Programming Languages - Chapter 1 Overview

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Questions and Answers

Which of the following is NOT a benefit of studying programming languages?

Increasing the vocabulary of useful programming constructs
Improving the ability to develop effective algorithms
Making it easier to design new programming languages
Making it easier to understand and debug existing code (correct)

Which programming language is best suited for applications related to Artificial Intelligence?

Python (correct)
C
Java
Fortran

What is the main difference between imperative and applicative programming languages?

Applicative languages are better suited for web development than imperative languages.
Imperative languages use functions, while applicative languages use statements.
Imperative languages focus on procedures and state changes, while applicative languages focus on function composition. (correct)
Applicative languages are more efficient than imperative languages.

Which of the following object-oriented programming features allows for code reuse?

Inheritance (B) Signup and view all the answers

What is the defining characteristic of spaghetti code?

Code that is overly complex and difficult to understand and maintain. (C) Signup and view all the answers

Which of the following is a core operation in the Fetch-Execute Cycle?

Decoding instructions to determine the operation and operands (B) Signup and view all the answers

What is the purpose of the Instruction Cycle?

To execute a single instruction within a program (A) Signup and view all the answers

What is the fourth step in the program execution process as illustrated in the figure?

Execute the instruction (A) Signup and view all the answers

Which of these are true about expressions in programming?

Expressions access data objects and return a value. (C) Signup and view all the answers

Which of these are examples of syntactic units?

Statements (A) Signup and view all the answers

What is the output of the lexical analysis phase in translation?

A sequence of tokens (C) Signup and view all the answers

Which of these is NOT a characteristic of a lexical analyzer?

It builds a parse tree to represent the program's structure. (B) Signup and view all the answers

Which of the following is NOT a typical category of tokens produced by a lexical analyzer?

Control flow statements (B) Signup and view all the answers

What is the primary function of the Program Counter in the Fetch-Execute Cycle?

It stores the address of the next instruction to be executed. (D) Signup and view all the answers

Which of the following is NOT a binding time class as described in the text?

Program Execution (A) Signup and view all the answers

Which of the following is an example of a binding that is typically done at the Language Implementation time?

Allocating memory locations for variables. (D) Signup and view all the answers

What is the main advantage of early binding in programming languages?

It increases the efficiency of the program. (D) Signup and view all the answers

Which of the following is considered a crucial aspect of programming syntax?

The clarity and understandability of the code. (A) Signup and view all the answers

In the context of programming languages, what does "writability" refer to?

The ease of creating and understanding programs in a particular language. (A) Signup and view all the answers

Consider the following code snippets: `for i in range (1, 10): print(i)` and `car(cdr(abc(de))f)`. Which snippet is considered more readable?

The first snippet is more readable. (D) Signup and view all the answers

Which aspect of a programming language is directly related to how easy it is for a programmer to find errors in the code?

Verifiability (D) Signup and view all the answers

What is the primary goal of the Fetch-Execute Cycle?

To interpret and execute program instructions one by one. (C) Signup and view all the answers

Which of the following statements accurately describes the relationship between binding time and program efficiency?

Early binding can improve efficiency by reducing overhead during program execution. (A) Signup and view all the answers

Which of these is NOT a characteristic of a free-field format syntax?

Specific column positions are required for each statement. (A) Signup and view all the answers

Which language uses '#' for single line comments?

Python (B) Signup and view all the answers

What is the significance of blank spaces in Python programming?

Spaces are used to define the scope of functions and loops. (A) Signup and view all the answers

What is a delimiter?

A syntax element that marks the beginning or end of a syntactic unit. (D) Signup and view all the answers

Which of the following is NOT a common delimiter used in programming languages?

<h1>(B)</h1> Signup and view all the answers

What is the primary purpose of semantic analysis in a compiler?

To check for semantic errors and ensure the code makes logical sense. (D) Signup and view all the answers

Which of these is NOT an element typically found in semantic analysis?

Lexical analysis. (D) Signup and view all the answers

What is the core purpose of a symbol table in semantic analysis?

To hold information about identifiers, including their data types. (B) Signup and view all the answers

What is the difference between a variable and a constant in programming?

Variables can be changed during program execution, constants keep a fixed value. (C) Signup and view all the answers

What is the role of a 'literal' in programming?

A literal represents a constant value directly in the code. (A) Signup and view all the answers

What is the relationship between a data type and its operations?

A data type defines the possible values, and operations are external procedures for manipulating those values. (A) Signup and view all the answers

Which of these is a key characteristic of a data type?

Data types always define a range of values with a least and a greatest value. (C) Signup and view all the answers

What is the purpose of 'type checking' in programming languages?

To verify that operations are performed with the correct types of data. (A) Signup and view all the answers

What is the difference between static and dynamic type checking?

Static type checking is done at compile time, dynamic type checking is done at runtime. (A) Signup and view all the answers

What is the main advantage of 'strong typing' in a programming language?

It reduces the likelihood of runtime errors caused by type mismatches. (C) Signup and view all the answers

What does 'coercion' refer to in the context of data types?

The automatic conversion of data from one type to another by the system. (A) Signup and view all the answers

What is the primary difference between an L-value and an R-value in an assignment statement?

An L-value represents the memory address of a data object, an R-value represents the value stored at that address. (B) Signup and view all the answers

What is the purpose of 'initialization' in reference to data objects?

To assign a specific value to a newly created data object. (C) Signup and view all the answers

What is the difference between a 'primitive' operation and a 'programmer-defined' operation?

Primitive operations are fundamental operations supported by the language, programmer-defined operations are more complex functions. (D) Signup and view all the answers

What is the purpose of a 'signature' when defining a data type?

To define the domain and range of operations applicable to the data type. (B) Signup and view all the answers

What is 'in-line code' and how does it relate to data type implementation?

In-line code is used to optimize function executions by directly copying the code instead of using function calls. (A) Signup and view all the answers

What is the purpose of 'declarations' in programming languages?

To specify the data types and names of data objects used in the program. (B) Signup and view all the answers

What is the main distinction between a fixed-length character string and a variable-length character string?

Fixed-length strings are allocated at translation time, while variable-length strings are allocated at runtime. (B) Signup and view all the answers

What is a dangling reference?

A pointer that points to a location in memory that has been freed or deallocated, but the pointer still retains the old address. (D) Signup and view all the answers

Which type of storage representation is typically used for variable-size structured data types like trees and lists?

Linked representation (D) Signup and view all the answers

What is the primary difference between a vector and a matrix?

Vectors are one-dimensional while matrices are two-dimensional. (A) Signup and view all the answers

What is the significance of a null character in an unbounded length string?

It indicates the end of the string. (B) Signup and view all the answers

Which one of the following is NOT a characteristic of a subprogram?

A subprogram cannot create new objects. (D) Signup and view all the answers

What is the difference between a Simple approach and a better approach in implementing subprograms?

Simple approach is less efficient than a better approach (A) Signup and view all the answers

Which of the following is NOT a characteristic of Files?

Files are temporary data objects and are destroyed after the program that created them ends. (B) Signup and view all the answers

Which kind of data object is capable of referencing data objects of any type, according to the content provided?

Pointers in Smalltalk (C) Signup and view all the answers

In the context of character strings, which of the following is NOT a valid operation?

Subtraction of two strings to obtain their difference (B) Signup and view all the answers

If a string has a fixed declared length of 10 characters and we attempt to assign a string longer than 10 characters to it, what happens?

The string is truncated to retain only the first 10 characters. (D) Signup and view all the answers

In the context of storage management, what problem arises when the access path to a data object is destroyed, but the data object itself still exists?

Garbage (C) Signup and view all the answers

Which of the following best describes the storage representation for a two-dimensional array in row major order?

Data is arranged by rows, starting with the first row and proceeding to the last. (C) Signup and view all the answers

Which of the following is NOT one of the two central problems in storage management?

Overflow error (A) Signup and view all the answers

What does the implementation of subprograms involve?

Using existing data structures and operations provided by the language (A) Signup and view all the answers

Which of the following is NOT a type of structured data type (SDT)?

Pointers (A) Signup and view all the answers

Flashcards

Expressions in Programming Languages

Functions that return a value. The core building blocks of imperative (C) and applicative (ML, LISP) programming languages.

Statements in Programming Languages

Statements, like 'if', control the flow of execution by affecting the program's state.

Lexical Analysis (Scanning)

A process in translation that breaks code into individual meaningful units known as tokens, such as identifiers, operators, and keywords.

Syntactic (Syntax) Analysis

The stage where the compiler or interpreter analyzes the structure of the tokens to determine if they form a valid syntactic unit, like an expression or statement.