What is cycle stealing?

 What is busy waiting?

The repeated execution of a loop of code while waiting for an event to occur is called busy-
waiting. The CPU is not engaged in any real productive activity during this period, and the
process does not progress toward completion.

Multilevel feedback queue-scheduling algorithm

 How are the wait/signal operations for monitor different from those for semaphores?
If a process in a monitor signal and no task is waiting on the condition variable, the signal is
lost. So this allows easier program design. Whereas in semaphores, every operation affects
the value of the semaphore, so the wait and signal operations should be perfectly balanced in
the program.

race condition is an undesirable situation that occurs when a device or system attempts to
perform two or more operations at the same time, but because of the nature of the device or
system, the operations must be done in the proper sequence to be done correctly.

What is spinloack ?

 What is SMP?
To achieve maximum efficiency and reliability a mode of operation known as symmetric
multiprocessing is used. In essence, with SMP any process or threads can be assigned to any
processor.

Semaphores are mostly used to implement ipc mechanism

Dynamic scheduling: The number of thread in a program can be altered during the course of
execution.

1) What will happen if a non-recursive mutex is locked more than once ?

If a thread which had already locked a mutex, tries to lock the mutex again, it will enter into the
waiting list of that mutex, which results in deadlock. It is because no other thread can unlock the
mutex
If you want to execute C program even after main function is terminated, which
function can be used?

 “atexit()” function can be used if we want to execute any function after program is
terminated normally.
 Syntax: int atexit (void (*func)(void));
 The function “func” will be called automatically without any arguments once program
is terminated normally.

16. What is the difference between structured oriented, object oriented and non-
structure oriented programming language?

Structured oriented programming language –

 In this type of language, large programs are divided into small programs called
functions.
 Prime focus is on functions and procedures that operate on data
 Data moves freely around the systems from one function to another
 Program structure follows “Top Down Approach”
 Example: C, Pascal, ALGOL and Modula-2

Object oriented programming language –

 In this type of language, programs are divided into objects

 Prime focus is on the data that is being operated and not on the functions or
procedures
 Data is hidden and cannot be accessed by external functions
 Program structure follows “Bottom UP Approach”
 Example: C++, JAVA and C# (C sharp)

Non-structure oriented programming language –

 There is no specific structure for programming this language.

 Example: BASIC, COBOL, FORTRAN

8. C language has been developed in which language?

C language has been developed using assembly level language.

How will you override an existing macro in C?

To override an existing macro, we need to undefine existing macro using “#undef”. Then, we
need to define same macro again with new value
What is the difference between strcpy() & strncpy() functions in C?

 strcpy( ) function copies whole content of one string into another string. Whereas,
strncpy( ) function copies portion of contents of one string into another string.
 If destination string length is less than source string, entire/specified source string
value won’t be copied into destination string in both cases.

Can array subscripts have negative value in C?

No. Array subscripts should not have negative value. Always, it should be positive.

What is wild pointer in C?

Uninitialized pointers are called as wild pointers in C which points to arbitrary (random)
memory location. This wild pointer may lead a program to behave wrongly or to crash.

Is pointer arithmetic a valid one? Which arithmetic operation is not valid in pointer?
Why?

Pointer arithmetic is not valid one. Pointer addition, multiplication and division are not
allowed as these are not making any sense in pointer arithmetic.

But, two pointers can be subtracted to know how many elements are available between these
two pointers

What is dangling pointer in C?

When a pointer is pointing to non-existing memory location is called dangling pointer.

What happens when we try to access null pointer in C?

NULL pointer is pointer that is pointing to nothing (No memory location). Accessing null
pointer in C may lead a program to crash. So, Null pointer should not be accessed in a
program.

What is the difference between declaration and definition of a variable/function

Ans: Declaration of a variable/function simply declares that the variable/function exists
somewhere in the program but the memory is not allocated for them. But the declaration of a
variable/function serves an important role. And that is the type of the variable/function.
Therefore, when a variable is declared, the program knows the data type of that variable. In
case of function declaration, the program knows what are the arguments to that functions,
their data types, the order of arguments and the return type of the function. So that’s all about
declaration. Coming to the definition, when we define a variable/function, apart from the role
of declaration, it also allocates memory for that variable/function. Therefore, we can think of
definition as a super set of declaration. (or declaration as a subset of definition). From this
explanation, it should be obvious that a variable/function can be declared any number of
times but it can be defined only once. (Remember the basic principle that you can’t have two
locations of the same variable/function).

// This is only declaration. y is not allocated memory by this statement

 extern int y;

// This is both declaration and definition, memory to x is allocated by

this statement.
int x;

What is memory leak? Why it should be avoided

Ans: Memory leak occurs when programmers create a memory in heap and forget to delete it.
Memory leaks are particularly serious issues for programs like daemons and servers which by
definition never terminate.

/* Function with memory leak */

#include <stdlib.h>

void f()
{
int *ptr = (int *) malloc(sizeof(int));

/* Do some work */

return; /* Return without freeing ptr*/

}

109. What is meant by core dump in C?

 Core dump or core is a file, generated when a program is crashed or terminated

abnormally because of segmentation fault or some other reason. Information of the
memory used by a process is dumped in a file called core. This file is used for
debugging purpose. Core dump has file name like “core.<process_id>”
 Core dump file is created in current working directory when a process terminates
abnormally. Core dump is a typical error occurs because of illegal memory access.
 Core dump is also called as memory dump, storage dump or dump.

Can a pointer be freed more than once in C? What happens if do so? Or can a pointer
be freed twice in C?

1st scenario: After freeing a pointer in a C program, freed memory might be reallocated by
some other or same program luckily. In this scenario, freeing the same pointer twice won’t
cause any issue.

2nd scenario: We can free a pointer. Then, we can allocate memory for same pointer variable.
Then, we can use it and free it again. This is also not an issue.

3rd scenario: If we free the same pointer second time without reallocating memory to that
pointer, then what happens? As per ANSI/ISO C standard, this is undefined behaviour. This
undefined behaviour may cause anything to the program that we do not expect to happen.
.What does abstract Data Type Mean

In computer science, an abstract data type (ADT) is a mathematical model for data types where a
data type is defined by its behavior (semantics) from the point of view of a user of the data,
specifically in terms of possible values, possible operations on data of this type, and the behavior of
these operations.

How many spanning trees can a graph has?

It depends on how connected the graph is. A complete undirected graph can have maximum
nn-1 number of spanning trees, where n is number of nodes.

What is hashing?

Hashing is a technique to convert a range of key values into a range of indexes of an array.
By using hash tables, we can create an associative data storage where data index can be find
by providing its key values.

Are linked lists considered linear or non-linear data structures?

It actually depends on where you intend to apply linked lists. If you based it on storage, a
linked list is considered non-linear. On the other hand, if you based it on access strategies,
then a linked list is considered linear

What is an ordered list?

An ordered list is a list in which each node’s position in the list is determined by the value of
its key component, so that the key values form an increasing sequence, as the list is traversed.

.List out few of the Application of tree data-structure?

i)The manipulation of Arithmetic expression

ii)Symbol Table construction
iii)Syntax analysis.

In RDBMS, what is the efficient data structure used in the internal storage representation?
B+ tree. Because in B+ tree, all the data is stored only in leaf nodes, that makes searching easier. This
corresponds to the records that shall be stored in leaf nodes.

Does the Minimal Spanning tree of a graph give the shortest distance
between any 2 specified nodes?
- No, it doesn’t.
- It assures that the total weight of the tree is kept to minimum.
- It doesn't imply that the distance between any two nodes involved in the minimum-spanning tree
is minimum.
If you are using C language to implement the heterogeneous linked list,
what pointer type will you use?
- A heterogeneous linked list contains different data types in its nodes. We can not use ordinary
pointer to connect them.
- The pointer that we use in such a case is void pointer as it is a generic pointer type and capable of
storing pointer to any type.

Define a linear and non linear data structure.

Linear data structure: A linear data structure traverses the data elements sequentially, in which only
one data element can directly be reached. Ex: Arrays, Linked Lists

Non-Linear data structure: Every data item is attached to several other data items in a way that is
specific for reflecting relationships. The data items are not arranged in a sequential structure. Ex:
Trees, Graphs

Can a stack be described as a pointer? Explain.

A stack is represented as a pointer. The reason is that, it has a head pointer which points to the top
of the stack. The stack operations are performed using the head pointer. Hence, the stack can be
described as a pointer.

What is the difference between B tree and Binary search tree?

Binary tree consists of only fixed number of keys and children, whereas B tree consists of variable
number of keys and children. Binary tree keys are stored in decreasing order, whereas B tree
consists of the keys and children in non-decreasing order.
Binary tree doesn't consists of associated child properties whereas B tree consists of keys has an
association with all the nodes with the keys that are less than or equal to the preceding key. Binary
tree doesn't have minimization factor concept, whereas B tree has the concept of minimization
factor where each node has minimum number of allowable children.

Explain the sorting algorithm that is most suitable to be used with single
linked list?
The sorting algorithm that is most suitable with the single link list is the simple insertion sort. This
consists of an array and link of pointers, where the pointers are pointing to each of the element in
the array. For example: l[i] = i + 1 for 0 < = i < n-1 and l[n-1] = -1.
The linear link list can be pointed by the external pointer which initialized it to 0. To insert the nth
element in the list the traversing time gets reduced and until the list is being sorted out completely
the process doesn't end. The array that has to be traversed x[k] to sort the element and put them in
the list. If the sorting is done then it reduces the time of the insertion of an element and time for
searching for a particular element at proper position.

How to sequentially represent max-heap?

Max heap is also known as descending heap consisting of the objects in a heap list with some keys. It
is of size n and will be of the form of complete binary tree that is also of nodes n. In this max-heap
each node is less than or equal to the content of its parent.
It represents the sequential complete binary tree with the formula to calculate as:
max[j] <= max[(j-1)/2] for 0 <= ((j-1)/2) < j <= n-1

Max-heap contains the root element as the highest element in the heap and from there the
descending elements will be shown on the children node. It will also be traversed in an orderly
manner and will be accessed by accessing the root first then their children nodes

 Define Bandwidth and Latency?

Network performance is measured in Bandwidth (throughput) and Latency (Delay).
Bandwidth of a network is given by the number of bits that can be transmitted over the
network in a certain period of time. Latency corresponds to how long it t5akes a message to
travel from one end off a network to the other. It is strictly measured in terms of time.

 What is Multiplexing?
Multiplexing is the set of techniques that allows the simultaneous transmission of multiple
signals across a single data link.

 Name the categories of Multiplexing?

a. Frequency Division Multiplexing (FDM)
b. Time Division Multiplexing (TDM)
i. Synchronous TDM
ii. ASynchronous TDM Or Statistical TDM.
c. Wave Division Multiplexing (WDM)
 What is FDM?
FDM is an analog technique that can be applied when the bandwidth of a link is greater than
the combined bandwidths of the signals to be transmitted.
 What is WDM?
WDM is conceptually the same as FDM, except that the multiplexing and demultiplexing
involve light signals transmitted through fiber optics channel.
 What is TDM?
TDM is a digital process that can be applied when the data rate capacity of the transmission
medium is greater than the data rate required by the sending and receiving devices.
 What is Synchronous TDM?
In STDM, the multiplexer allocates exactly the same time slot to each device at all times,
whether or not a device has anything to transmit.

 What are the responsibilities of Network Layer?

The Network Layer is responsible for the source-to-destination delivery of packet possibly
across multiple networks (links).
a. Logical Addressing
b. Routing
 What are the responsibilities of Transport Layer?
The Transport Layer is responsible for source-to-destination delivery of the entire message.
a. Service-point Addressing
b. Segmentation and reassembly
c. Connection Control
d. Flow Control
e. Error Control
 What is Forward Error Correction?
Forward error correction is the process in which the receiver tries to guess the message by
using redundant bits.
 Define Character Stuffing?
In byte stuffing (or character stuffing), a special byte is added to the data section of the frame
when there is a character with the same pattern as the flag. The data section is stuffed with an
extra byte. This byte is usually called the escape character (ESC), which has a predefined bit
pattern. Whenever the receiver encounters the ESC character, it removes it from the data
section and treats the next character as data, not a delimiting flag.
 What is Stop-and-Wait Automatic Repeat Request?
Error correction in Stop-and-Wait ARQ is done by keeping a copy of the sent frame and
retransmitting of the frame when the timer expires.
 What is subnet?
A generic term for section of a large networks usually separated by a bridge or router.
 What is SAP?
Series of interface points that allow other computers to communicate with the other layers of
network protocol stack.
 What is terminal emulation, in which layer it comes?
Telnet is also called as terminal emulation. It belongs to application layer.
What is RAID?
A method for providing fault tolerance by using multiple hard disk drives
Difference between bit rate and baud rate.
Bit rate is the number of bits transmitted during one second whereas baud rate refers to the
number of signal units per second that are required to represent those bits.
baud rate = (bit rate / N)
where N is no-of-bits represented by each signal shift.
 What are the different type of networking / internetworking devices?

1. Repeater: Also called a regenerator, it is an electronic device that operates only at

physical layer. It receives the signal in the network before it becomes weak,
regenerates the original bit pattern and puts the refreshed copy back in to the link.
2. Bridges: These operate both in the physical and data link layers of LANs of same
type. They divide a larger network in to smaller segments. They contain logic that
allow them to keep the traffic for each segment separate and thus are repeaters that
relay a frame only the side of the segment containing the intended recipent and
control congestion.
3. Routers: They relay packets among multiple interconnected networks (i.e. LANs of
different type). They operate in the physical, data link and network layers. They
contain software that enable them to determine which of the several possible paths is
the best for a particular transmission.
 4. Gateways: They relay packets among networks that have different protocols (e.g.
between a LAN and a WAN). They accept a packet formatted for one protocol and
convert it to a packet formatted for another protocol before forwarding it. They
operate in all seven layers of the OSI model.

 What is ICMP?
ICMP is Internet Control Message Protocol, a network layer protocol of the TCP/IP suite
used by hosts and gateways to send notification of datagram problems back to the sender. It
uses the echo test / reply to test whether a destination is reachable and responding. It also
handles both control and error messages.
4.1 Repeaters:

As signals travel along a network cable (or any other medium of transmission), they degrade
and become distorted in a process that is called attenuation. If a cable is long enough, the
attenuation will finally make a signal unrecognizable by the receiver.

A Repeater enables signals to travel longer distances over a network. Repeaters work at the
OSI's Physical layer. A repeater regenerates the received signals and then retransmits the
regenerated (or conditioned) signals on other segments.

To pass data through the repeater in a usable fashion from one segment to the next, the
packets and the Logical Link Control (LLC) protocols must be the same on the each segment.
This means that a repeater will not enable communication, for example, between an 802.3
segment (Ethernet) and an 802.5 segment (Token Ring). That is, they cannot translate an
Ethernet packet into a Token Ring packet. In other words, repeaters do not translate anything.

4.2 Bridges:

Like a repeater, a bridge can join segments or workgroup LANs. However, a bridge can also
divide a network to isolate traffic or problems. For example, if the volume of traffic from one
or two computers or a single department is flooding the network with data and slowing down
entire operation, a bridge can isolate those computers or that department.

In the following figure, a bridge is used to connect two segment segment 1 and segment 2.
Bridges can be used to:

 Expand the distance of a segment.

 Provide for an increased number of computers on the network.
 Reduce traffic bottlenecks resulting from an excessive number of attached computers.

Bridges work at the Data Link Layer of the OSI model. Because they work at this layer, all
information contained in the higher levels of the OSI model is unavailable to them.
Therefore, they do not distinguish between one protocol and another.

Bridges simply pass all protocols along the network. Because all protocols pass across the
bridges, it is up to the individual computers to determine which protocols they can recognize.

A bridge works on the principle that each network node has its own address. A bridge
forwards the packets based on the address of the particular destination node.

As traffic passes through the bridge, information about the computer addresses is then stored
in the bridge's RAM. The bridge will then use this RAM to build a routing table based on
source addresses.

4.3 Routers:

In an environment consisting of several network segments with different protocols and

architecture, a bridge may not be adequate for ensuring fast communication among all of the
segments. A complex network needs a device, which not only knows the address of each
segment, but also can determine the best path for sending data and filtering broadcast traffic
to the local segment. Such device is called a Router.

Routers work at the Network layer of the OSI model meaning that the Routers can switc h
and route packets across multiple networks. They do this by exchanging protocol-specific
information between separate networks.Routers have access to more information in packets
than bridges, and use this information to improve packet deliveries. Routers are usually used
in a complex network situation because they provide better traffic management than bridges
and do not pass broadcast traffic.
Routers can share status and routing information with one another and use this information to
bypass slow or malfunctioning connections.

Routers do not look at the destination node address; they only look at the network address.
Routers will only pass the information if the network address is known. This ability to control
the data passing through the router reduces the amount of traffic between networks and
allows routers to use these links more efficiently than bridge

4.4 Gateways:

Gateways make communication possible between different architectures and environments.

They repackage and convert data going from one environment to another so that each
environment can understand the other's environment data.

A gateway repackages information to match the requirements of the destination system.

Gateways can change the format of a message so that it will conform to the application
program at the receiving end of the transfer.

A gateway links two systems that do not use the same:

 Communication protocols
 Data formatting structures
 Languages
 Architecture

For example, electronic mail gateways, such as X.400 gateway, receive messages in one
format, and then translate it, and forward in X.400 format used by the receiver, and vice
versa.

To process the data, the gateway:

Decapsulates incoming data through the networks complete protocol stack. Encapsulates the
outgoing data in the complete protocol stack of the other network to allow transmission.

4.5 NIC

A NIC or Network Interface Card is a circuit board or chip, which allows the computer to
communicate to other computers on a Network. This board when connected to a cable or
other method of transferring data such as infrared can share resources, information and
computer hardware. Local or Wide area networks are generally used for large businesses as
well as are beginning to be found in homes as home users begin to have more then one
computer. Utilizing network cards to connect to a network allow users to share data such as
companies being able to have the capability of having a database that can be accessed all at
the same time send and receive e-mail internally within the company or share hardware
devices such as printers.

4.6 Connectors:

Network cards have three main types of connectors. Below is an example of what a network
card may look like.
4.6.1 BNC connector:As illustrated in the above picture the BNC connector is a round connector,
which is used for thin net or 10Base-2 Local Area Network.

4.6.2 DB9 (RJ45 JACK): The DB9 connector not to be confused with the Serial Port or sometimes
referred to as the RJ45 JACK not to be confused with the RJ45 connection is used with Token Ring
networks.

4.6.3 DB15 Connector: The DB15 connector is used for a Thick net or 10Base-5 Local area network.

4.6.4 RJ45 connector: Today one of the most popular types of connections used with computer
networks. RJ45 looks similar to a phone connector or RJ11 connector however is slightly larger.

LED - The LED's as shown in the above illustration indicates if it detects a network generally by a
green light which may flash as it communicates and then a red light which indicates collisions which
will generally flash or not flash at all.

4.7 Cables
 What is difference between ARP and RARP?

The address resolution protocol (ARP) is used to associate the 32 bit IP address with the 48
bit physical address, used by a host or a router to find the physical address of another host on
its network by sending a ARP query packet that includes the IP address of the receiver.

The reverse address resolution protocol (RARP) allows a host to discover its Internet address
when it knows only its physical address.

What is the difference between TFTP and FTP application layer protocols?

The Trivial File Transfer Protocol (TFTP) allows a local host to obtain files from a remote
host but does not provide reliability or security. It uses the fundamental packet delivery
services offered by UDP.

The File Transfer Protocol (FTP) is the standard mechanism provided by TCP / IP for
copying a file from one host to another. It uses the services offer by TCP and so is reliable
and secure. It establishes two connections (virtual circuits) between the hosts, one for data
transfer and another for control information

 What is difference between baseband and broadband transmission?

In a baseband transmission, the entire bandwidth of the cable is consumed by a single signal.
In broadband transmission, signals are sent on multiple frequencies, allowing multiple signals
to be sent simultaneously.
 What is NVT (Network Virtual Terminal)?
It is a set of rules defining a very simple virtual terminal interaction. The NVT is used in the
start of a Telnet session.
 What is SLIP (Serial Line Interface Protocol)?
It is a very simple protocol used for transmission of IP datagrams across a serial line.

4. What is kernel?

Kernel is the core and essential part of computer operating system that provides basic services for all parts of
OS.

5. What is difference between micro kernel and macro kernel?

Micro kernel is a kernel which run services those are minimal for operating system performance. In this kernel all
other operations are performed by processor.

Macro Kernel is a combination of micro and monolithic kernel. In monolithic kernel all operating system code is in
single executable image.

9. What is starvation and aging?

Starvation is Resource management problem where a process does not get the resources it needs for a long
time because the resources are being allocated to other processes.

Aging is a technique to avoid starvation in a scheduling system

What is fragmentation? Tell about different types of fragmentation?

When many of free blocks are too small to satisfy any request then fragmentation occurs. External fragmentation
and internal fragmentation are two types of fragmentation. External Fragmentation happens when a dynamic
memory allocation algorithm allocates some memory and a small piece is left over that cannot be effectively
used. Internal fragmentation is the space wasted inside of allocated memory blocks because of restriction on the
allowed sizes of allocated blocks.

2. What is Memory-Management Unit (MMU)?

Hardware device that maps virtual to physical address. In MMU scheme, the value in the relocation register is
added to every address generated by a user process at the time it is sent to memory.

->The user program deals with logical addresses; it never sees the real physical addresses

What is a trap and trapdoor?

Trapdoor is a secret undocumented entry point into a program used to grant access without normal methods of
access authentication. A trap is a software interrupt, usually the result of an error condition.

. When is a system in safe state?

The set of dispatchable processes is in a safe state if there exists at least one temporal order in which all
processes can be run to completion without resulting in a deadlock.

. What is Marshalling?

The process of packaging and sending interface method parameters across thread or process boundaries.
47. What is DRAM?

Dynamic Ram stores the data in the form of Capacitance, and Static RAM stores the data in Voltages.

DRAM requires the data to be refreshed periodically in order to retain the data. SRAM does
not need to be refreshed as the transistors inside would continue to hold the data as long as
the power supply is not cut off. This behavior leads to a few advantages, not the least of
which is the much faster speed that data can be written and read

Read more: Difference Between SRAM and DRAM | Difference Between

http://www.differencebetween.net/technology/difference-between-sram-and-
dram/#ixzz4HJNsVh1J

What are local and global page replacements?

Local replacement means that an incoming page is brought in only to the relevant process' address space.
Global replacement policy allows any page frame from any process to be replaced. The latter is applicable to
variable partitions model only.

When does the condition 'rendezvous' arise?

In message passing, it is the condition in which, both, the sender and receiver are blocked until the message is
delivered.

Livelock, which means that the code is still actively running, but you have reached a state
that you cannot leave. For example:

 The state of 2 processes/threads keep changing, never reaching an end condition

 Explain pseudo parallelism. Describe the process model that makes parallelism easier
to deal with.
 Answer: All modern computers can do many things at the same time. For Example
computer can be reading from a disk and printing on a printer while running a user
program. In a multiprogramming system, the CPU switches from program to program,
running each program for a fraction of second.
 Although the CPU is running only one program at any instant of time. As CPU speed
is very high so it can work on several programs in a second. It gives user an illusion
of parallelism i.e. several processes are being processed at the same time. This rapid
switching back and forth of the CPU between programs gives the illusion of
parallelism and is termed as pseudo parallelism. As it is extremely difficult to keep
track of multiple, parallel activities, to make parallelism easier to deal with, the
operating system designers have evolved a process model.
 What are the differences between paging and segmentation?
 Answer: Following are the differences between paging and segmentation.

Sr. No. Paging Segmentation

A segment is a logical unit of
1 A page is a physical unit of information.
information.
 A segment is visible to the user's
2 A page is invisible to the user's program.
program.
3 A page is of fixed size e.g. 4Kbytes. A segment is of varying size.
The page size is determined by the machine A segment size is determined by
4
architecture. the user.
Segmentation eliminates
5 Fragmentation may occur.
fragmentation.
6 Page frames on main memory are required. No frames are required.
Paging reduces external fragmentation, but still suffer from internal fragmentation.

What resources are used when a thread created? How do they differ from those when a process
is created?

Ans. When a thread is created the threads does not require any new resources to execute the
thread shares the resources like memory of the process to which they belong to. The benefit
of code sharing is that it allows an application to have several different threads of activity all
within the same address space. Whereas if a new process creation is very heavyweight
because it always requires new address space to be created and even if they share the memory
then the inter process communication is expensive when compared to the communication
between the threads.

What is the cause of thrashing? How does the system detect thrashing?
Ans. Once it detects thrashing, what can the system do to eliminate this problem? - Thrashing is
caused by under allocation of the minimum number of pages required by a process, forcing it to
continuously page fault. The system can detect thrashing by evaluating the level of CPU utilization as
compared to the level of multiprogramming. It can be eliminated by reducing the level of
multiprogramming.