8051 Tutorial: Introduction

Despite it’s relatively old age, the 8051 is one of the

most popular microcontrollers in use today. Manyderivative microcontrollers have since
been developed that are based on and compatible with--the 8051. Thus, the ability to
program an 8051 is an important skill for anyone who plans to develop products that will
take advantage of microcontrollers.
Many web pages, books, and tools are available for
the 051 developer. I hope the information contained in this document/web page will assist
you in mastering 8051 programming. While it is not my intention that this document replace
a hardcopy book purchased at your local book store, it is entirely possible that
this may be the case. It is likely that this document contains everything you will need to
learn 8051 assembly language programming. Of course, this document is free and you get
what you pay for so if, after reading this document, you still are lost you may find it
necessary to buy a book. This document is both a tutorial and a reference tool. The various
chapters of the document will explain the 8051 step by step. The chapters are targeted at
people who are attempting to learn 8051 assembly language programming. The appendices
are a useful reference tool that will assist both the novice programmer as well as the
experienced professional developer.

This document assumes the following:

 A general knowledge of programming.
An understanding of decimal, hexidecimal, and binary number systems.
A general knowledge of hardware.

That is to say, no knowledge of the 8051 is assumed--however, it is assumed you’ve done

some amount of programming before, have a basic understanding of hardware, and a firm
grasp on the three numbering systems mentioned above. The concept of converting a number
from deciminal to hexidecimal and/or to binary is not within the scope of this document--and
if you can’t do those types of conversions there are probably some concepts that will not be
completely understandable. This document attempts to address the need of the typical
programmer. For example, there are certain features that are nifty and in some cases very
useful--but 95% of the programmers will never use these features.

8051 Tutorial: Types of Memory

The 8051 has three very general types of memory. To effectively program the 8051 it is
necessary to have a basic understanding of these memory types.

On-Chip Memory refers to any memory (Code, RAM, or other) that physically exists on
the microcontroller itself. On-chip memory can be of several types, but we'll get into that
shortly.
External Code Memory is code (or program) memory that resides off-chip. This is often in
the form of an external EPROM.
External RAM is RAM memory that resides off-chip. This is often in the form of standard
static RAM or flash RAM.

Code Memory
Code memory is the memory that holds the actual 8051 program that is to be run. This
memory is limited to 64K and comes in many shapes and sizes: Code memory may be found
on-chip, either burned into the microcontroller as
ROM or EPROM. Code may also be stored completely off-chip in an external ROM or,
more commonly, an external EPROM. Flash RAM is also another popular method of storing
a program. Various combinations of these memory types may also be used--that is to say, it
is possible to have 4K of code memory on-chip and 64k of code memory off-chip in an
EPROM. When the program is stored on-chip the 64K maximum is often reduced to 4k, 8k,
or 16k. This varies depending on the version of the chip that is being used. Each version
offers specific capabilities and one of the distinguishing factors from chip to chip is how
much ROM/EPROM space the chip has. However, code memory is most commonly
implemented as off-chip EPROM. This is especially true in low-cost development systems
and in systems developed by students.
Programming Tip: Since code memory is restricted to 64K, 8051 programs are limited to
64K. Some assemblers and compilers offer ways to get around this limit when used with
specially wired hardware. However, without such special compilers and
hardware, programs are limited to 64K.

External RAM
As an obvious opposite of Internal RAM, the 8051 also supports what is called External
RAM. As the name suggests, External RAM is any random access memory which is found
off-chip. Since the memory is off-chip it is not as flexible in terms of accessing, and is also
slower. For example, to increment an Internal RAM location by 1 requires only 1 instruction
and 1 instruction cycle. To increment a 1-byte value stored in External RAM requires 4
instructions and 7 instruction cycles. In this case, external memory is 7 times slower! What
External RAM loses in speed and flexibility it gains in quantity. While Internal RAM is
limited to 128 bytes the 8051 supports External RAM up to 64K.
Programming Tip: The 8051 may only address 64k of RAM. To expand RAM beyond this
limit requires programming and hardware tricks. You may have to do this "by hand" since
many compilers and assemblers, while providing support for programs in
excess of 64k, do not support more than 64k of RAM. This is rather strange since it has been
my experience that programs can usually fit in 64k but often RAM is what is lacking. Thus if
you need more than 64k of RAM, check to see if your compiler supports it-- but if it doesn't,
be prepared to do it by hand.

On-Chip Memory.
As mentioned at the beginning of this chapter, the 8051 includes a certain amount of onchip
memory. On-chip memory is really one of two (SFR) memory. The layout of the 8051's
internal memory is presented in the following memory map:
As is illustrated in this map, the 8051 has a bank of 128 bytes of Internal RAM. This Internal
RAM is found on-chip on the 8051 so it is the fastest RAM available, and it is also the most
flexible in terms of reading, writing, and modifying it’s contents. Internal RAM is volatile,
so when the 8051 is reset this memory is cleared. The 128 bytes of internal ram is
subdivided as shown on the memory map. The first 8 bytes (00h - 07h) are "register bank 0".
By manipulating certain SFRs, a program may choose to use register banks 1, 2, or 3. These
alternative register banks are located in internal RAM in addresses 08h through 1Fh. We'll
discuss "register banks" more in a later chapter. For now it is sufficient to know that they
"live" and are part of internal RAM.
Bit Memory also lives and is part of internal RAM. We'll talk more about bit memory very
shortly, but for now just keep in mind that bit memory actually resides in internal RAM,
from addresses 20h through 2Fh. The 80 bytes remaining of Internal RAM, from addresses
30h through 7Fh, may be used by user variables that need to be accessed frequently or at
high-speed. This area is also utilized by the microcontroller as a storage area for the
operating stack. This fact severely limits the 8051’s stack since, as illustrated in the memory
map, the area reserved for the stack is only 80 bytes--and usually it is less since this 80 bytes
has to be shared between the stack and user variables.

Register Banks
The 8051 uses 8 "R" registers which are used in many of its instructions. These "R" registers
are numbered from 0 through 7 (R0, R1, R2, R3, R4, R5, R6, and R7). These registers are
generally used to assist in manipulating values
and moving data from one memory location to another. For example, to add the value of R4
to the Accumulator, we would execute the following instruction:

ADD A,R4

However, as the memory map shows, the "R" Register R4 is really part of Internal RAM.
Specifically, R4 is address 04h. This can be see in the bright green section of the memory
map. Thus the above instruction accomplishes the same thing as the following operation:

ADD A,04h
This instruction adds the value found in Internal RAM address 04h to the value of the
Accumulator, leaving the result in the Accumulator. Since R4 is really Internal RAM 04h,
the above instruction effectively accomplished the same thing. But watch out! As the
memory map shows, the 8051 has four distinct register banks. When the 8051 is first booted
up, register bank 0 (addresses 00h through 07h) is used by default. However, your program
may instruct the 8051 to use one of the alternate register banks; i.e., register banks 1, 2, or 3.
In this case, R4 will no longer be the same as Internal RAM address 04h. For example, if
your program instructs the 8051 to use register bank 3, "R" register R4 will now be
synonomous with Internal RAM address 1Ch. The concept of register banks adds a great
level of flexibility to the 8051, especially when dealing with interrupts (we'll talk about
interrupts later). However, always remember that the register banks really reside in the first
32 bytes of Internal RAM.
Programming Tip: If you only use the first register bank (i.e. bank 0), you may use Internal
RAM locations 08h through 1Fh for your own use. But if you plan to use register banks 1, 2,
or 3, be very careful about using addresses below 20h as you may end up
overwriting the value of your "R" registers!

Bit Memory
The 8051, being a communicationsoriented microcontroller, gives the user the ability to
access a number of bit variables. These variables may be either 1 or 0. There are 128 bit
variables available to the user, numberd 00h through 7Fh. The user may make use of these
variables with commands such as SETB and CLR. It is important to note that Bit Memory is
really a part of Internal RAM. In fact, the 128 bit variables occupy the 16 bytes of Internal
RAM
from 20h through 2Fh. Thus, if you write the value FFh to Internal RAM address 20h you’ve
effectively set bits 00h through 07h. But since the 8051 provides special instructions to
access these 16 bytes of memory on a bit by bit basis it is useful to think of it as a separate
type of memory. However, always keep in mind that it is just a subset of Internal RAM—
and that operations performed on Internal RAM can change the values of the bit variables.
Programming Tip: If your program does not use bit variables, you may use Internal RAM
locations 20h through 2Fh for your own use. But if you plan to use bit variables, be very
careful about using addresses from 20h through 2Fh as you may end up overwriting the
value of your bits! Bit variables 00h through 7Fh are for userdefined functions in their
programs. However, bit variables 80h and above are actually used to access certain SFRs on
a bit-by-bit basis. For example, if output lines P0.0 through P0.7 are all clear (0) and you
want to turn on the P0.0 output line you may either execute:

MOV P0,#01h || SETB 80h

Both these instructions accomplish the same thing. However, using the SETB command will
turn on the P0.0 line without effecting the status of any of the other P0 output lines. The
MOV command effectively turns off all the other output lines which, in some cases, may not
be acceptable.
Programming Tip: By default, the 8051 initializes the Stack Pointer (SP) to 08h when the
microcontroller is booted. This means that the stack will start at address 08h and expand
upwards. If you will be using the alternate register banks (banks 1, 2 or 3) you
must initialize the stack pointer to an address above the highest register bank you will be
using, otherwise the stack will overwrite your alternate register banks. Similarly, if you will
be using bit variables it is usually a good idea to initialize the stack pointer to some value
greater than 2Fh to guarantee that your bit variables are protected from the stack.
 Special Function Register (SFR) Memory
Special Function Registers (SFRs) are areas of memory that control specific functionality of
the 8051 processor. For example, four SFRs permit access to the 8051’s 32 input/output
lines. Another SFR allows a program to read or write to the 8051’s serial port. Other SFRs
allow the user to set the serial baud rate, control and access timers, and configure the 8051’s
interrupt system. When programming, SFRs have the illusion of being Internal Memory. For
example, if you want to write the value "1" to Internal RAM location 50 hex you would
execute the instruction:

MOV 50h,#01h
Similarly, if you want to write the value "1" to the 8051’s serial port you would write this
value to the SBUF SFR, which has an SFR address of 99 Hex. Thus, to write the value "1"
to the serial port you would execute the instruction:
MOV 99h,#01h
As you can see, it appears that the SFR ispart of Internal Memory. This is not the case.
When using this method of memory access (it’s called direct address), any instruction that
has an address of 00h through 7Fh refers to an Internal RAM memory address; any
instruction with an address of 80h through FFh refers to an SFR control register.
Programming Tip: SFRs are used to control the way the 8051 functions. Each SFR has a
specific purpose and format which will be discussed later. Not all addresses above 80h are
assigned to SFRs. However, this area may NOT be used as additional RAM memory even if
a given address has not been assigned to an SFR.
 8051 Tutorial: SFRs
What Are SFRs?
The 8051 is a flexible microcontroller with a relatively large number of modes of operations.
Your program may inspect and/or change the operating mode of the 8051 by manipulating
the values of the 8051's Special Function Registers (SFRs). SFRs are accessed as if they
were normal Internal RAM. The only difference is that Internal RAM is from address 00h
through 7Fh whereas SFR registers exist in the address range of 80h through FFh. Each SFR
has an address (80h through FFh) and a name. The following chart provides a graphical
presentation of the 8051's SFRs, their names, and their address.
As you can see, although the address range of 80h through FFh offer 128 possible addresses,
there are only 21 SFRs in a standard 8051. All other addresses in the SFR range (80h
through FFh) are considered invalid. Writing to or reading from these registers may produce
undefined values or behavior.
Programming Tip: It is recommended that you not read or write to SFR addresses that have
not been assigned to an SFR. Doing so may provoke undefined behavior and may cause
your program to be incompatible with other 8051-derivatives that use the
given SFR for some other purpose.

SFR Types
As mentioned in the chart itself, the SFRs that have a blue background are SFRs related to
the I/O ports. The 8051 has four I/O ports of 8 bits, for a total of 32 I/O lines. Whether a
given I/O line is high or low and the value read from the line are controlled by the SFRs in
green. The SFRs with yellow backgrouns are SFRs which in some way control the operation
or the configuration of some aspect of the 8051. For example, TCON controls the timers,
SCON controls the serial port. The remaining SFRs, with green backgrounds, are "other
SFRs." These SFRs can be thought of as auxillary SFRs in the sense that they don't directly
configure the 8051 but obviously the 8051 cannot operate without them. For example, once
the serial port has been configured using SCON, the program may read or write to the serial
port using the SBUF register.
Programming Tip: The SFRs whose names appear in red in the chart above are SFRs that
may be accessed via bit operations (i.e., using the SETB and CLR instructions). The other
SFRs cannot be accessed using bit operations. As you can see, all SFRs that whose
addresses are divisible by 8 can be accessed with bit operations.
 SFR Descriptions
This section will endeavor to quickly overview each of the standard SFRs found in the above
SFR chart map. It is not the intention of this section to fully explain the functionality of each
SFR--this information will be covered in separate chapters of the tutorial. This section is to
just give you a general idea of what each SFR does. P0 (Port 0, Address 80h, Bit-
Addressable): This is input/output port 0. Each bit of this SFR corresponds to one of the
pins on the microcontroller. For example, bit 0 of port 0 is pin P0.0, bit 7 is pin P0.7.
Writing a value of 1 to a bit of this SFR will send a high level on the corresponding I/O pin
whereas a value of 0 will bring it to a low level.
Programming Tip: While the 8051 has four I/O port (P0, P1, P2, and P3), if your hardware
uses external RAM or external code memory (i.e., your program is stored in an external
ROM or EPROM chip or if you are using external RAM chips) you may not use P0 or P2.
This is because the 8051 uses ports P0 and P2 to address the external memory. Thus if you
are using external RAM or code memory you may only use ports P1 and P3 for your own
use.

SP (Stack Pointer, Address 81h): This is the stack pointer of the microcontroller. This SFR
indicates where the next value to be taken from the stack will be read from in Internal RAM.
If you push a value onto the stack, the value will be written to the address of SP + 1. That is
to say, if SP holds the value 07h, a PUSH instruction will push the value onto the stack at
address 08h. This SFR is modified by all instructions which modify the stack, such as
PUSH, POP, LCALL, RET, RETI, and whenever interrupts are provoked by the
microcontroller.
Programming Tip: The SP SFR, on startup, is initialized to 07h. This means the stack will
start at 08h and start expanding upward in internal RAM. Since alternate register banks 1,
2, and 3 as well as the user bit variables occupy internal RAM from addresses 08h through
2Fh, it is necessary to initialize SP in your program to some other value if you will be using
the alternate register banks and/or bit memory. It's not a bad idea to initialize SP to 2Fh as
the first instruction of every one of your programs unless you are 100% sure you will not be
using the register banks and bit variables.

DPL/DPH (Data Pointer Low/High, Addresses 82h/83h): The SFRs DPL and DPH work
together to represent a 16-bit value called the Data Pointer. The data pointer is used in
operations regarding external RAM and some instructions involving code memory. Since it
is an unsigned two-byte integer value, it can represent values from 0000h to FFFFh (0
through 65,535 decimal).
Programming Tip: DPTR is really DPH and DPL taken together as a 16-bit value. In
reality, you almost always have to deal with DPTR one byte at a time. For example, to push
DPTR onto the stack you must first push DPL and then DPH. You can't simply plush DPTR
onto the stack. Additionally, there is an instruction to "increment DPTR." When you execute
this instruction, the two bytes are operated upon as a 16-bit value. However, there is no
instruction that decrements DPTR. If you wish to decrement the value of DPTR, you must
write your own code to do so.

PCON (Power Control, Addresses 87h): The Power Control SFR is used to control the
8051's power control modes. Certain operation modes of the 8051 allow the 8051 to go into
a type of "sleep" mode which requires much less power. These modes of operation are
controlled through PCON. Additionally, one of the bits in PCON is used to double the
effective baud rate of the 8051's serial port.

TCON (Timer Control, Addresses 88h, Bit-Addressable): The Timer Control SFR is used
to configure and modify the way in which the 8051's two timers operate. This SFR controls
whether each of the two timers is running or stopped and contains a flag to indicate that each
timer has overflowed. Additionally, some non-timer related bits are located in the TCON
SFR. These bits are used to configure the way in which the external interrupts are activated
and also contain the external interrupt flags which are set when an external interrupt has
occured.

TMOD (Timer Mode, Addresses 89h): The Timer Mode SFR is used to configure the
mode of operation of each of the two timers. Using this SFR your program may configure
each timer to be a 16-bit timer, an 8-bit autoreload timer, a 13-bit timer, or two separate
timers. Additionally, you may configure the timers to only count when an external pin is
activated or to count "events" that are indicated on an external pin.

TL0/TH0 (Timer 0 Low/High, Addresses 8Ah/8Bh): These two SFRs, taken together,
represent timer 0. Their exact behavior depends on how the timer is configured in the
TMOD SFR; however, these timers always count up. What is configurable is how and when
they increment in value.

TL1/TH1 (Timer 1 Low/High, Addresses 8Ch/8Dh): These two SFRs, taken together,
representtimer 1. Their exact behavior depends on how the timer is configured in the TMOD
SFR; however, thesetimers always count up. What is configurable is how and when they
increment in value.

P1 (Port 1, Address 90h, Bit-Addressable): This is input/output port 1. Each bit of this
SFR corresponds to one of the pins on the microcontroller. For example, bit 0 of port 1 is pin
P1.0, bit 7 is pin P1.7. Writing a value of 1 to a bit of this SFR will send a high level on the
corresponding I/O pin whereas a value of 0 will bring it to a low level.

SCON (Serial Control, Addresses 98h, Bit-Addressable): The Serial Control SFR is used
to configure the behavior of the 8051's on-board serial port. This SFR controls the baud rate
of the serial port, whether the serial port is activated to receive data, and also contains flags
that are set when a byte is successfully sent or received.
Programming Tip: To use the 8051's on-board serial port, it is generally necessary to
initialize the following SFRs: SCON, TCON, and TMOD. This is because SCON controls the
serial port. However, in most cases the program will wish to use one of the timers to
establish the serial port's baud rate. In this case, it is necessary to configure timer 1 by
initializing TCON and TMOD.

SBUF (Serial Control, Addresses 99h): The Serial Buffer SFR is used to send and receive
data via the on-board serial port. Any value written to SBUF will be sent out the serial port's
TXD pin. Likewise, any value which the 8051 receives via the serial port's RXD pin will be
delivered to the user program via SBUF. In other words, SBUF serves as the output port
when written to and as an input port when read from.

P2 (Port 2, Address A0h, Bit-Addressable): This is input/output port 2. Each bit of this
SFR corresponds to one of the pins on the microcontroller. For example, bit 0 of port 2 is pin
P2.0, bit 7 is pin P2.7. Writing a value of 1 to a bit of this SFR will send a high level on the
corresponding I/O pin whereas a value of 0 will bring it to a low level. Programming Tip:
While the 8051 has four I/O port (P0, P1, P2, and P3), if your hardware uses external RAM
or external code memory (i.e., your program is stored in an external ROM or EPROM chip
or if you are using external RAM chips) you may not use P0 or P2. This is because the 8051
uses ports P0 and P2 to address the external memory. Thus if you are using external RAM
or code memory you may only use ports P1 and P3 for your own use.

IE (Interrupt Enable, Addresses A8h): The Interrupt Enable SFR is used to enable and
disable specific interrupts. The low 7 bits of the SFR are used to enable/disable the specific
interrupts, where as the highest bit is used to enable or disable ALL interrupts. Thus, if the
high bit of IE is 0 all interrupts are disabled regardless of whether an individual interrupt is
enabled by setting a lower bit.

P3 (Port 3, Address B0h, Bit-Addressable): This is input/output port 3. Each bit of this
SFR corresponds to one of the pins on the microcontroller. For example, bit 0 of port 3 is pin
P3.0, bit 7 is pin P3.7. Writing a value of 1 to a bit of this SFR will send a high level on the
corresponding I/O pin whereas a value of 0 will bring it to a low level.

IP (Interrupt Priority, Addresses B8h, Bit-Addressable): The Interrupt Priority SFR is

used to specify the relative priority of each interrupt. On the 8051, an interrupt may either be
of low (0) priority or high (1) priority. An interrupt may only interrupt interrupts of lower
priority. For example, if we configure the 8051 so that all interrupts are of low priority
except the serial interrupt, the serial interrupt will always be able to interrupt the system,
even if another interrupt is currently executing. However, if a serial interrupt is executing no
other interrupt will be able to interrupt the serial interrupt routine since the serial interrupt
routine has the highest priority.

PSW (Program Status Word, Addresses D0h, Bit-Addressable): The Program Status
Word is used to store a number of important bits that are set and cleared by 8051
instructions. The PSW SFR contains the carry flag, the auxiliary carry flag, the overflow
flag, and the parity flag. Additionally, the PSW register contains the register bank select
flags which are used to select which of the "R" register banks are currently selected.
Programming Tip: If you write an interrupt handler routine, it is a very good idea to always
save the PSW SFR on the stack and restore it when your interrupt is complete. Many 8051
instructions modify the bits of PSW. If your interrupt routine does not guarantee that PSW is
the same upon exit as it was upon entry, your program is bound to behave rather erradically
and unpredictably--and it will be tricky to debug since the behavior will tend not to make
any sense.

ACC (Accumulator, Addresses E0h, Bit-Addressable): The Accumulator is one of the

mostused SFRs on the 8051 since it is involved in so many instructions. The Accumulator
resides as an SFR at E0h, which means the instruction MOV A,#20h is really the same as
MOV E0h,#20h. However, it is a good idea to use the first method since it only requires two
bytes whereas the second option requires three bytes.

B (B Register, Addresses F0h, Bit-Addressable): The "B" register is used in two

instructions: the multiply and divide operations. The B register is also commonly used by
programmers as an auxiliary register to temporarily store values.

Other SFRs
The chart above is a summary of all the SFRs that exist in a standard 8051. All derivative
microcontrollers of the 8051 must support these basic SFRs in order to maintain
compatability with the underlying MSCS51 standard. A common practice when
semiconductor firms wish to develop a new 8051 derivative is to add additional SFRs to
support new functions that exist in the new chip. For example, the Dallas Semiconductor
DS80C320 is upwards compatible with the 8051. This means that any program that runs on a
standard 8051 should run without modification on the DS80C320. This means that all the
SFRs defined above also apply to the Dallas component. However, since the DS80C320
provides many new features that the standard 8051 does not, there must be some way to
control and configure these new features. This is accomplished by adding additional SFRs to
those listed here. For example, since the DS80C320 supports two serial ports (as opposed to
just one on the 8051), the SFRs SBUF2 and SCON2 have been added. In addition to all the
SFRs listed above, the DS80C320 also recognizes these two new SFRs as valid and uses
their values to determine the mode of operation of the secondary serial port. Obviously,
these new SFRs have been assigned to SFR addresses that were unused in the original 8051.
In this manner, new 8051 derivative chips may be developed which will run existing 8051
programs.
Programming Tip: If you write a program that utilizes new SFRs that are specific to a given
derivative chip and not included in the above SFR list, your program will not run properly
on a standard 8051 where that SFR does not exist. Thus, only use non-standard
SFRs if you are sure that your program wil only have to run on that specific
microcontroller. Likewise, if you write code that uses non-standard SFRs and subsequently
share it with a third-party, be sure to let that party know that your code is using non-
standard SFRs to save them the headache of realizing that due to strange behavior at run-
time.

8051 Tutorial: Basic Registers

The Accumulator
If you’ve worked with any other assembly languages you will be familiar with the concept
of an Accumulator register. The Accumulator, as it’s name suggests, is used as a general
register to accumulate the results of a large number of instructions. It can hold an 8-bit (1-
byte) value and is the most versatile register the 8051 has due to the shear number of
instructions that make use of the accumulator. More than half of the 8051’s 255 instructions
manipulate or use the accumulator in some way. For example, if you want to add the number
10 and 20, the resulting 30 will be stored in the Accumulator. Once you have a value in the
Accumulator you may continue processing the value or you may store it in another register
or in memory.
 The "R" registers
The "R" registers are a set of eight registers that are named R0, R1, etc. up to and including
R7. These registers are used as auxillary registers in many operations. To continue with the
above example, perhaps you are adding 10 and 20. The original number 10 may be stored in
the Accumulator whereas the value 20 may be stored in, say, register R4. To process the
addition you would execute the command:
ADD A,R4
After executing this instruction the Accumulator will contain the value 30. You may think of
the "R" registers as very important auxillary, or "helper", registers. The Accumulator alone
would not be very useful if it were not for these "R" registers. The "R" registers are also used
to temporarily store values. For example, let’s say you want to add the values in R1 and R2
together and then subtract the values of R3 and R4. One way to do this would be:
MOV A,R3 ;Move the value of R3 into the accumulator
ADD A,R4 ;Add the value of R4
MOV R5,A ;Store the resulting value temporarily in R5
MOV A,R1 ;Move the value of R1 into the accumulator
ADD A,R2 ;Add the value of R2
SUBB A,R5 ;Subtract the value of R5 (which now contains R3 + R4)
As you can see, we used R5 totemporarily hold the sum of R3 and R4. Of course,this isn’t
the most efficient way to calculate(R1+R2) - (R3 +R4) but it does illustrate the use ofthe "R"
registers as a way to store valuestemporarily.
The "B" Register
The "B" register is very similar to the Accumulator in the sense that it may hold an 8-bit (1-
byte) value. The "B" register is only used by two 8051 instructions: MUL AB and DIV AB.
Thus, if you want to quickly and easily multiply or divide A by another number, you may
store the other number in "B" and make use of these two instructions. Aside from the MUL
and DIV instructions, the "B" register is often used as yet another temporary storage register
much like a ninth "R" register.
The Data Pointer (DPTR)
The Data Pointer (DPTR) is the 8051’s only user-accessable 16-bit (2-byte) register. The
Accumulator, "R" registers, and "B" register are all 1-byte values. DPTR, as the name
suggests, is used to point to data. It is used by a number of commandswhich allow the 8051
to access external memory. When the 8051 accesses external memory it will access external
memory at the address indicated by DPTR.While DPTR is most often used to point to data
in external memory, many programmers often take advantge of the fact that it’s the only true
16-bit register available. It is often used to store 2- byte values which have nothing to do
with memory locations.
The Program Counter (PC)
The Program Counter (PC) is a 2-byte address which tells the 8051 where the next
instruction to execute is found in memory. When the 8051 is initialized PC always starts at
0000h and is incremented each time an instruction is executed. It is important to note that PC
isn’t always incremented by one. Since some instructions require 2 or 3 bytes the PC will be
incremented by 2 or 3 in these cases. The Program Counter is special in thatthere is no way
to directly modify it’s value. That is to say, you can’t do something like PC=2430h. On the
other hand, if you execute LJMP 2340h you’ve effectively accomplished the same thing. It is
also interesting to note that while you may change the value of PC (by executing a jump
instruction, etc.) there is no way to read the value of PC. That is to say, there is no way to
ask the 8051 "What address are you about to execute?" As it turns out, this is not completely
true: There is
one trick that may be used to determine the current value of PC. This trick will be covered in
a later chapter.
The Stack Pointer (SP)
The Stack Pointer, like all registers except DPTR and PC, may hold an 8-bit (1-byte) value.
The Stack Pointer is used to indicate where the next value to be removed from the stack
should be taken from. When you push a value onto the stack, the 8051 first increments the
value of SP and thenstores the value at the resulting memory location. When you pop a value
off the stack, the 8051 returns the value from the memory location indicated by SP, and then
decrements the value of SP. This order of operation is important. When the 8051 is
initialized SP will be initialized to 07h. If you immediately push a value onto the stack, the
value will be stored in Internal RAM address 08h. This makes sense taking into account
what was mentioned two paragraphs above: First the 8051 will increment the value of SP
(from 07h to 08h) and then will store the pushed value at that memory address (08h). SP is
modified directly by the 8051 by six instructions: PUSH, POP, ACALL, LCALL, RET, and
RETI. It is also used intrinsically whenever an interrupt is triggered (more on interrupts later.
Don’t worry about them for now!).