SSC IMD SA 2017 – Question 152

Which directive is used to perform initialization before executing the code?

• RESERVE
• STORE
• DATAWORD
• EQU

Detailed Explanation:

The correct answer is c) DATAWORD (डेटावर्ड).

In assembly language programming, directives define data and reserve memory space before code execution:

• DATAWORD (or DW / DC – Define Constant): An assembler directive used to allocate a word in memory and initialize it with a specific numerical data value prior to program execution.
• RESERVE (or DS – Define Storage / RES): Allocates memory space of a given size but does not initialize it with any defined value (it merely reserves uninitialized space).
• EQU (Equate): Assigns a symbolic name to a numeric constant without allocating any memory space at runtime.
• STORE: An executable CPU machine instruction that writes a value from a register into memory during runtime, not a static initialization directive.