CS2304 SYSTEM SOFTWARE NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2010 ANNA UNIVERSITY QUESTION PAPER QUESTION BANK IMPORTANT QUESTIONS 2 MARKS AND 16 MARKS

B.E./B.Tech. DEGREE EXAMINATION, NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2010

Fifth Semester

Computer Science and Engineering

CS 2304 — SYSTEM SOFTWARE

(Common to Information Technology)

(Regulation 2008)

Time : Three hours Maximum : 100 Marks

Answer ALL questions

PART A — (10 × 2 = 20 Marks)

1. Differentiate system software from application software.
2. How do you calculate the target address in direct and indirect address mode of
SIC/XE architecture?
3. What is the use of the variable LOCCTR (location counter) in assembler?
4. What are the uses of the assembler directives START, CSECT and USE?
5. What are functions of loader?
6. Define dynamic linking.
7. How are the nested macro calls executed?
8. Mention the tasks involved in macro expansion.
9. What is error handler?
10. Mention the features of word processors.

PART B — (5 × 16 = 80 Marks)

11. (a) Explain the Simplified Instructional Computer Machine architecture.
Or
(b) Explain the various addressing modes and instruction formats of SIC/XE
machine.
12. (a) Define the basic functions of assembler and explain in detail the two-pass
assembler algorithm with an example.
Or
(b) What is Forward reference? Explain one pass assembler with an
example.
13. (a) Explain the following
(i) Assemble-and-go loader. (8)
(ii) Absolute loader. (8)
Or
(b) Explain the following :
(i) Relocating loader. (8)
(ii) Overlays. (8)
14. (a) Explain in detail the Macro processor algorithm and data structures.
Or
(b) Explain the following machine independent macro features.
(i) Concatenation of macro parameters. (5)
(ii) Generation of unique labels. (5)
(iii) Conditional Macro expansion. (6)
15. (a) Write short notes on the following :
(i) Interactive debugging systems. (8)
(ii) Write short notes on Text editors. (8)
Or
(b) Describe the User Interface Criteria in detail. (16)