Question

Division by zero, accessing a protected or non-existent memory address, or attempting to execute a privileged instruction from user mode are all categorized as ________?

a) Errors
b) Exceptions
c) Interrupt handlers
d) All of these

Answer 1

Division by zero, accessing a protected or non-existent memory address, or attempting to execute a privileged instruction from user mode are categorized as exceptions, which are events that disrupt the normal execution flow of a program.

Step-by-step explanation:

The actions described in the question — division by zero, accessing a protected or non-existent memory address, or attempting to execute a privileged instruction from user mode — are all categorized as exceptions. An exception is an event that occurs during the execution of a program, interrupting the normal flow of instructions. For instance, division by zero is a mathematical operation that is undefined and therefore causes the computer to raise an arithmetic exception. Accessing a protected or non-existent memory address might generate a segmentation fault, while attempting to execute a privileged instruction from user mode could result in a protection fault. Both are examples of system-level exceptions that a computer's operating system will need to handle, usually by terminating the offending process or taking other corrective actions.