Program Construction

Question 1

Assembly Code

Answer 1

a low-level programming language designed for a specific type of processor that can be converted to machine code using an assembler

Question 2

High-Level Language

Answer 2

a programming language designed to simplify computer programs, is high-level because it is several steps removed from the actual code run on the CPU

Question 3

Intermediate Code

Answer 3

used as an intermediary when translating source code into machine code

Question 4

Lexeme

Answer 4

character sequence forming a specific instance of a token, such as num

Question 5

Linker

Answer 5

combines pre-compiled modules of code, such as standard libraries, and your program into a single executable file

Question 6

Loader

Answer 6

executes at runtime, part of the OS, checks there is enough memory for the program and allocates RAM

Question 7

Low Level Language

Answer 7

a programming language that contains basic instructions recognised by a CPU, such as assembly code and machine code

Question 8

Machine Code

Answer 8

code that the computer can understand, made up of 1s and 0s

Question 9

Mnemonics

Answer 9

short code used in assembly language, chosen to remind the programmer of the program instruction it represents

Question 10

Object Code

Answer 10

code that is executed

Question 11

Source Code

Answer 11

code that you type

Question 12

Translator

Answer 12

tool that translates source code into object code.

Question 13

Assembler

Answer 13

a computer program that will take the mnemonics used in assembly language and convert them into machine code so they can be processed by the computer. This is done by converting one word assembly instructions into opcode, and allocating memory to variables, often resulting in an operand

Question 14

Compiler

Answer 14

converts the whole program into a single executable program in one go

Question 15

Interpreter

Answer 15

takes code written in high-level language and translates it into machine code. It translates everything one line at a time

Question 16

Lexical Analysis

Answer 16

translates code into a series of tokens, removing any white space, indentation and comments

Question 17

Symbol Table Construction

Answer 17

created to store variables, comments and non key-words, involves simple error checking

Question 18

Syntax Analysis

Answer 18

breaks up strings into statements, which are parsed using syntax or BNF definitions; information on data types and scope of variables is added to the symbol table and errors are reported

Question 19

Semantic Analysis

Answer 19

type checking occurs and checks all variables have been declared

Question 20

Code Generation

Answer 20

produces an object code version of the program, producing several instructions for high-level instruction; variables and constants are given symbolic addresses and immediate byte code is generated

Question 21

Optimisation

Answer 21

optimises the program for the processor that it is run on, either by improve processing speed, reducing number of instructions or reducing memory needed (only on compilers)

Question 22

Parsing

Answer 22

where strings are broken up into statements then checked against he rules of the language

Question 23

Low Level Language

Answer 23

a programming language that contains basic instructions recognised by a CPU, such as assembly code and machine code

Question 24

Reverse Engineering

Answer 24

involves extracting design information from code

Question 25

Type Checking

Answer 25

verifies that the types of values and expressions in a program are consistent and compatible

Question 26

Strongly Typed Languages

Answer 26

a language with firm restrictions imposed on data types and values

Question 27

Weakly Typed Languages

Answer 27

a language without firm restrictions imposed on data types and values

Question 28

Virtual Machine

Answer 28

computer system where software on one computer is used to emulate the functionality of another computer, for example, emulating Windows XP on Windows 10