SYSTEM SOFTWARE UNIT - I

INTRODUCTION
What is system software?
 System software consists of a variety of programs that support the
operation of a computer.
 System programs were developed to make computers better adapted
to the needs of their users.
 It allows us to focus on application without knowing details of
machine.
 Examples of system software are text editor, compiler, loader or
linker, debugger, macro processor, operating system etc.
 Text editor is used to create and modify the program.
 Compiler translate the user program into machine
language
 Loaders are system programs that prepare machine
language programs for execution
 Debugger helps to detect errors in the program.
 A translator is used to translate the assembly code into
machine code. This translator is called an assembler.
The most important system software is the OS, which is an integrated
system of programs that manages the system resources, and provides various
support services such as the computer executing the application programs of
users

Page 1
SYSTEM SOFTWARE UNIT - I

SYSTEM SOFTWARE AND MACHINE ARCHITECTURE

System software is different from application software as follows.

APPLICATION SOFTWARE SYSTEMSOFTWARE

1. It concerns with solution of It supports the operation and use of
some problem. the computer.

2. Its focus is on the application It is related to the architecture of the

not on the computing system. machine on which they are to run.
(i.e.) Most of the system software is
machine dependent.

Machine dependency

We discuss how the system software dependent on machine

architecture.
Assembler – Assembler translates mnemonics instructions into
machine code. These mnemonics instructions involves different types of
instruction sets, instruction formats, addressing modes, etc. that varies from
one machine architecture to another. Hence the assembler design depends on
machine architecture.

Page 2
SYSTEM SOFTWARE UNIT - I

Complier – It translates high level language code into machine code. It

involves the following 5-phases,
1. Lexical phase
2. syntactic analysis phase
3. Intermediate code generation phase
4. code optimization phase
5. code generation phase

Machine independency
There are some aspects of system software that do not directly depend
upon the type of computing system being supported.

 Assembler – The general design and logic of an assembler is

basically the same on most computers.

 Compilers – The first three phases of compiler discussed in the

previous section are independent of the machine architecture.

Some of the code optimization techniques like common

sub expression elimination, dead code elimination, etc. are also
independent of the target machine.

 Linker – Linker combines the independently assembled sub

programs into a single module.
The sub programs are independently assembled into object modules. These
object modules are linked by the linker. The process of linking is machine
independent
Page 3
SYSTEM SOFTWARE UNIT - I

THE SIMPLIFIED INSTRUCTIONAL COMPUTER (SIC)

We describe the architecture of Simplified Instructional Computer
(SIC) in terms of memory, registers, instruction format, data format,
addressing modes, instruction set, input and output. This machine has been
designed to illustrate the most commonly encountered hardware features and
concepts that are often found in real machines.
Versions of SIC
SIC comes in two versions.
1. The standard model.
2. an XE version (XE stands for “extra equipment” or “extra
expensively)
These two versions have been designed to be “upward compatible”,
means that an object program for the standard SIC machine will also execute
properly on a SIC / XE system. Such upward compatibility is often found on
real computers that are closely related to one another.
 SIC Machine Architecture
 SIC / XE Machine Architecture
 SIC Programming Examples

SIC Machine Architecture

Memory
 Memory consists of 8-bit bytes
 3 consecutive bytes form a word (24 bits)
 All addresses of SIC are byte addresses
 Words are addressed by the location of their lowest numbered byte.
 There are total of 32,768 (2^15) bytes in the computer memory

Page 4
SYSTEM SOFTWARE UNIT - I

Registers
 There are five registers each is 24 bits in length.
 The following table indicates the numbers, mnemonics and uses of these registers
Mnemonics Number Special Use
A 0 Accumulator, used for
arithmetic operation
X 1 Index register, used for
addressing
L 2 Linkage register, the
Jump to Subroutine
(JSUB) instruction
stores the return address
in this register.
PC 8 Program Counter,
contains the address of
the next instruction to
be fetched for
execution.
SW 9 Status word, contains a
variety of information,
including a condition
code (CC)

The numbering scheme has been chosen for compatibility with the XE
version of SIC. i.e., number 3 to 7 is used by SIC / XE.

Data formats
 Integers are stored as 24-bit binary number
 Negative values are represented as 2’s compliment representation.
Page 5
SYSTEM SOFTWARE UNIT - I

 Characters are stored using their 8-bit ASCII codes

 There is no floating point hardware on the standard version of SIC.

Instruction formats
 All machine instructions on the standard version of SIC have
the 24-bit format as follows:
8 1 15
Opcode X Address

 The flag bit x is used to indicate indexed addressing mode.

Addressing modes
There are two addressing modes available, by setting the x bit of the
instruction. They are:
Mode Indication Target Address
Calculation
1. Direct X=0 TA = address
2. Indexed X=1 TA = address + (X)
(Parenthesis are used to
indicate the contents of
a register or memory
location)
(X) – Content of Index register

Instruction Set
SIC provides a basic set of instructions that are sufficient for most
simple tasks. It includes:

Page 6
SYSTEM SOFTWARE UNIT - I

 Load and Store instructions

LDA, LDX, STA, STX, etc.

 Arithmetic instructions
ADD, SUB, MUL, DIV
(Ex) ADD WORD (Adds register A with memory WORD and result is
stored in A)

 Comparison instruction
COMP
(ex) COMP WORD (Compares the value in register A with WORD and sets
condition code CC to indicate the result <, = or >)

 Condition jump instruction

JLT, JEQ, JGT
These instructions can test the setting of CC and jump accordingly.

 Subroutine linkage instruction

JSUB – jumps to the subroutine, placing the return address in
register L.
RSUB – returns by jumping to the address contained in
register L.

Input and output

 Input and output is performed by transferring 1 byte at a time or
from the rightmost of bits of register A.
 Each device is assigned a unique 8-bit code.
Page 7
SYSTEM SOFTWARE UNIT - I

 There are three input / output instructions with device code as

operand namely TD, RD and WD.
 TD – Test Device instruction sets whether the addressed device
is ready to send or receive a byte of data. CC is set for the
result.
 A setting of < means that the device is ready to send or receive
 A setting = means that the device is not ready.
 A program needing to transfer data must wait until the device is
ready then execute
Read Data (RD) or Write Data (WD)
 This sequence should be continual for each byte of delta.

SIC / XE MACHINE ARCHITECTURE

 Memory
 Registers
 Data formats
 Instruction formats
 Addressing modes
 Input and output
Memory
The memory structure for SIC / XE is the same as SIC standard model
memory. The maximum memory on SIC / XE is1 MB (2^20 bytes). This
increase leads to change in instruction formats and addressing modes.

Registers

Page 8
SYSTEM SOFTWARE UNIT - I

Mnemonics Number Special Use

A 0 Accumulator, used for arithmetic
operation
X 1 Index register, used for addressing
L 2 Linkage register, the Jump to Subroutine
(JSUB) instruction stores the return
address in this register.
B 3 Base register, used for addressing

S 4 General working register – no special

use
T 5 General working register no special use
F 6 Floating point accumulator (48 bits)
PC 8 Program Counter, contains the address
of the next instruction to be fetched for
execution.
SW 9 Status word, contains a variety of
information, including a condition code
(CC)

Data formats
1 11 36
S Exponent fraction

Instruction formats

Page 9
SYSTEM SOFTWARE UNIT - I

 Format (1 byte)
 Format ( 2 bytes)
 Format (3 bytes)
 Format ( 4 bytes)

Format 1 (1 byte):

op {8}

Format 2 (2 bytes):

op {8} r1 r2
{4} {4}

Format 3 (3 bytes):

op {6} n i x b p e displacement {12}

Format 4 (4 bytes):

op {6} n i x b p e address {20}

Formats 3 & 4 introduce addressing mode flag bits:

 n=0 & i=1

Immediate addressing - TA is used as an operand value (no memory
reference)
 n=1 & i=0

Page
10
SYSTEM SOFTWARE UNIT - I

Indirect addressing - word at TA (in memory) is fetched & used as an

address to fetch the operand from
 n=0 & i=0
Simple addressing TA is the location of the operand
 n=1 & i=1
Simple addressing same as n=0 & i=0

Flag x:
x=1 Indexed addressing add contents of X register to TA calculation

Flag b & p (Format 3 only):

 b=0 & p=0

Direct addressing displacement/address field containsTA (Format 4
always uses direct addressing)
 b=0 & p=1
PC relative addressing - TA=(PC)+disp (-2048<=disp<=2047)*
 b=1 & p=0
Base relative addressing - TA=(B)+disp (0<=disp<=4095)**

* note - in PC relative, disp is interpreted as a 12 bit signed integer in 2's

complement

** note - in Base relative, disp is interpreted as a 12 bit unsigned integer

Flag e:
e=0 use Format 3
e=1 use Format 4

Input and Output (I/O):

 28 (256) I/O devices may be attached, each has its own unique 8-bit
address

Page
11
SYSTEM SOFTWARE UNIT - I

 1 byte of data will be transferred to/from the rightmost 8 bits of

register A

Three I/O instructions are provided:

 RD Read Data from I/O device into A

 WD Write data to I/O device from A
 TD Test Device determines if addressed I/O device is ready to
send/receive a byte of data. The CC (Condition Code) gets set with
results from this test:
< device is ready to send/receive
= device isn't ready

SIC/XE Has capability for programmed I/O (I/O device may input/output
data while CPU does other work) - 3 additional instructions are provided:
 SIO Start I/O
 HIO Halt I/O
 TIO Test I/O .

Example Programs

Simple data and character movement operation

LDA FIVE
STA ALPHA
LDCH CHARZ
STCH C1
.
ALPHA RESW 1
FIVE WORD 5
CHARZ BYTE C’Z’
C1 RESB 1

Arithmetic operations Program

LDA ALPHA
ADD INCR
SUB ONE
Page
12
SYSTEM SOFTWARE UNIT - I

STA BEETA
……..
……..
……..
……..
ONE WORD 1
ALPHA RESW 1
BEETA RESW 1
INCR RESW 1

Looping and Indexing operation Program

LDX ZERO : X=0

MOVECH LDCH STR1, X : LOAD A FROM STR1
STCH STR2, X : STORE A TO STR2
TIX ELEVEN : ADD 1 TO X, TEST
JLT MOVECH
.
.
.
STR1 BYTE C ‘HELLO WORLD’
STR2 RESB 11
ZERO WORD 0
ELEVEN WORD 11

Input and Output operation Program

INLOOP TD INDEV : TEST INPUT DEVICE

JEQ INLOOP : LOOP UNTIL DEVICE IS
READY
RD INDEV : READ ONE BYTE INTO A
STCH DATA : STORE A TO DATA
.
.
OUTLP TD OUTDEV : TEST OUTPUT DEVICE
JEQ OUTLP : LOOP UNTIL DEVICE IS
READY
LDCH DATA : LOAD DATA INTO A
WD OUTDEV : WRITE A TO OUTPUT DEVICE
.
.
INDEV BYTE X ‘F5’ : INPUT DEVICE NUMBER
OUTDEV BYTE X ‘08’ : OUTPUT DEVICE NUMBER

Page
13
SYSTEM SOFTWARE UNIT - I

DATA RESB 1 : ONE-BYTE VARIABLE

To transfer two hundred bytes of data from input device to

memory

LDX ZERO
CLOOP TD INDEV
JEQ CLOOP
RD INDEV
STCH RECORD, X
TIX B200
JLT CLOOP
.
.
INDEV BYTE X ‘F5’
RECORD RESB 200
ZERO WORD 0
B200 WORD 200

Subroutine to transfer two hundred bytes of data from input

device to memory
JSUB READ
………….
………….
READ LDX ZERO
CLOOP TD INDEV
JEQ CLOOP
RD INDEV
STCH RECORD, X
TIX B200 : add 1 to index compare 200 (B200)
JLT CLOOP
RSUB
……..
……..
INDEV BYTE X ‘F5’
RECORD RESB 200
ZERO WORD 0
B200 WORD 200
Example Programs (SIC/XE)

Simple data and character movement operation

Page
14
SYSTEM SOFTWARE UNIT - I

LDA #5
STA ALPHA
LDA #90
STCH C1 .
.
ALPHA RESW 1
C1 RESB 1

Arithmetic operations

LDS INCR
LDA ALPHA
ADD S,A
SUB #1
STA BETA
………….
…………..
ALPHA RESW 1
BEETA RESW 1
INCR RESW 1

Looping and Indexing operation

LDT #11
LDX #0 : X=0
MOVECH LDCH STR1, X : LOAD A FROM STR1
STCH STR2, X : STORE A TO STR2
TIXR T : ADD 1 TO X, TEST (T)
JLT MOVECH
……….
……….
………
STR1 BYTE C ‘HELLO WORLD’
STR2 RESB 11

To transfer two hundred bytes of data from input device to

memory
Page
15
SYSTEM SOFTWARE UNIT - I

LDT #200
LDX #0
CLOOP TD INDEV
JEQ CLOOP
RD INDEV
STCH RECORD, X
TIXR T
JLT CLOOP
.
.
INDEV BYTE X ‘F5’
RECORD RESB 200

Subroutine to transfer two hundred bytes of data from input

device to memory

JSUB READ
……….
……….
READ LDT #200
LDX #0
CLOOP TD INDEV
JEQ CLOOP
RD INDEV
STCH RECORD, X
TIXR T : add 1 to index compare T
JLT CLOOP
RSUB
……..
……..
INDEV BYTE X ‘F5’
RECORD RESB 200

Page
16