Competence in Software Technology (CST) Examination : Syllabus
- Level E
Computer basics: organization of a computer, characteristics
of a computer, Central Processing Unit (CPU), types of instructions
in CPU, input/output devices, computer memory, primary memory and secondary
memory, memory organization, backup devices.
Data representation: representation of characters, integers
and fractions, binary and hexadecimal representations.
Binary arithmetic: addition, subtraction, division, multiplication,
signed arithmetic and two’s complement arithmetic, floating point
representation of numbers, normalized floating point representations.
Foundations: Boolean algebra, truth tables and Venn diagrams.
Computer architecture: block structure of computers, communication
between processor and memory, communication between processor and I/O
devices, interrupts, multiprogramming, and virtual memory.
Computer languages: assembly language and characteristics of
high-level languages.
Operating System basics: Multiprogramming and timesharing operating
systems.
Programming using a subset of C: The candidate will not be required
to write programs and there will not be any questions on syntax. But
candidates should be able to read and understand programs involving
the following:
the assignment statement, blocks, the input-output statements (scanf
and printf), relational and arithmetic operators, conditional statements
and iterations.
Data types, expression evaluation, precedence rules, type conversions,
sequential structure, selective structure, repetitive structure, functions
(including recursion), arrays, pointers, structures and unions, operations
on bits, file processing, pre-processor. The syntax assumed will be
that of ANSI C. Approximately 20% of the questions will test the candidate's
knowledge of the syntactical structure of 'C'. The remaining questions
will test the candidate’s working knowledge and understanding
of the 'C'.
