Match List - I with List - II. List - I — ICT Term List - II — Meaning (A)…

Concept — In ICT vocabulary every term names a different layer of a computing system, and a matching task is settled by fixing the layer first and only then reading the descriptions. Four layers are involved here: the umbrella category of all programs, a single application program written for one job, a physical hardware form factor, and a control placed at the boundary of a network. Each description in the second list is phrased from the point of view of exactly one layer, so the layer word inside a description fixes its partner.

Application — Take each term in turn and name its layer, then find the description written at that layer.

1. Software is the umbrella category, so its description must speak of programs in general rather than of one job; the description that calls it a set of computer programs enabling hardware to perform different tasks is the one written at that level, giving (A)-(III).

2. A web browser is a single application program with one job, retrieving and rendering pages, so its description names that job; the description that calls it the software that accesses and displays pages on the web is written at that level, giving (B)-(I).

3. PDA expands to Personal Digital Assistant, a piece of hardware you hold in your hand, so its description must name a machine rather than a program; the description of a small mobile computing device is written at that level, giving (C)-(IV).

4. A firewall is a control sitting at the boundary of a network, so its description must speak of traffic and permission; the description of a mechanism that isolates a network from the rest of the Internet and lets only specific traffic pass in and out is written at that level, giving (D)-(II).

Cross-check — Reading the four assignments back as a layer table shows that each layer is used exactly once, so no description is left over and none is claimed twice.

Contrast — The two descriptions that both mention software are separated by scope, and the two that both mention a network or a machine are separated by kind.

• The general description speaks of different tasks with no limit on the job, while the browser description is limited to pages on the web, so scope tells the umbrella category apart from the single application.

• The small mobile computing device is a physical object a user carries, while the mechanism that permits only specific traffic is a control acting on data crossing a boundary, so kind tells the handheld device apart from the network control.

Result — the pairing that follows from the four layers is (A)-(III), (B)-(I), (C)-(IV), (D)-(II).