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What are pseudo-instructions in assembly language?

1) Instructions that are not part of the ARM instruction set
2) Instructions that are used for debugging purposes
3) Instructions that are executed by the operating system
4) Instructions that are used for mathematical calculations

User Matt Croak
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Final answer:

Pseudo-instructions in assembly language are symbolic instructions that simplify assembly programming by providing a more readable and maintainable way to represent sequences of machine instructions. They are not part of the actual instruction set of a processor such as ARM. The assembler translates these pseudo-instructions into actual machine code.

Step-by-step explanation:

Pseudo-instructions in assembly language are symbolic instructions that do not have a direct equivalent in the machine's instruction set. Instead, they represent commonly used operations or sequences of machine instructions. The assembler translates these pseudo-instructions into the appropriate machine code. For example, a load immediate pseudo-instruction might be translated by the assembler into a combination of two or more instructions to move a constant value into a register.

To answer the student's question, pseudo-instructions in assembly language are instructions that are not part of the ARM instruction set (option 1). They simplify programming by allowing the programmer to write in a more expressive and less machine-specific way, thereby improving code readability and maintainability.

They are not specifically used for debugging purposes, executed by the operating system, nor limited to mathematical calculations; instead, they assist in creating more understandable and maintainable assembly language programs. Some examples include macros, directives, and simplified instructions to carry out higher-level operations.

User Jwernerny
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