accepted Answer

Hardware mechanisms to mitigate false sharing include **lock elision** and **cache line padding**.

Answer

False sharing is not a significant concern in modern multicore processors.

Answer

False sharing is only relevant in distributed memory systems.