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)