CS 502 : System Software


Coverage plan for theory part :
===============================

1. Overview of System Software
	Types of system software
	The problem of Translation

2. Assembly language and essentials of assembly process
	Executable statements, Assembler directives

3. Lexical analysis
    - Tokens, keywords, identifiers, literals
    - C program for Lexical analysis
    - Finite automata and C program to implement it
    - Lexical analyser generator - LEX, FLEX

4. Assembler data structures, Symbol table

5. Single phase and multiple phase assembly process

6. Assembler macros and macroprocessors

7. Linkers and Loaders
    - Basic concepts of modular programs, linking of modules, and laoding.
    - Static and Dynamic linking
    - Shared libraries - case study of Sun Solaris and MS Windows
    - OLE, ActiveX
    - Loaders and Overlay

8. Debuggers
    - Types of debuggers, essential features
    - Break-points, controlled execution
    - examination of variables, stack, and internal registers
    - advanced features - user interface using source symbols, modification
      of values, logging of input sequences, etc.

9. Editors
    - Essential functionalities
    - Types of editors
    - Structure of editors
    - Advanced features
    - Case study of vi, MS Word

10. Unix Utilities
    - Make, RCS, sed, grep, awk, etc.

11. Compilers	:
    - Basic features of High Level Languages and overview of the issues in
      translation of HLL programs.
    - Phases of a compiler.

Approximate Schedule :
======================

	Topics 1, and 2				2 weeks
	Topics 3, and 4				2 weeks
	Topics 5				1 weeks
	Topics 6				1 weeks
	Topics 7				2 weeks
	Topics 8				1 weeks
	Topics 9				1 weeks
	Topics 10				2 weeks
	Topics 11				1 weeks

Note : One week is equivalent to 2 theory classes and 2 laboratory contact
	hours.


Laboratory work :
=================

1. Familiarisation with UNIX environment :
    - User account, login, shell
    - Basic commands
    - Files and directories, access permissions
    - Environment variables
    - The vi editor - basic operations
    - Compiling and running programs
    - Getting help - man pages
    						- 1 Class

2. Writing a program to perform very simple text processing.
    						- 1 Class

3. Writing a lexical analyser program for a representative assembly language
    using C.
    						- 1 Class

4. Lexical analyser generator - LEX, FLEX
    						- 1 Class

5. Implementation of assembler data structures including Symbol table
    						- 1 Class

6. Writing a simple assembler
    						- 2 Class

7. Familiarisation with libraries in UNIX, Windows
    						- 1 Class

8. Using a debugger in UNIX.
    						- 1 Class

9. Unix utilities - make, rcs, grep, awk
    						- 2 Class