Learning objectives
Distinguish system software from application software with examples of each, and describe the tasks an operating system carries out on behalf of the user
Explain what an interrupt is, give examples of hardware and software interrupts, and describe how the processor runs an interrupt service routine before returning to the task it left
Compare high-level and low-level languages on how easy they are to read and write, whether they are machine independent, and how directly they control the hardware
Describe the work of a compiler and of an interpreter, and compare them on when errors are reported, whether an executable file is produced and how fast the finished program runs
State the purpose of an assembler in translating an assembly language program into machine code
Describe the common features of an integrated development environment, including code editing, error diagnostics, run-time debugging and auto-completion, and explain how each one helps a programmer
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