MODULE 5
How does Tate (2005) define sustainable software development?
A) A set of practices for short-term project goals
B) A mindset and practices that allow for optimal development pace indefinitely
C) The development of software with minimal economic impact
D) A focus on reducing software bugs and errors
Answer: B) A mindset and practices that allow for optimal development pace
indefinitely.
According to Dick et al. (2010), sustainable software should minimize negative impacts
on which of the following areas?
A) Only the economy
B) Only society and human beings
C) Economy, society, human beings, and the environment
D) Only the environment
Answer: C) Economy, society, human beings, and the environment.
What is the primary challenge in assessing the overall environmental impact of a
product?
A) Lack of interest in sustainability
B) Numerous influencing factors during production
C) Inadequate funding for research
D) Limited availability of technology
Answer: B) Numerous influencing factors during production.
What greenhouse gas is mentioned as having a significant impact during the production
of LCD screens?
A) Carbon dioxide (CO₂)
B) Nitrogen trifluoride (NF3)
C) Methane (CH4)
D) Sulfur hexafluoride (SF6)
Answer: B) Nitrogen trifluoride (NF3).
What aspect of software sustainability metrics do Bozzelli et al. (2013) highlight as often
neglected?
A) Energy consumption during runtime
B) Production phase of the overall product
C) User feedback on software performance
D) Maintenance and support costs
Answer: B) Production phase of the overall product.
Which phase of the IT product life cycle has the most significant environmental impact?
A) Disposal or recycling
B) Transportation
C) Use of the product
D) Production
Answer: D) Production.
In the context of software impact on sustainability, what are the two types of impacts
mentioned?
A) Direct and indirect
B) Immediate and long-term
C) Economic and environmental
D) Operational and strategic
Answer: A) Direct and indirect.
What is the direct impact of software during the use of a device?
A) Reducing the cost of production
B) Increasing the speed of software installation
C) Reducing energy consumption during operation
D) Improving the aesthetic design of the device
Answer: C) Reducing energy consumption during operation.
According to Vargas (2005) and Carroll and Heiser (2010), what percentage of energy
consumption in mobile phones is attributed to the CPU and RAM?
A) 10-20%
B) 25-40%
C) 50-60%
D) 70-80%
Answer: B) 25-40%.
What is one potential benefit of improving sustainability during the use of battery-
operated devices?
A) Reduced production costs
B) Extended battery runtime
C) Improved software installation speed
D) Increased device weight
Answer: B) Extended battery runtime
What are sensor networks primarily composed of?
A) High-powered computing devices
B) Large data centers
C) Small sensor nodes that communicate wirelessly
D) Traditional wired networks
Answer: C) Small sensor nodes that communicate wirelessly.
Why is maintaining battery-powered sensor nodes often infeasible?
A) The technology is too advanced
B) High costs and physical constraints
C) Sensor nodes are too large to maintain
D) There are no available battery types
Answer: B) High costs and physical constraints.
What is the formula given for overall energy consumption (E) of a device?
A) E = Par + Pd
B) E = Par * Pd
C) E = Par - Pd
D) E = Par / Pd
Answer: A) E = Par + Pd.
According to the text, what major issue affects the scalability of semiconductors?
A) Excessive heat generation
B) Physical limitations
C) Market demand for smaller devices
D) Limited availability of materials
Answer: B) Physical limitations.
What phenomenon is described as "dark silicon"?
A) The energy consumed during idle time
B) The inability to power all transistors simultaneously in complex circuits
C) The process of powering down all components of a device
D) A method for cooling semiconductors
Answer: B) The inability to power all transistors simultaneously in complex circuits.
Which of the following software methods is used to reduce power consumption?
A) Increasing CPU clock speed
B) Dynamic voltage-frequency scaling (DVFS)
C) Adding more hardware components
D) Ignoring power management
Answer: B) Dynamic voltage-frequency scaling (DVFS).
What is one drawback of dynamic voltage-frequency scaling (DVFS)?
A) It is too complicated to implement
B) It increases the operating frequency
C) It may prolong execution time for programs
D) It has no effect on energy consumption
Answer: C) It may prolong execution time for programs.
How does clock gating reduce dynamic power consumption?
A) By increasing the supply voltage
B) By disconnecting a circuit from its driving clock(s)
C) By completely shutting down the device
D) By increasing the frequency of operation
Answer: B) By disconnecting a circuit from its driving clock(s).
What is a key challenge associated with power gating?
A) It requires more energy than it saves
B) Data stored in the power-gated circuit must be restored afterward
C) It cannot be applied to modern devices
D) It reduces performance significantly
Answer: B) Data stored in the power-gated circuit must be restored afterward.
Which framework provides a cycle-accurate behavior and energy model for dynamic
memories?
A) Wattch
B) CACTI
C) DRAMsim2
D) Steinke model
Answer: C) DRAMsim2.
What type of memory is more energy-efficient than large dynamic memories?
o A) Random Access Memory (RAM)
o B) Hard Disk Drives (HDD)
o C) Scratchpad memories (SPM)
o D) Flash memory
Answer: C) Scratchpad memories (SPM).
What principle can be exploited to conserve energy by placing related data objects
into scratchpad memory?
o A) Temporal and spatial locality
o B) Bandwidth optimization
o C) Cache coherence
o D) Virtual memory
Answer: A) Temporal and spatial locality.
o
Which optimization technique is NOT mentioned as a way to reduce energy
consumption through compiler optimization?
o A) Instruction scheduling
o B) Strength reduction of operations
o C) Loop unrolling
o D) Exploitation of small bit widths
Answer: C) Loop unrolling.
o
What was the first energy-optimizing compiler mentioned in the text?
o A) GCC
o B) LLVM
o C) encc
o D) Clang
Answer: C) encc.
o
What does the method developed by Kadayif et al. (2005) focus on?
o A) Hardware-level energy estimation
o B) Compiler-directed high-level energy estimation and optimization
o C) Memory architecture design
o D) Energy consumption during runtime
Answer: B) Compiler-directed high-level energy estimation and optimization.
Which approach uses genetic algorithms for postcompiler optimization on x86
systems?
o A) Profile-guided optimization
o B) Superoptimization
o C) Schulte et al. (2014) approach
o D) Energy profiling
Answer: C) Schulte et al. (2014) approach.
o
What does the optimization target in Steinke et al.'s (2002) approach involve?
o A) Minimizing the runtime of applications
o B) Maximizing the total gain from memory allocation
o C) Reducing the size of the scratchpad memory
o D) Decreasing the number of memory accesses
Answer: B) Maximizing the total gain from memory allocation.
Why do static approaches to optimize energy consumption lose effectiveness in
complex systems?
o A) They require too much computational power.
o B) They are unable to handle multiple applications with dynamic interactions.
o C) They can only optimize at the hardware level.
o D) They are too simplistic for modern applications.
Answer: B) They are unable to handle multiple applications with dynamic
interactions.
o
What is a common method used in static energy optimization that utilizes compiler
techniques?
o A) Dynamic load balancing
o B) Instruction scheduling
o C) Runtime monitoring
o D) Code refactoring
Answer: B) Instruction scheduling.
o
The Knapsack problem solver algorithm is used in the context of which
optimization approach?
o A) Dynamic voltage-frequency scaling
o B) Runtime optimization techniques
o C) Memory allocation to scratchpad memory
o D) Energy profiling
Answer: C) Memory allocation to scratchpad memory.
What is a major challenge when using DVFS in general-purpose systems?
A) Limited power supply
B) Known task requirements
C) Unpredictable task requirements and order
D) Fixed voltage levels
Answer: C) Unpredictable task requirements and order.
What can result from an incorrect prediction of future computing power requirements
in DVFS?
A) Improved energy efficiency
B) Reduced need for task scheduling
C) Unnecessary switching between voltage and frequency levels
D) Increased task throughput
Answer: C) Unnecessary switching between voltage and frequency levels.
What is a significant consideration when dynamically allocating scratchpad memory
(SPM)?
A) The size of the SPM
B) The cost of copying objects to and from the SPM
C) The static nature of the allocation
D) The number of processors available
Answer: B) The cost of copying objects to and from the SPM.
Which architecture is an example of a heterogeneous multiprocessor system on chip
(MPSoC)?
A) Intel Core
B) ARM [Link]
C) AMD Ryzen
D) Raspberry Pi
Answer: B) ARM [Link].
What does the EnerJ framework allow for in approximate computing?
A) Full precision calculations
B) Storage of data in high-performance memory
C) Indication of approximate computation in Java variables
D) Execution of any Java code without modification
Answer: C) Indication of approximate computation in Java variables.
What is a potential downside of reducing the number of significant digits in floating-
point calculations?
A) Increased energy consumption
B) Improved performance
C) Introduction of errors into less significant bits
D) Enhanced security vulnerabilities
Answer: C) Introduction of errors into less significant bits.
What concept refers to the production of goods with uneconomically short useful lives?
A) Sustainable design
B) Planned obsolescence
C) Circular economy
D) Efficient resource management
Answer: B) Planned obsolescence.
How does software potentially enforce planned obsolescence in printers?
A) By allowing third-party cartridges
B) By improving print quality
C) By implementing a counter in the ink cartridges
D) By reducing the cost of ink
Answer: C) By implementing a counter in the ink cartridges.
What issue is commonly faced by older Android devices regarding software updates?
A) They run the latest versions of applications seamlessly.
B) They often do not receive security fixes or updates.
C) They have superior performance compared to newer models.
D) They are fully compatible with all new hardware.
Answer: B) They often do not receive security fixes or updates.
In the context of the PC industry, what prevents older hardware from running newer
operating systems?
A) Lack of power supply
B) Limited processing speed
C) Lack of drivers for older components
D) Insufficient memory capacity
Answer: C) Lack of drivers for older components
How does using an open-source operating system benefit older equipment?
A) It ensures manufacturers provide continuous support.
B) It allows hardware support driven by developer interest.
C) It prevents compatibility issues entirely.
D) It guarantees all hardware components will work seamlessly.
Answer: B) It allows hardware support driven by developer interest.
What is a limitation of replacing an old Windows installation with Linux or FreeBSD?
A) It always requires hardware upgrades.
B) It only works for a large number of users.
C) Compatibility and usability concerns limit its adoption.
D) It eliminates all security vulnerabilities.
Answer: C) Compatibility and usability concerns limit its adoption.
What is CyanogenMod known for in the Android ecosystem?
A) Developing proprietary software for manufacturers.
B) Providing updates and bug fixes for older devices.
C) Replacing the need for hardware upgrades.
D) Limiting support to only current devices.
Answer: B) Providing updates and bug fixes for older devices.
What role does reverse engineering play in maintaining older Android devices?
A) It enhances the security of the devices.
B) It allows compatibility with closed-source drivers.
C) It simplifies the installation of new operating systems.
D) It removes the need for updates altogether.
Answer: B) It allows compatibility with closed-source drivers.
What are the major contributors to CO₂ emissions from electronic devices?
A) Transportation and recycling
B) Manufacturing and operation
C) Packaging and marketing
D) Research and development
Answer: B) Manufacturing and operation.
Why is a systemwide optimization framework for energy use currently lacking?
A) Existing methods only focus on hardware optimization.
B) Energy measurements are too complex to gather.
C) Optimization has only been researched for single criteria.
D) Manufacturers do not want to share data.
Answer: C) Optimization has only been researched for single criteria.
What percentage of CO₂ emissions can the production of a device account for?
A) 10%
B) 25%
C) 50%
D) 75%
Answer: C) 50%.
What issue do manufacturers create to encourage consumers to buy new devices?
A) Open-source software availability
B) Planned obsolescence
C) Extended software support
D) Hardware compatibility
Answer: B) Planned obsolescence.
Which factor is mentioned as potentially enforcing sustainable production and operation
of devices?
A) Abundance of materials
B) Increasing costs of energy
C) Consumer demand for faster devices
D) Lack of technological advancement
Answer: B) Increasing costs of energy.
How might the trend of connecting devices to the cloud impact sustainability?
A) It increases energy consumption at the user level.
B) It reduces the need for any local processing.
C) It allows for more efficient operation using renewable energy.
D) It eliminates the need for Internet connectivity.
Answer: C) It allows for more efficient operation using renewable energy.
