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Wiki - Homework 1 The Hardware Software Interface

The document outlines Homework 1 for a course on the Hardware/Software Interface, focusing on numerical representations and object files. It includes logistics about the assignment, which is not graded but encourages peer discussion, and lists specific problems to solve related to code efficiency, binary examination, and floating point representations. Additionally, optional material is provided for further exploration of related concepts.

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12 views3 pages

Wiki - Homework 1 The Hardware Software Interface

The document outlines Homework 1 for a course on the Hardware/Software Interface, focusing on numerical representations and object files. It includes logistics about the assignment, which is not graded but encourages peer discussion, and lists specific problems to solve related to code efficiency, binary examination, and floating point representations. Additionally, optional material is provided for further exploration of related concepts.

Uploaded by

yihuangece
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Wiki - Homework 1 | The Hardware/Software Interface 5/29/13 8:17 PM

Homework 1

Numerical Representations and


Object Files
Assigned Wednesday, April 24, 2013
Suggested Completion Date Wednesday, May 1, 2013

Introduction
The purpose of written homework assignments is to get you thinking about the topics being covered
in lecture and in readings in the textbook which are not represented in the hands-on, programming lab
assignments. These written assignments also better prepare you for course examinations. It is worth
noting that the book contains many practice problems similar to the problems we ask on these written
assignments. The solutions for those practice problems are located at the end of each chapter and
should give you a feel for the kind of answers we expect you to turn in for these kind of assignments.

Logistics
These written homeworks will not turned in for credit like the programming lab assignments. There
also won't be solutions provided, but the forums are open to all discussion about the homework. We
encourage you to complete the homework to the best of your ability and then discuss your
findings/questions with your peers on the forums.

Questions
Answer the following problems:

1. Homework Problem 2.76 (pg 126)


Suppose we are given the task of generating code to multiply integer variable x by various
different constant factors K. To be efficient, we want to use only the operations + , - , << . For
the following values of K, write C expressions to perform the multiplication using at most three
operations per expression.

A. K = 17:
B. K = -7:
C. K = 60:
D. K = -112:
2. What, if anything, is wrong with the code below?
int test(int i, long int l) {
return i == ((int)l);
}

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Wiki - Homework 1 | The Hardware/Software Interface 5/29/13 8:17 PM

3. For this problem you will use the jack-of-all-trades tool objdump to examine executable
programs on Linux. Be sure to work on this problem on the provided VM. You will need a copy of
the code for Lab 1 (your code does not have to be entirely correct or complete but at least some
of your puzzle functions should be filled in).
A. Run make in your Lab 1 directory to build your code. Run the command objdump -t btest
| grep text and examine the output. What do the strings in the rightmost column of the
output represent?
B. Use objdump to disassemble your btest code (review the "Machine Programming" lecture in
section 3 or check the man page to find the right flag). Find the labels in the assembly code
corresponding to your bit puzzle functions. What x86 assembly instructions appear to perform
right-shift and left-shift operations?
C. Most Linux distributions include several other useful programs for examining binary files
containing machine code. Try out commands such as ldd , file , nm , strings and
readelf , and try other flags with objdump . Report something neat, unusual, or unexpected
that you find. Don't forget to use the man pages to learn more about all of these programs.
D. Run the objdump -t command on a different program on the system - choose one in the
/usr/bin/ directory. You will likely see the output "SYMBOL TABLE: no symbols". Why does
objdump -t appear to work on your program, but not on others?
4. Optional Material: What, if anything, is wrong with the code below?
int test(float f, double d) {
return ((double)f) == d;
}
5. Optional Material: Recall that a floating point number is of the form: (-1)S x M x 2E . M is the
mantissa and 2E is the exponent. Also recall that M ranges from 1.0 to (almost) 2.0. Tell us the
values of M and E for the number 15.0. Note we do not expect you to encode this in IEEE 754
representation, we want you to just tell us in decimal the values of M and E, and the binary value
of the frac (recall frac = M - 1.0).
6. Optional Material: Homework Problem 2.88 (pg 129)
We are running programs on a chine where values of type int have a 32-bit two's-complement
representation. Values of type float use the 32-bit IEEE format, and values of type double use
the 64-bit IEEE format.

We generate arbitrary integer values x , y , and z , and convert them to values of type double
as follows:

/* Create some arbitrary values */


int x = random();
int y = random();
int z = random();
/* Convert to double */
double dx = (double) x;
double dy = (double) y;
double dz = (double) z;

For each of the following C expressions, you are to indicate whether or not the expression always

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Wiki - Homework 1 | The Hardware/Software Interface 5/29/13 8:17 PM

yields 1. If it always yields 1, describe the underlying mathematical principles. Otherwise, give an
example of arguments that make it yield 0. Note that you cannot use an IA32 machine running
GCC to test your answers, since it would use the 80-bit extended-precision representation for
both float and double .

A. (float) x == (float) dx
B. dx - dy == (double) (x-y)
C. (dx + dy) + dz == dx + (dy + dz)
D. (dx * dy) * dz == dx * (dy * dz)
E. dx / dx == dz / dz

Created Sun 21 Apr 2013 7:14 AM CST (UTC +0800)

Last Modified Thu 2 May 2013 2:41 PM CST (UTC +0800)

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