KOLEJ UNIVERSITI TUNKU ABDUL RAHMAN

FACULTY OF COMPUTING AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

ACADEMIC YEAR 2019/2020

APRIL/MAY E-ASSESSMENT

AACS3064 COMPUTER SYSTEMS ARCHITECTURE

WEDNESDAY, 29 APRIL 2020 TIME: 2:00 PM – 6:00 PM

DIPLOMA IN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (ICT SYSTEMS SUPPORT)

DIPLOMA IN SCIENCE (COMPUTER SCIENCE AND COMPUTER

MANAGEMENT) DIPLOMA IN SCIENCE (INFORMATION SYSTEMS
ENGINEERING)

DIPLOMA IN SOFTWARE ENGINEERING

DIPLOMA IN INTERACTIVE SOFTWARE TECHNOLOGY

Instructions to candidates:

● Answer ALL questions in the requested format or the template provided. ● Include your FULL
NAME, STUDENT ID, and PROGRAMME OF STUDY in your submission of answer.
● This is an open book e-assessment but you MUST NOT receive any help whatsoever from any
other person.
● Read all the questions carefully and understand what you are being asked to answer. ● You must
submit your answer within the time frame allotted for the e-assessment and submit to the Google
Classroom.
● Marks are awarded for your own (original) analysis. Therefore, use the time and information to
build well-constructed answers.
● Observe the word limit for each question. Any answers beyond the stipulated word limit will not be
assessed. Therefore, aim for concise, accurate, thoughtful answers with accompanying
supporting explanations and justifications.
● Any late submission after the stipulated time frame or no submission, it is deemed to fail the
e-assessment. [Note: For candidates who have problems completing the e-assessment, please
email to examination@tarc.edu.my with supporting documents to apply for “I” indicator
under Extenuating Mitigating Circumstances (EMC) situation by 12 May 2020]

Declaration by candidates:

By submitting this e-assessment, I declare that this submitted work is free from all
forms of plagiarism and for all intents and purposes is my own properly derived work. I
understand that I have to bear the consequences if I fail to do so.

This question paper consists of 4 questions on 5 printed pages.

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AACS3064 COMPUTER SYSTEMS ARCHITECTURE

Question 1

a) Perform the following number conversions. (You are required to show your conversion steps
clearly.)

(i) 21210 to octal number (2 marks) (ii) 5278 to hexadecimal number (2 marks) (iii) 3D7016 to

binary number (2 marks) (iv) 4315 to decimal number (2 marks) (v) 101000101100.1012 to

hexadecimal number (2 marks)

b) Perform the following operations and show the answers in their respective number base. (You are
required to show your working steps clearly.)

(i) AB3 16 + B116 (3 marks) (ii) 110112 x 1012 (3 marks)

c) Assuming an 8-bit system is used (i.e. the system uses 8 bits to represent an integer): 38 +

(- 24)

(i) Show how the above operation is solved using two’s complement method. (3 marks) (ii)

Verify your answer by showing the answer in signed decimal value. (1 mark)

d) Represent the binary number 110110.0110112 in IEEE 754 single precision format using
excess-127 notation. Assume “0” represents positive sign and “1” represents negative sign.
Show your conversion steps clearly. (5 marks)

[Total: 25 marks]

Question 2

a) Given that the CS register contains an address of 049FH and the IP register contains an address of
0043H, Calculate the absolute address of the CS:IP memory location. (You are required to
show your working steps clearly.) (3 marks)

b) Name the THREE (3) types of data that a bus might carry between the Central Processing Unit
(CPU) and main memory. (3 marks)

c) Distinguish between the Reduced Instruction Set Computing (RISC) and the Complex Instruction
Set Computing (CISC) architectures. (10 marks)

This question paper consists of 4 questions on 6 printed pages.

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AACS3064 COMPUTER SYSTEMS ARCHITECTURE

Question 2 (Continued)
d) A programmer is planning to develop a video player software.

(i) What type of Input/Ouput technique does the programmer need to consider so that his
video player could play a local video file smoothly without any stuttering. (1 mark)

(ii) Justify your answer in Q3 (d) (i). (6 marks)

(iii) Identify ONE (1) input and ONE (1) output devices required by the video player
software that would benefit from the Input/Output technique that you have named in
Q3 (d) (i). (2 marks)

[Total: 25 marks]

Question 3

Figure 3-1: Folding@home landing page at https://foldingathome.org

a) “Folding@home, is a distributed computing project for simulating protein dynamics, including the
process of protein folding and the movements of proteins implicated in a variety of diseases.
It brings together citizen scientists who volunteer to run simulations of protein dynamics on
their personal computers. Insights from this data are helping scientists to better understand
biology, and providing new opportunities for developing therapeutics.”
Source: https://foldingathome.org.

You may visit the Folding@home website to find out more about the Folding@home project.
Based on your findings, answer the questions below in relation to Folding@home.

(i) What type of multiprocessing approach does Folding@home follow? (2 marks) (ii) Justify

your answer in Q3 (a) (i). (6 marks)

(iii) Examine the FOUR (4) advantages of the approach that Folding@home has taken. (8
marks)

This question paper consists of 4 questions on 6 printed pages.

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AACS3064 COMPUTER SYSTEMS ARCHITECTURE

Question 3 (Continued)

b) An amateur gamer is planning to participate in a national e-sport competition and would like to
upgrade his personal computer (PC) so that his favourite games would run better on it.

(i) Suggest any THREE (3) components in his PC that he should consider to upgrade to
enhance the performance of his computer. (3 marks)

(ii) Justify your answer in Q3 (b) (i). (6 marks) [Total: 25 marks]

Question 4

a) Write the debug assembly command for the following.

(i) Insert the data 84 65 82 85 67 into the data segment at offset address of 100h. (1 mark)

(ii) Display the content of memory from code segment at offset address of 100h. (2 marks)

(iii) Unassemble the machine code into symbolic code from the offset address of 100h to
109h. (2 marks)

b) Name any THREE (3) segments in a segmented memory management approach. (3 marks)

c) Write a complete assembly language program using simplified segment directive to accept a
number between 1 to 9 from the user. Your program is required to test the entered number and
output a message indicating whether the entered number is an odd or even number.

A sample output screen is shown below:

Sample Output:

Sample 1:

Enter a number: 3
The number entered is an odd number.

Sample 2:

Enter a number: 8
The number entered is an even number.

This question paper consists of 4 questions on 6 printed pages.

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AACS3064 COMPUTER SYSTEMS ARCHITECTURE

Question 4 (c) (Continued)

Marks will be awarded according to the following criteria:
Declaration of data items 2 marks

Initialization 1 mark

Prompt message 2 marks

Input 2 marks

Odd/Even number testing 2 marks

Conditional statement 3 marks

Display result message 2 marks

End program 1 mark

Program structure 2 marks

(17 marks)

[Total: 25 marks]
 This question paper consists of 4 questions on 6 printed pages.
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AACS3064 COMPUTER SYSTEMS ARCHITECTURE

Appendix: ASCII Character Set

00 20 40 @ 60 ` 80 Ç A0 á C0 └ E0 α

01 ☺ 21 ! 41 A 61 a 81 ü A1 í C1 ┴ E1 ß
02 ☻ 22 “ 42 B 62 b 82 é A2 ó C2 ┬ E2 Γ
03 ♥ 23 # 43 C 63 c 83 â A3 ú C3 ├ E3 π
04 ♦ 24 $ 44 D 64 d 84 ä A4 ñ C4 ─ E4 Σ
05 ♣ 25 % 45 E 65 e 85 à A5 Ñ C5 ┼ E5 σ
06 ♠ 26 & 46 F 66 f 86 å A6 ª C6 ╞ E6 µ
07 • 27 ‘ 47 G 67 g 87 ç A7 º C7 ╟ E7 τ
08 ◘ 28 ( 48 H 68 h 88 ê A8 ¿ C8 ╚ E8 Φ
09 ○ 29 ) 49 I 69 i 89 ë A9 ⌐ C9 ╔ E9 Θ
0A ◙ 2A * 4A J 6A j 8A è AA ¬ CA ╩ EA Ω
0B ♂ 2B + 4B K 6B k 8B ï AB ½ CB ╦ EB Δ
0C ♀ 2C , 4C L 6C l 8C î AC ¼ CC ╠ EC ∞
0D ♪ 2D - 4D M 6D m 8D ì AD ¡ CD ═ ED φ
0E ♫ 2E . 4E N 6E n 8E Ä AE « CE ╬ EE ε
0F ☼ 2F / 4F O 6F o 8F Å AF » CF ╧ EF ∩
10 ► 30 0 50 P 70 p 90 É B0 ░ D0 ╨ F0 ≡
11 ◄ 31 1 51 Q 71 q 91 æ B1 ▒ D1 ╤ F1 ±
12 ↕ 32 2 52 R 72 r 92 Æ B2 ▓ D2 ╥ F2 ≥
13 ‼ 33 3 53 S 73 s 93 ô B3 │ D3 ╙ F3 ≤
14 ¶ 34 4 54 T 74 t 94 ö B4 ┤ D4 ╘ F4 ⌠
15 § 35 5 55 U 75 u 95 ò B5 ╡ D5 ╒ F5 ⌡
16 ▬ 36 6 56 V 76 v 96 û B6 ╢ D6 ╓ F6 ÷
17 ↨ 37 7 57 W 77 w 97 ù B7 ╖ D7 ╫ F7 ≈
18 ↑ 38 8 58 X 78 x 98 ÿ B8 ╕ D8 ╪ F8 °
19 ↓ 39 9 59 Y 79 y 99 Ö B9 ╣ D9 ┘ F9 ∙
1A → 3A : 5A Z 7A z 9A Ü BA ║ DA ┌ FA ·
1B ← 3B ; 5B [ 7B { 9B ¢ BB ╗ DB █ FB √
1C ∟ 3C < 5C \ 7C | 9C £ BC ╝ DC ▄ FC ⁿ
1D ↔ 3D = 5D ] 7D } 9D ¥ BD ╜ DD ▌ FD ²
1E ▲ 3E > 5E ^ 7E ~ 9E ₧ BE ╛ DE ▐ FE ■
1F ▼ 3F ? 5F _ 7F ⌂ 9F ƒ BF ┐ DF ▀ FF

This question paper consists of 4 questions on 6 printed pages.