Computer Organization and Assembly Language Fall 2010
Assignment 1
                  Due Date: 30th August 2010
1. How do the assembler and linker work together'?
2. How will studying assembly language enhance your understanding of
   operating systems?
3. What is meant by a one-to-many relationship when comparing a high-
   level language to machine language'?
4. Explain the concept of portability as it applies to programming
   languages.
5. Is the assembly language for the Intel 80x86 processor family the
   same as those for computer systems such as the Vax or Motorola
   68xOO'?
6. Give an example of an embedded systems application.
7. What is a device driver'?
8. Is type checking on pointer variables stronger in assembly language or
   in C++?
9. Name two types of applications that would be better suited to
   assembly language than a high-level language.
10. Why would a high-level language not be an ideal tool for writing a
    program that directly accesses a particular brand of printer'?
11. Why is assembly language not usually used when writing large
    application programs'?
12. Translate the following C++ expression to assembly language
                 X = (Y * 4) + 3
13. What is the duration of a single clock cycle (in nanoseconds) in a 3.4
    GHz processor?
14. What is the l6-bit hexadecimal representation of each signed decimal
    integer?
        a. - 2 6
        b. - 4 5 2
15. The following 16-bit hexadecimal numbers represent signed integers.
    Convert to decimal.
      a. 7CAB
      b. C123
16. What is the decimal representation of the following signed binary
    numbers?
      a. 10110101
      b. 00101010
      c. 11110000
17. What is the decimal representation of the following signed binary
    numbers?
      a. 10000000
      b. 11001100
      c. 10110111
18. What is the 8-bit binary (two's complement) representation of each of
    the following signed decimal integers?
       a. - 5
       b. -36
       c. -16
19. What is the minimum number of binary bits needed to represent each
    of the following unsigned decimal integers?
        a. 4095
        b. 6 5 53 4
        c. 2134657
20. Why was Unicode invented?
21. What is the largest value you can represent using a 256-bit unsigned
    integer?
22. What is the largest value you can represent using a 256-bit signed
    integer?
23. Which flag is set when an arithmetic or logical instruction produces a
    negative result?
24. Which Intel processor was the first member of the IA-32 family?
25. Name all 32-bit general-purpose registers