QUESTION 8:
When first turned on, many computer systems test their RAM by writing various patterns to various locations and then reading the patterns back. Do you think this is a good test?
No. Most data and instructions are several bytes long and occupy several consecutive memory addresses.
The electronics of the memory system knows nothing about instructions, numbers, characters, or other data. The memory system merely stores bit patterns. The idea that some of these patterns are integers, some are characters, and some are instructions (and so on) is contained in the program you write, not in the electronics. Good programs are written to keep the various uses of memory in separate sections, but that is a programming convention, not a requirement of electronics.
Any byte in main storage can contain any 8-bit pattern. No byte of main storage can contain anything but an 8-bit pattern. There is nothing in the memory system of a computer that says what a pattern represents.
When first turned on, many computer systems test their RAM by writing various patterns to various locations and then reading the patterns back. Do you think this is a good test?