Question

1.Explain why computers have both main memory and secondary storage.
2.Explain the operations carried out by the preprocessor, compiler, and linker.
3.Explain what is stored in a source file, an object file, and an executable file.
4.What is an algorithm?
5.Describe difference between program line and a statement.
6.Is a syntax error found by the compiler or when the program is running?
7.What two units does the CPU consist of?
8.What happens to a variable’s current contents when a new value is stored there?
9.What are the three primary activities of a program?
10.Describe the difference between a key word and a programmer – defined identifier.

Answer 1

1. The main memory is a very fast memory while secondary memory is not that fast. The main memory is costly and does not have so much space and secondary memory is cheaper and has more space. To make the processing and access of data faster, the files that are required by the program are moved to the main memory from secondary memory. This makes access to information and data faster and in turn processing also becomes fast.

2. Preprocessor uses the macros to process the program before it passes through the compiler.. It transforms the program before the compilation done by compiler.

Compiler is a program that transforms the source code from a programming language to a machine code.

Linker is a program that picks one or more objects compiled by the compiler and merges them into an executable file.

3. Source file is the file which contains a program in programming language.

Object file is the file obtained as an output of the compiler.

The executable file is obtained as an output after linking several object files together.

4) Algorithm is a step by step definition of the process flow in the program.