Distributed Memory Architectures: A Comprehensive Guide for Computer Science Masters Students

Question 1

Which of the following is NOT a characteristic of distributed memory architectures?

Accepted Answer

Nodes have a shared memory space

Answer

Nodes have their own private memory

Answer

Nodes communicate via message passing

Answer

Nodes are connected by an interconnection network

Question 2

Which of the following is a commonly used MPI function for initiating message sending?

Accepted Answer

MPI_Send

Answer

MPI_Recv

Answer

MPI_Barrier

Answer

MPI_Reduce

Question 3

Which distributed memory programming model provides a globally shared address space accessible to all nodes?

Accepted Answer

Partitioned Global Address Space (PGAS)

Answer

Single Program Multiple Data (SPMD)

Answer

Multiple Program Multiple Data (MPMD)

Answer

Distributed Shared Memory (DSM)

Question 4

Which factor can negatively impact the efficiency of an interconnection network in a distributed memory architecture?

Accepted Answer

Excessive network traffic

Answer

Low latency

Answer

High bandwidth

Answer

Symmetrical network topology

Question 5

Which of the following is NOT a characteristic of distributed memory architectures?

Accepted Answer

Shared address space across all processors

Answer

Multiple, physically separate memory modules

Answer

Message passing for inter-processor communication

Answer

Scalable to large numbers of processors

Question 6

Which interconnection network topology is known for its high bandwidth and low latency?

Accepted Answer

Crossbar

Answer

Bus

Answer

Ring

Answer

Hypercube

Question 7

Which distributed memory programming model requires explicit message passing for communication?

Accepted Answer

Message passing

Answer

Shared memory

Answer

Remote procedure call

Answer

Distributed objects

Question 8

What is the purpose of a message buffer in a distributed memory architecture?

Accepted Answer

To store incoming messages until the receiver is ready

Answer

To prevent buffer overflow due to high message rates

Answer

To ensure message ordering

Answer

To improve network performance

Question 9

What is the primary challenge associated with data consistency in distributed memory architectures?

Accepted Answer

Multiple copies of data can lead to inconsistencies

Answer

Slow communication speeds can impact data updates

Answer

Limited memory capacity can restrict data storage

Answer

Data access conflicts can cause performance issues

Question 10

Which software layer is responsible for managing distributed memory and providing communication primitives?

Accepted Answer

Communication library

Answer

Operating system

Answer

Compiler

Answer

Application software

Question 11

In distributed memory systems, which techniques are crucial for optimizing performance?

Accepted Answer

Load balancing and data locality optimization

Answer

Dynamic memory allocation with garbage collection

Answer

Branch prediction and speculative execution

Answer

Virtualization and containerization techniques

Question 12

In a distributed memory architecture, each processing node exclusively owns its own:

Accepted Answer

Local memory

Answer

Cache memory

Answer

Shared memory

Question 13

The primary advantage of a crossbar interconnection network is its:

Accepted Answer

High bandwidth and low latency

Answer

Deterministic routing

Answer

Scalability

Answer

Reliability

Question 14

Which of the following is a key challenge in distributed memory programming?

Accepted Answer

Ensuring data consistency and correctness

Answer

Thread synchronization

Answer

Avoiding deadlocks

Answer

Efficient memory allocation

Question 15

The Message Passing Interface (MPI) is a standard for:

Accepted Answer

Message passing programming

Answer

Cache coherence

Answer

Shared memory programming

Answer

Interconnection network management

Question 16

Which of the following techniques can improve the performance of distributed memory applications?

Accepted Answer

Overlapping communication and computation

Answer

Increasing cache size

Answer

Reducing branch mispredictions

Answer

Using faster processors

Question 17

In a distributed memory architecture, the responsibility for ensuring data consistency and correctness primarily lies with:

Accepted Answer

The programmer

Answer

The compiler

Answer

The operating system

Answer

The hardware

Question 18

Which of the following is a potential issue with scaling up distributed memory architectures to a large number of processing nodes?

Accepted Answer

Scalability challenges

Answer

Reduced cost-effectiveness

Answer

Increased security risks

Answer

Diminished reliability

Question 19

In distributed memory architectures, the concept of locality refers to:

Accepted Answer

Optimizing data placement to minimize communication overhead

Answer

Developing effective thread scheduling algorithms

Answer

Applying code optimization techniques

Answer

Implementing efficient cache management strategies

Question 20

Which of the following is a popular approach to distributed memory programming in Python?

Accepted Answer

Using the MPI4py library

Answer

Using the Intel TBB library

Answer

Using the CUDA library

Answer

Using the OpenMP library

Question 21

Which of the following is a defining feature of distributed memory architectures?

Accepted Answer

Data is distributed across multiple nodes

Accepted Answer

Communication between nodes is typically performed using message passing

Answer

Shared global memory

Answer

The performance of distributed memory architectures scales linearly with the number of nodes

Question 22

Which component is NOT a fundamental element of a distributed memory architecture?

Accepted Answer

Shared memory

Answer

Message passing interface

Answer

Interconnection network

Answer

Compute nodes

Question 23

In message passing architectures, what is the primary communication mechanism?

Accepted Answer

Message passing

Answer

Synchronous communication

Answer

Shared memory

Answer

Asynchronous communication

Question 24

Which interconnection network topology is known for minimizing communication latency?

Accepted Answer

Hypercube

Answer

Bus

Answer

Ring

Answer

Mesh

Question 25

In the Message Passing Interface (MPI), which function is commonly used to send messages?

Accepted Answer

MPI_Send

Answer

MPI_Recv

Answer

MPI_Finalize

Answer

MPI_Barrier

Question 26

What is the primary purpose of a distributed shared memory (DSM) abstraction?

Accepted Answer

To emulate a shared memory abstraction over distributed memory architectures

Answer

To enhance communication performance

Answer

To augment memory capacity

Question 27

Which characteristic is NOT typically associated with distributed memory architectures?

Accepted Answer

Tightly coupled memory

Answer

Scalability

Answer

Increased fault tolerance

Answer

Lower communication latency

Question 28

What is a key advantage of message passing over shared memory in distributed memory architectures?

Accepted Answer

Explicit control over communication

Answer

Lower communication latency

Answer

Reduced memory overhead

Answer

Simplified programming model

Question 29

Which application domain is a common use case for distributed memory architectures?

Accepted Answer

High-performance computing

Answer

Real-time systems

Answer

Mobile computing

Answer

Embedded systems

Question 30

In message passing architectures, what is the primary mechanism used for communication between processors?

Accepted Answer

Message passing

Answer

Shared memory

Answer

Remote procedure calls

Answer

Remote method invocation

Question 31

Which type of interconnection network offers the highest bandwidth for data transfer?

Accepted Answer

Crossbar switch

Answer

Mesh

Answer

Bus

Answer

Ring

Question 32

What is the primary purpose of employing a distributed memory programming model?

Accepted Answer

To manage data and memory allocation effectively in distributed systems.

Answer

To handle user input and output.

Answer

To perform arithmetic operations.

Question 33

When comparing distributed memory architectures to shared memory architectures, what is a key advantage in favor of distributed memory systems?

Accepted Answer

Enhanced scalability

Answer

Lower latency

Answer

Improved reliability

Answer

Reduced cost

Question 34

In distributed memory systems, what is the primary challenge associated with cache coherence?

Accepted Answer

Ensuring that multiple copies of shared data remain consistent across the system.

Answer

Allocating sufficient memory to each processor.

Answer

Managing communication between processors.

Question 35

When using message passing programming, what is a significant drawback that arises?

Accepted Answer

Increased programming complexity

Answer

Higher memory consumption

Answer

Reduced execution speed

Question 36

Which of the following is a common application domain where distributed memory architectures are widely used?

Accepted Answer

Scientific computing

Answer

Desktop applications

Answer

Database management systems

Answer

Web servers

Question 37

Identify the characteristic that is NOT associated with a distributed memory architecture?

Accepted Answer

Shared global address space

Answer

Scalability

Answer

Independent memory modules

Answer

Message passing

Question 38

In a message passing system, what is the primary responsibility of the network interface?

Accepted Answer

Facilitating message transfer between nodes

Answer

Code interpretation

Answer

Process scheduling

Answer

Memory allocation management

Question 39

Which interconnection network topology offers optimal bandwidth and minimal latency?

Accepted Answer

Crossbar

Answer

2D Torus

Answer

Mesh

Question 40

The main purpose of the Message Passing Interface (MPI) is to:

Accepted Answer

Standardize programming for distributed memory systems

Answer

Schedule processes in multiprocessor systems

Answer

Manage memory allocation in distributed systems

Answer

Design interconnection networks

Question 41

In distributed memory programming, which aspect poses a significant challenge?

Accepted Answer

Ensuring data consistency

Answer

Avoiding deadlocks

Answer

Thread synchronization

Answer

Memory management

Question 42

In a distributed memory system, which component is responsible for managing memory allocation and deallocation?

Accepted Answer

Memory manager

Answer

Operating system

Answer

Network interface

Answer

Compiler

Question 43

What is a notable benefit of using a distributed memory architecture?

Accepted Answer

Expanded memory capacity

Answer

Lower cost

Answer

Simplified programming model

Answer

Reduced communication overhead

Question 44

Which of the following is NOT a type of programming model used in distributed memory systems?

Accepted Answer

Shared memory

Answer

Message passing

Answer

Data parallelism

Question 45

Which of the following is **NOT** a characteristic of a distributed memory architecture?

Accepted Answer

Shared address space

Answer

Communication through message passing

Answer

Data distributed across nodes

Answer

Multiple processors

Question 46

In a message passing architecture, how do processors communicate?

Accepted Answer

By sending and receiving messages

Answer

Via a centralized controller

Answer

Through shared memory

Answer

Using a global address space

Question 47

Which interconnection network topology is known for its high scalability and fault tolerance?

Accepted Answer

Hypercube

Answer

Bus

Answer

Ring

Answer

Star

Question 48

What is the **primary** advantage of a distributed memory architecture over a shared memory architecture?

Accepted Answer

Scalability

Answer

Lower cost

Answer

Easier programming

Answer

Higher performance for all workloads

Question 49

Which of the following programming models is **specifically** designed for distributed memory systems?

Accepted Answer

MPI (Message Passing Interface)

Answer

CUDA

Answer

Java Threads

Answer

OpenMP

Question 50

A distributed memory system with a high network latency would be suitable for which type of application?

Accepted Answer

Applications with minimal communication overhead

Answer

Applications with high data sharing requirements

Answer

Applications requiring real-time data processing

Answer

Applications with frequent data transfers

Question 51

What is the **main** challenge in designing a distributed memory system?

Accepted Answer

Balancing computation and communication overhead

Answer

Handling processor scheduling

Answer

Managing memory allocation

Answer

Ensuring data consistency

Question 52

Which of the following is considered a common approach to reduce communication overhead in distributed memory systems?

Accepted Answer

Data locality optimization

Answer

Employing shared memory techniques

Answer

Increasing processor clock speed

Answer

Using a centralized memory controller

Question 53

A cluster of interconnected computers with distributed memory can be considered as an example of a:

Accepted Answer

Distributed memory architecture

Answer

Shared memory architecture

Answer

Single-core processor system

Answer

Symmetric multiprocessing (SMP) system

Question 54

In a distributed memory system, what is the process of assigning data to different processors called?

Accepted Answer

Data partitioning

Answer

Memory allocation

Answer

Data synchronization

Answer

Data replication