Deadlocks and Synchronization: A Comprehensive Guide for Computer Science Students

Question 1

What is the primary purpose of a mutual exclusion lock?

Accepted Answer

Allow only one thread to execute a critical code section at a time

Answer

Prevent multiple threads from simultaneously accessing a shared resource

Question 2

Describe the difference between a spinlock and a blocking lock.

Accepted Answer

Spinlocks continuously try to acquire a lock, while blocking locks wait for it to become available

Answer

Blocking locks continuously try to acquire a lock, while spinlocks wait for it to become available

Question 3

What advantage do atomic operations offer?

Accepted Answer

They guarantee indivisible execution of memory operations

Answer

They prevent deadlocks from occurring

Question 4

What is the function of a deadlock detection algorithm?

Accepted Answer

Identify the occurrence of a deadlock

Answer

To prevent deadlocks from occurring

Question 5

What is the primary purpose of a deadlock avoidance algorithm?

Accepted Answer

To prevent deadlocks from occurring in the first place

Answer

To identify and terminate deadlocked processes

Answer

To reduce the likelihood of deadlocks

Answer

To increase the performance of the operating system

Question 6

What is a key advantage of using a priority ceiling protocol?

Accepted Answer

It decreases the occurrence of priority inversions

Answer

It eliminates the possibility of deadlocks

Answer

It enhances the overall performance of the operating system

Answer

It simplifies the implementation of synchronization mechanisms

Question 7

What is the primary function of the Banker's Algorithm?

Accepted Answer

Preventing deadlocks

Answer

Detecting deadlocks

Answer

Resolving deadlocks

Answer

Optimizing resource allocation

Question 8

Which of the following is NOT a necessary condition for a deadlock?

Accepted Answer

Preemption

Answer

Mutual exclusion

Answer

Hold and wait

Answer

Circular wait

Question 9

What is the primary purpose of a semaphore in operating systems?

Accepted Answer

To synchronize access to shared resources

Answer

To manage memory allocation

Answer

To schedule processes independently

Answer

To handle input/output operations exclusively

Question 10

Which of the following is NOT a potential consequence of a deadlock?

Accepted Answer

Improved system performance

Answer

System freeze

Answer

Data loss

Answer

Resource starvation

Question 11

Which of the following is NOT a technique for handling deadlocks?

Accepted Answer

Deadlock ignorance

Answer

Deadlock prevention

Answer

Deadlock avoidance

Answer

Deadlock detection and recovery

Question 12

What is the primary goal of deadlock recovery?

Accepted Answer

To restore the system to a safe state after a deadlock occurs

Answer

To prevent deadlocks from occurring

Answer

To detect deadlocks in real-time

Answer

To avoid deadlocks by resource allocation

Question 13

Which of the following conditions are essential for a deadlock to occur within a system?

Accepted Answer

Mutual exclusion

Accepted Answer

Hold-and-wait

Accepted Answer

Circular wait

Answer

Resource starvation

Question 14

In the context of synchronization, what is meant by a critical section?

Accepted Answer

A section of code that requires exclusive access to shared resources.

Answer

A section of memory that stores critical data.

Answer

A process that has high priority and cannot be interrupted.

Answer

A technique for preventing starvation

Question 15

Which of the following is an example of a hardware-based synchronization mechanism?

Accepted Answer

Test-and-set instruction

Answer

Semaphore

Answer

Monitor

Answer

Message passing

Question 16

What is the primary purpose of a monitor in synchronization?

Accepted Answer

Enforce orderly access to shared data

Answer

Signal and wait for specific events

Answer

Schedule and manage thread execution

Answer

Facilitate communication between processes

Question 17

Define a critical section in the context of synchronization.

Accepted Answer

A section of code that must be executed exclusively by one thread at a time

Answer

A data structure that stores shared resources among threads

Answer

A mechanism that coordinates thread execution to prevent data inconsistencies

Answer

A method that allows threads to communicate and synchronize their actions

Question 18

Which of the following is NOT a necessary condition for a deadlock to occur?

Accepted Answer

Bounded waiters

Answer

Mutual exclusion

Answer

Hold and wait

Answer

Circular wait

Question 19

Which deadlock prevention technique requires the system to have a priori knowledge of the maximum resource requirements of each process?

Accepted Answer

Banker's algorithm

Answer

Safe state approach

Answer

Wound-wait approach

Answer

Ostrich algorithm

Question 20

Which of the following is NOT a strategy for deadlock detection?

Accepted Answer

Deadlock prevention algorithm

Answer

Resource allocation graph analysis

Answer

Wait-for graph analysis

Answer

Timeout-based approach

Question 21

Which of the following is a disadvantage of the wound-wait approach to deadlock recovery?

Accepted Answer

Starvation

Answer

Priority inversion

Answer

High overhead

Answer

Limited applicability

Question 22

What is the purpose of a read-write lock?

Accepted Answer

To provide exclusive access to shared data for readers and writers

Answer

To ensure that only one process can access shared data at a time

Answer

To prevent deadlocks

Answer

To improve performance by caching frequently accessed data

Question 23

What is the primary objective of a deadlock prevention algorithm?

Accepted Answer

To prevent deadlocks from ever occurring

Answer

To identify deadlocks after they have occurred

Answer

To recover the system from deadlocks

Answer

To reduce the likelihood of deadlocks

Question 24

What is the fundamental distinction between deadlock avoidance and deadlock detection?

Accepted Answer

Deadlock avoidance aims to prevent deadlocks, while deadlock detection identifies them after they occur

Answer

Deadlock detection is more efficient than deadlock avoidance

Answer

Deadlock avoidance needs more system information than deadlock detection

Answer

Deadlock detection is only feasible in multi-threaded systems

Question 25

In the context of synchronization, what is referred to as a critical section?

Accepted Answer

Code that can only be executed by one thread at a time

Answer

Data shared between multiple threads

Answer

Mechanism to ensure exclusive resource access

Answer

Method for inducing deadlocks

Question 26

Which deadlock prevention technique involves limiting the number of resources accessible to processes?

Accepted Answer

Resource rationing

Answer

Ostrich avoidance

Answer

Deadlock detection

Answer

Circular wait prevention

Question 27

What is the primary role of semaphores in operating systems?

Accepted Answer

Enforcing mutual exclusion

Answer

Managing resource allocation

Answer

Preventing data corruption

Answer

Detecting deadlocks

Question 28

How does the Banker's algorithm prevent deadlocks?

Accepted Answer

By ensuring the system has enough resources to fulfill all current and potential requests.

Answer

By prioritizing processes and scheduling them accordingly.

Answer

By detecting deadlocks through resource allocation and release monitoring.

Question 29

Which deadlock prevention technique ensures exclusive access to a resource by assigning it to at most one process at a time?

Accepted Answer

Mutex

Answer

Timeout mechanism

Answer

Deadlock avoidance

Answer

Semaphores

Question 30

Which deadlock detection algorithm uses timestamps to establish a partial ordering among processes and detect potential deadlocks?

Accepted Answer

Lamport's algorithm

Answer

Dijkstra's algorithm

Answer

Peterson's algorithm

Answer

Coffman's algorithm

Question 31

What is the primary purpose of a semaphore in synchronization?

Accepted Answer

To enforce exclusive access and manage shared resources among multiple processes

Answer

To handle interrupts

Answer

To store and manage process state information

Question 32

What is a key advantage of employing distributed mutual exclusion algorithms in distributed systems?

Accepted Answer

Concurrent access to critical sections on different nodes by multiple processes

Answer

Simplified implementation of critical section code

Answer

Guaranteed exclusive access to critical sections

Question 33

Which of the following is NOT an advantage of using spinlocks for synchronization?

Accepted Answer

Increased fairness

Answer

Reduced context switching overhead

Answer

Reduced memory usage

Answer

Improved performance in specific scenarios

Question 34

What is the fundamental distinction between a semaphore and a mutex?

Accepted Answer

A semaphore can have a count greater than one, while a mutex has a fixed count of one, representing exclusive ownership

Answer

A semaphore is used for synchronization within a single process, while a mutex is used across multiple processes

Answer

A mutex is built using a semaphore, but not vice versa

Question 35

Which condition is NOT necessary for a deadlock to occur?

Accepted Answer

Resource availability

Answer

Hold and wait

Answer

Circular wait

Answer

No preemption

Question 36

Which deadlock prevention technique restricts the number of resources a process can request at any given time?

Accepted Answer

Resource rationing

Answer

Banker's algorithm

Answer

Safe state testing

Answer

Wound-wait

Question 37

Which deadlock avoidance algorithm maintains a list of granted and requested resources and determines whether a request can be safely granted without leading to a deadlock?

Accepted Answer

Banker's algorithm

Answer

Wound-wait

Answer

Priority inheritance

Answer

Starvation prevention

Question 38

Which recovery technique involves terminating processes until the deadlock is broken and the system can resume normal operation?

Accepted Answer

Deadlock recovery

Answer

Wound-wait

Answer

Priority inheritance

Answer

Starvation prevention

Question 39

Which synchronization mechanism is a data structure that ensures that only one thread can access a shared resource at a time?

Accepted Answer

Mutex

Answer

Semaphore

Answer

Message queue

Question 40

Which synchronization primitive allows threads to wait and be signaled when a specific condition becomes true, enabling them to coordinate their activities?

Accepted Answer

Condition variable

Answer

Message queue

Answer

Semaphore

Answer

Mutex

Question 41

Which of the following is NOT a potential benefit of using synchronization mechanisms?

Accepted Answer

Increased execution speed

Answer

Data integrity

Answer

Prevention of deadlocks

Answer

Avoidance of race conditions

Question 42

A mechanism that prevents a deadlock by ensuring sufficient resources are always available is called:

Accepted Answer

Deadlock Prevention

Answer

Deadlock Recovery

Answer

Deadlock Detection

Answer

Deadlock Avoidance

Question 43

The Banker's Algorithm is primarily used for:

Accepted Answer

Deadlock Avoidance

Answer

Deadlock Detection

Answer

Deadlock Recovery

Answer

Deadlock Prevention

Question 44

A common scenario that can lead to race conditions is:

Accepted Answer

Multiple threads accessing shared data concurrently

Answer

Resource starvation

Answer

Deadlocks

Answer

Priority inversion

Question 45

A critical section refers to a code segment that:

Accepted Answer

Must be executed by only one thread at a time, ensuring exclusive access

Answer

Must be executed by all threads simultaneously, synchronizing their progress

Answer

Can be executed by multiple threads concurrently, allowing for parallelism

Answer

Is always executed last, guaranteeing the completion of other tasks

Question 46

A key advantage of using locks is:

Accepted Answer

Ensuring data integrity by preventing simultaneous access to shared resources, eliminating race conditions

Answer

Preventing deadlocks by avoiding resource contention

Answer

Improving performance by reducing waiting time for resources

Question 47

A semaphore is a synchronization primitive that:

Accepted Answer

Can be used to control access to shared resources by limiting the number of threads that can access them simultaneously

Answer

Is mainly used for signaling events, notifying threads of specific occurrences

Answer

Is primarily used to protect critical sections, ensuring exclusive access