Question

Program status word (PSW) contains various status of

(a) Program

(b) CPU

(c) ALU

(d) Register

This question was posed to me during an interview.

Query is from Computer Aided Synthesis of Four Bar Mechanism With Coupler Point in portion Computer Aided Analysis and Synthesis of Mechanisms of Machine Dynamics

Answer 1

Correct option is (d) Register

The best I can explain: PSW is a collection of data 8 bytes or (64 bits) long maintained by the o.s and it keeps track of current status of system registers. It describes: –

1. Interrupt masks

2. Privillage states

3. condition code

4. Instruction address