Systems Programming

Tutorial Eight-Part-02: Sheet Five Solution

Lecture Instructor : Prof. Dr. Ahmed El Nahas

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Solution

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 Exercise(1)
b) Give some examples of System Software. Describe each briefly.

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Solution

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 Exercise(1)
c) Describe in details why do we need a system software.

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Solution

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 Exercise(1)
d) State two common categories of languages with examples for each
that are used for Systems Programming.

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Solution

Example: SIC/XE
Assembly Langyage

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 Exercise(1)
e) Describe in details the difference between literal and immediate
operand.

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Solution

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 Exercise(1)
f) Describe the need for a LTORG (Literal Origin) statement in SIC/XE
assembly programming.

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Solution

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 Exercise(1)
g) Describe the need for an ORG (Origin) statement in SIC/XE assembly
programming.

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Solution

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 Exercise(1)
h) Differentiate between Systems Programming and Applications
Programming.

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Solution

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 Exercise(1)
i) What are the advantages of using relocatable code?

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Solution

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 Exercise(2)
2. Indicate whether each of the following statements is TRUE or FALSE.

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Solution

True
False
False

False

False
False
False

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 Exercise(3)
3. What is wrong with the following pieces of code:

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 Solution(a)

The value of location counter should be loaded in base register and should be done after the base
directive

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 Solution(b)

The hexadecimal constant must be of even length.

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 Solution(c)

Literals can be used only in place of operand as source but not as destination field
of an instruction (operand used to retrieve a value).

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 Solution(d)

ORG operand must be defined using previously defined constants and/or symbols
EQU operand (expression) must be defined using previously defined constants
and/or symbols.

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 Solution(e)

Immediate constant in operand is too large to fit in the instruction.

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 Solution(f)

The operand for START directive should not exceed 4 hexadecimal digits.

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 Exercise(4)
4. A SIC/XE instruction is stored at location 700 and spans 3 bytes (format-
3). The address field has the value 150. The location 150 contains the
value 20. The registers X and B contain the value 120 and 180,
respectively. Assuming that all the values given are in decimal and that
the value of the program counter contains the address of the current
instruction while evaluating the target address of the current
instruction, what is the target address (in decimal) of the instruction
operand for each of the following addressing modes:
a) Direct
b) Indirect
c) Immediate
d) PC-relative
e) Base-relative with B as base register
f) Indexed with X as index register

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 Solution
Hint: We ignore the relative possibilities in our solution while evaluating
the addresses for (Direct, Indirect, Immediate, and indexing).
a) Direct  TA = 150 Operand = (TA) = (150)
b) Indirect  TA = 150 Operand = ((TA)) = ((150)) = (20)
c) Immediate  TA = 150 Operand = TA = 150
d) PC-relative  TA = (PC) + 150 = 700 + 150 = 850 Operand = (TA) = (850)
e) Base-relative  TA = (B) + 150 = 180 + 150 = 330 Operand = (TA) = (330)
f) Indexed  TA = 150 + (x) = 150 + 120 = 270 Operand = (TA) = (270)

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 Exercise(5)
5. Consider the SIC/XE assembler, explain using examples each of the
following:
a) How could the assembler decide whether to use PC-relative or Base-
relative addressing in assembling format-3 instructions.
b) How could the assembler decide whether to encode an instruction as
format-3 or format-4.

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 Solution(a)
• Using Base and NOBASE directives

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 Solution(b)
• All format-3 instructions can be used as format-4.
• The programmer can specify use of format-4 by adding prefix ‘+’ to
the operation code (mnemonic).
• Example
LDA ALPHA (format-3)
+LDA ALPHA (format-4)

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 Exercise(6)
6. Assume the following code (the address in leftmost cell is in
hexadecimal):
0080 NUM RESW 100
TNUM EQU *
a) What is the value of TNUM (in hexadecimal)?
b) If we replaced the directive RESW with ORG, what is the new value of
TNUM?

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 Solution(a)
• TNUM = 0080 + 012C = 01AC (hexadecimal)

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 Solution(b)
• TNUM = 0064 (hexadecimal)

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 Exercise(7)
7. Consider the following sequence of SIC/XE assembly instructions starting
at location 30 (hexadecimal):

Determine in tabular format the value and type (Absolute/Relocatable

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 Solution

0033
081B
07E8
07F2
Symbol Type Value(Hexadecimal)
XXX Relocatable (relative) 0030
YYY Relocatable (relative) 0033
WWW Relocatable (relative) 081B
ZZZZ Absolute 07E8
QQQ Absolute 07F2
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