Introduction to system programming

TOPIC
INTRODUCTION TO
SYSTEM
PROGRAMMING
Presented by:-
Ms. Sonali Kharade
Assistant Professor, Computer Science Department

Introduction
 A system programming is a program which helps to execute user’s program
effectively on a computer system.
 Computer software system is classified into two categories i.e. System
program and Application program.
1. System program
2. Application program

Difference between System software and Application software
Sr. No. System Software Application Software
1.
System software is used for operating
computer hardware.
Application software is used by user to
perform specific task.
2.
System software's are installed on the
computer when operating system is
installed.
Application softwares are installed
according to user’s requirements.
3.
In general, the user does not interact
with system software because it works
in the background.
In general, the user interacts with
application software's.
4.
System software can run
independently. It provides platform
for running application softwares.
Application software can’t run
independently. They can’t run without
the presence of system software.
5.
Some examples of system softwares
are compiler, assembler, debugger,
driver, etc.
Some examples of application software's
are word processor, web browser, media
player, etc.

Difference between System and Application programming
Sr. No. System Programming Application Programming
1.
System programming is comprised of
writing programs for assemblers,
compilers, editors etc
Application programming is used for
providing means to facilitate applications
such as management information
system, Ms. Word.
2. Debugging is difficult. Debugging is not difficult.
3. Fault-fixing is not easy, but reliable.. Fault-fixing is easy and reliable.
4.
In system programming, programmer
used to build application. Eg.
Operating System, DBMS etc
In application programming,
programmers build application. Eg.
Website, Ms-Word, video games etc
5.
System programming makes machine
to do work.
Application programming makes system
program to do work.

Elements of programming environment
 Assembler
 Loader and Linker
 Macro preprocessor
 Compiler
 Editor
 Debugger
 Device Drivers
 Operating System

Assembler
 An assembler is a program that converts assembly language into machine code. It
takes the basic commands and operations from assembly code and converts them
into binary code that can be recognized by a specific type of processor.
 An assembler enables software and application developers to access, operate and
manage a computer's hardware architecture and components.
 An assembler is sometimes referred to as the compiler of assembly language. It
also provides the services of an interpreter.
Assembler
Assembly language
program
Machine language
program

Linker and Loader
 A linker combines one or more object files and possible some library code into
either some executable, some library or a list of error messages.
 The task of integrating the program modules together is called linking.
 A loader reads the executable code into memory, does some address translation
and tries to run the program resulting in a running program or an error message
(or both).
Loader
Object program on
secondary storage
Object program in
main memory
Source
program
Executable
program
Compiler Linker

Macro Preprocessor
 Macro provide an easy and efficient solution to be problem of repeatedly needing
the sequence of instruction.
 A preprocessor, generally considered as a part of compiler, is a tool that produces
input for compilers. It deals with macro-processing, augmentation, file inclusion,
language extension, etc.
 The macro preprocessor accepts an assembly language program containing
macro definitions and macro calls and translates into assembly program which
does not contain any macros.
 The entire operating system is written as a series of macro definitions and macro
calls.
Macro
Preprocessor
Assembly language
program with macro
Assembly language
program without macro

Compiler
 A compiler is a program that converts high-level language to assembly language.
Similarly, an assembler is a program that converts the assembly language to
machine-level. Example: Turbo compiler for ‘C language’.
Compiler
High level language
program
Low level language
program (object code)

Interpreter
 An interpreter, like a compiler, translates high-level language into low-level
machine language. The difference lies in the way they read the source code or
input. A compiler reads the whole source code at once, creates tokens, checks
semantics, generates intermediate code, executes the whole program and may
involve many passes. In contrast, an interpreter reads a statement from the input,
converts it to an intermediate code, executes it, then takes the next statement in
sequence. If an error occurs, an interpreter stops execution and reports it. whereas
a compiler reads the whole program even if it encounters several errors.
Source
code
Interpreter Output

Editor
 Editors or text editors are software programs that enable the user to create and
edit text files. In the field of programming, the term editor usually refers to source
code editors that include many special features for writing and editing code.
Notepad, Wordpad are some of the common editors used on Windows OS and vi,
emacs, Jed, pico are the editors on UNIX OS.
Source
code
Editor
Formatted
source code

Debugger
 A debugger program is one that allows the user to view another program line by
line. This allows the user to identify incorrect code and find out how a program
flows.
 A debugger is very useful to find semantic errors in the program. So, it is
necessary as it helps the programmer visualize program flow.
 A debugger is a computer program used by programmers to test and debug a
target program.
 Here’s the debugging process:
1. Reproduce the problem.
2. Describe the bug. Try to get as much input from the user to get the exact
reason.
3. Capture the program snapshot when the bug appears. Try to get all the variable
values and states of the program at that time.
4. Analyse the snapshot based on the state and action. Based on that try to find the
cause of the bug.
5. Fix the existing bug, but also check that any new bug does not occur.

Operating System
 An operating system is the most important software that runs on a computer. It
manages the computer's memory and processes, as well as all of
its software and hardware. It also allows you to communicate with the
computer without knowing how to speak the computer's language. Following are
the function of OS.
o Memory Management.
o Processor Management.
o Device Management.
o File Management.
o Security.
o Control over system performance.
o Job accounting.
o Error detecting aids.

Device Drivers
 Device Drivers are the software through which, the kernel of a computer
communicates with different hardware, without having to go into the details of
how the hardware works. It is a software that controls a hardware part attached to
a computer and allows the computer to use the hardware by providing a suitable
interface.
 Thus, the purpose of device drivers is to allow smooth functioning of the
hardware for which it is created and to allow it to be used with different operating
systems.
 To communicate with any device such as mouse, printer, keyboard, device drivers
are loaded in operating system.

Introduction to system programming

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