Low level software develompent tools/WEEK3

Question 1

what is a “binary executable file”

Answer 1

Binary executable file format is a particular way of storing machine language
programs in a file

Question 2

What does the “Linker” do?

Answer 2

or Link editor is a system program that takes one or more object files
and combines them into a single executable file by
1)merging their partial .data and .text sections into the complete .data and
.text sections of the executable file, and
2)replacing (“editing”) all unresolved references with the actual memory
addresses of the corresponding CPU instructions or data items in
either .data or .text section of the executable file.

Question 3

Adbantages of using Object files?

Answer 3

• faster than re-translating all source code files into
  machine language every time the source code of the program is changed.
• When a small change is made, only the source code files affected by that
  change (usually just one file) need to be re-translated into machine
  language before linking.

-Software development is an iterative process, in which small development
step is usually followed by a test run. The use of object files saves a lot of
time when the modified program is re-run.

Question 4

What is “Build Automation” ?

Answer 4

“the process of automating the creation of a software
build and the associated processes including: compiling computer source
code into binary code, packaging binary code, and running automated
tests.”

Question 5

What is a “Calling Convention” ?

Answer 5

Calling convention is the set of rules spacifying how parameters are passed to subroutines and how
results are returned back from that subroutine