Chapter 1 – Data Communications Overview and History

MULTIPLE CHOICE

1. Which decision allowed passive devices to be connected to the telephone system in the US?
A. Carterphone
B. Hush-a-phone
C. MCI versus AT&T
D. AT&T Divestiture

Answer: B

2. Which decision allowed non-telephone company handsets and modems to be attached to the
telephone companies networks in the US?
A. Carterphone
B. Hush-a-phone
C. MCI versus AT&T
D. AT&T Divestiture

Answer: A

3. Which of the following is IBM's network architecture?

A. ARPANET
B. ETHERNET
C. SNA
D. TELENET

Answer: C

4. Essential features for communication to exist include:

A. availability
B. message
C. reliability
D. receiver
E. a and b
F. b and d

Answer: F

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5. Which of the following elements is not an essential feature for communication?
A. consistency
B. a sender
C. error detection
D. understandability

Answer: A

6. If response time is low then

A. throughput is high.
B. throughput is low.
C. throughput will be adversely affected.
D. cannot make a determination based on the facts given

Answer: D

7. An inquiry/response type of application is characterized by

A. short input and short output.
B. short input and long output.
C. long input and short output.
D. long input and long output.

Answer: B

8. An interactive application is characterized by

A. short input and short output.
B. short input and long output.
C. long input and short output.
D. long input and long output.

Answer: A

9. A batch application is characterized by

A. short input and short output.
B. short input and long output.
C. long input and short output.
D. long input and long output.

Answer: D

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10. A data entry application is characterized by
A. short input and short output.
B. short input and long output.
C. long input and short output.
D. long input and long output.

Answer: C

11. A distributed application is characterized by

A. short input and short output.
B. short input and long output.
C. long input and short output.
D. long input and long output.
E. cannot be completely characterized by the above

Answer: E

12. Which of the following is not a characteristic of an on-line system?

A. fault tolerance
B. flexibility
C. recovery
D. security

Answer: A

13. Which of the following is not one of the levels in the OSI reference model?
A. application
B. network
C. connection
D. data link

Answer: C

14. The OSI reference model layer responsible for establishing connection between applications is
the
A. application layer.
B. presentation layer.
C. connection layer.
D. cession layer.

Answer: D

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15. The OSI reference model layer responsible for establishing routing is the
A. physical layer.
B. network layer.
C. data link layer.
D. transport layer.

Answer: B

16. The OSI reference model

A. is an international standard for designing networks.
B. defines how code and hardware are separated in networks.
C. must be used for networks accepted by the US government.
D. all of the above
E. none of the above

Answer: E

17. An on-line system will be successful whenever

A. terminal response time is less than three seconds.
B. throughput is high.
C. the data processing budget is not exceeded.
D. a and c
E. b and c
F. none of the above alone guarantee system success

Answer: F

18. The data communications industry grew rapidly starting in the 1970s because
A. satellite and microwave transmission became available.
B. companies did not understand the importance of data communications until that time.
C. IBM introduced its system network architecture.
D. all of the above
E. none of the above

Answer: E

19. Response time

A. is typically associated with batch processing systems.
B. is the interval between entering a message and obtaining a response.
C. is one of the requirements for communication to exist.
D. depends only on the amount of time required to transmit a message over a data
communications link.

Answer: B

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20. A transaction
A. is a standard unit of work that is used to measure the relative capabilities of computing
systems.
B. pertains mainly to work in batch processing systems.
C. is a user-defined unit of work.
D. must have a response time of less than 5 seconds.

Answer: C

21. Which of the following was not included in the general software environment?
A. operating system
B. database management system
C. data communications system
D. applications
E. language compilers

Answer: E

22. Data communications software

A. is responsible for formatting data to display on a terminal.
B. assists in transaction recovery.
C. routes transactions to the proper application for processing.
D. all of the above

Answer: D

23. The software system responsible for managing the resources of a computer is the
A. operating system.
B. database management system.
C. data communications system.
D. applications.
E. language compilers.

Answer: A

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TRUE/FALSE

1. As defined in the text, telecommunications is a subset of data communications.

Answer: False

2. Data communications were demonstrated as early as 1940.

Answer: True

3. The Carter Electronics Company provided microwave communications facilities in

competition with the telephone companies.
Answer: False

4. A Local Area Network (LAN) would typically be used to transmit only one company's data.
Answer: True

5. Remote Job Entry (RJE) is a recent implementation of data communications technology.

Answer: False

6. Consistency is one of the essential features of communications.

Answer: False

7. A high transaction rate results in lower response times.

Answer: False

8. Distributed applications are characterized by short inputs and long outputs.

Answer: False

9. Being able to sustain a high transaction rate will guarantee the success of an on-line system.
Answer: False

10. Most early on-line systems were designed with security as a primary consideration.
Answer: False

11. The OSI reference model is a standard to which all future network development projects are
expected to adhere.
Answer: False

12. The transport layer of the OSI reference model is responsible for ensuring that all packets for a
given message have been received and that there are no duplicate packets.
Answer: True

13. The network layer of the OSI reference model interfaces to the data link layer and the session
layer.
Answer: False

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14. All networks provide the functionality defined in the OSI reference model.
Answer: True

15. A network node is defined as having processing capability. That is, a terminal is not a node,
but a processor is.
Answer: True

16. The session layer of the OSI reference model assists in establishing the dialogue rules between
two entities wishing to communicate with each other.
Answer: True

17. Fault tolerant systems are designed to continue processing even if a component should fail.
Answer: True

18. Usually, there is only one good configuration for an on-line system.
Answer: False

19. Change is a typical characteristic of on-line systems.

Answer: True

20. Application programs should include the logic necessary to format data on a terminal.
Answer: False

21. A successful transaction will always leave the database in a consistent state.
Answer: True

22. The operating system is not involved in processing a transaction.

Answer: False

23. The database management system serves as an interface between application programs and the
data they need.
Answer: True

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