72: Chapter 72 The Bizarre Exam

Teacher Ding Runan watched quietly as Wang Shuo walked out of the classroom with a pout, then withdrew her gaze and cast a stern look at the other students who were somewhat distracted before taking out the test papers in her hand.

"The exam begins now. The first subject: Advanced Operating Systems."

A chorus of groans immediately filled the exam hall.

Zhou Peng looked at the test paper in his hand with a grimace, full of resentment.

After nearly half a year of study, he had gained some understanding of the Advanced Operating Systems course. It was a foundational subject for the Computer Technology and Science major, but although it was a foundational subject, very few people were willing to study it—except for the top students.

The main issue was that Operating Systems occupied a very awkward position; it was neither here nor there. He had studied it for so long, yet he had never seen any professor or senior student create something that could be popularized. However, it was just like English—useless, yet still had to be learned. It belonged to the foundation of foundations. If you graduated and went out to look for a job, and someone asked you about it, and you said you hadn't studied basic Operating System architecture, you would be laughed at.

You wouldn't even have the face to say you graduated from Huazhong University of Science and Technology.

Turning his head to look at Li Yao beside him, he saw that this top student was already reviewing the questions with a relaxed expression. Zhou Peng could only settle his mind and look at the questions on the paper.

"Question 1: What is an Operating System?"

Hmm... it seemed quite simple. Zhou Peng racked his brains, then began writing furiously, putting down his answer.

He continued reading the questions.

"Question 2: What are the open interfaces of an Operating System? How are they implemented?"

"Question 3: What is the definition of a program?"

"Question 4: What is the definition of a process?"

"Question 5: What is the difference between a program and a process?"

These questions... didn't seem difficult.

Zhou Peng curled his lip. It seemed he had encountered a rather kind teacher; these questions were basically free points.

"Question 15: During the operation of an Operating System, a load is generated. What is this load? How can the load be balanced? Please briefly describe the technical principles and composition of existing load balancing algorithms, and explain the factors that affect them."

This question... Zhou Peng paused for a moment, then continued reading.

"Question 30: Artificial Intelligence is relatively mature and has been applied in many aspects. Suppose there are now one thousand terminals, all installed with smart assistant software, that need to read disk data from each other. Design a distributed file system, provide the main implementation technologies, and explain the subsequent update steps and approach."

This question... Zhou Peng was stunned.

"This question is a trap."

Li Yao looked at the last question with a furrowed brow. If it were just about designing a distributed file system in a fixed scenario, it wouldn't be very difficult; there were many existing examples in current systems that could be chosen and slightly modified. But this question explicitly mentioned the name Artificial Intelligence, which meant that this distributed file system basically required little or no human intervention. It had to enable Artificial Intelligence to read and write data on its own, and it also had to be called on one thousand devices.

Li Yao was a bit puzzled. Was there such an awesome Artificial Intelligence nowadays?

Without a fully autonomous Artificial Intelligence, what was the use of a distributed file access system that could operate independently?

But doubts were never something a top student should consider. Li Yao gripped his pen and began to think carefully.

"Assuming there is such an Artificial Intelligence that can achieve autonomous logical capability, then this question becomes simple."

Li Yao patted his head; he had almost fallen into a logical trap. The question had already specified the prerequisite of Artificial Intelligence, so he only needed to consider how to adapt to it. As for how the Artificial Intelligence was implemented... was that a question for a freshman like him to consider? Just kidding. How to achieve machine intelligence was something for university professors and tech experts to consider; what did it have to do with a mere student like him?

Although Li Yao considered himself a top student and didn't hold anyone else in the class in high regard, he still had this bit of self-awareness.

Having solved this small problem, the rest of the question was smooth sailing for Li Yao.

"This teacher who set the question is truly devious; I almost fell for it."

If he had really followed the teacher's line of questioning and fallen into the trap of trying to conceive an Artificial Intelligence algorithm... then not to mention half an hour, even if he were given ten years, he might not be able to figure it out!

Li Yao let out a breath and began to write down his concept, detailed the technical principles used, and also proposed several update ideas.

"After calculation, provided that the server capacity is sufficient, this algorithm is enough to ensure data connectivity for one hundred thousand terminals, and the response time can be reduced to the minimum."

Writing the last word, Li Yao looked up and glanced around.

Zhou Peng seemed to have encountered a difficult problem and was scratching his head while staring at it; that person named Zheng Jun from Dorm 403 seemed to have given up resistance and was lying on the desk playing with his pen; while the other students around were still writing furiously, only Du Juan seemed to have finished the questions and was tidying up her test paper.

Watching Du Juan put down her pen right after him, Li Yao nodded encouragingly. These questions were generally not difficult, but a few were quite tricky. Being able to finish so quickly showed that Du Juan still had some strength; she was worthy of being the opponent he had identified.

However... it was truly lonely.

Li Yao shook his head, and a sense of achievement—of looking down from the top of the mountain—welled up within him.

Although Du Juan was excellent, he would definitely surpass her this time. As for the other students... honestly, Li Yao didn't care at all. I can be brothers with you, or even drink and have fun together, but when it comes to studying and grades... hehe, you are all losers.

Top students and losers were always clearly demarcated.

And that Wang Shuo who had already been kicked out of the exam hall by the teacher... he had even lost the qualification to look up at him.

Thinking about it, it was truly laughable.

As a student, his physique was actually so weak that he had been hospitalized for over forty days after one drinking session, and he would get nosebleeds and break into cold sweats at the drop of a hat. To have such a weak constitution was truly pitiful.

As the de facto top student of the class, should he help the struggling student and give him a hand with his homework?

Li Yao sank into deep thought.

"Alright, time is up. Du Juan, collect the test papers." Teacher Ding Runan put down the phone in her hand and instructed: "Li Yao, distribute the test papers for the second subject."

"The second subject: Advanced Mathematics."

Another chorus of groans followed.

Wang Shuo hummed a tune as he walked out of the teaching building, feeling relaxed. He looked at the sun still hanging obliquely in the east of the campus and took a deep, comfortable breath.

He found a chair by the side of a small path, lay down lazily, and took off his jacket to cover his face, feeling the faint warmth of the early winter sun. It was truly indescribably comfortable.

"Sunbathing is the most comfortable thing."

He had been busy running around for the past few months and hadn't enjoyed this kind of warm sunshine for a long time. Wang Shuo was not a man of letters; otherwise, given how comfortable he felt right now, he would have wanted to compose a poem on the spot.

Just at this moment, a voice came from beside him.

"Classmate, move aside."