5/11/21 16:24 8086 assembler tutorial for beginners (part 5)

Library of common functions: emu8086.inc

8086 assembler tutorial for beginners (part 5)

To make programming easier there are some common functions that can
be
included in your program. To make your program use functions defined
in other
file you should use the INCLUDE directive followed by
a file name. Compiler
automatically searches for the file in the same
folder where the source file is
located, and if it cannot find the file
there - it searches in Inc folder.

Currently you may not be able to fully understand the contents of the
emu8086.inc
(located in Inc folder), but it's OK, since you only need to
understand
what it can do.

To use any of the functions in emu8086.inc you should have the following line
in the beginning of your source file:

include 'emu8086.inc'

emu8086.inc defines the following macros:

PRINT string - macro with 1 parameter, prints out a string.

PRINTN string - macro with 1 parameter, prints out a string.

The same as
PRINT but automatically adds "carriage return" at the end of the string.

PUTC char - macro with 1 parameter, prints out an ASCII char at current
cursor position.

GOTOXY col, row - macro with 2 parameters, sets cursor position.

CURSOROFF - turns off the text cursor.

CURSORON - turns on the text cursor.

To use any of the above macros simply type its name somewhere in your code,
and if required parameters, for example:

include emu8086.inc

ORG 100h

PRINT 'Hello World!'

GOTOXY 10, 5

PUTC 65 ; 65 - is an ASCII code for 'A'

PUTC 'B'

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5/11/21 16:24 8086 assembler tutorial for beginners (part 5)

RET ; return to operating system.

END ; directive to stop the compiler.

When compiler process your source code it searches the emu8086.inc file
for
declarations of the macros and replaces the macro names with real code.
Generally macros are relatively small parts of code, frequent
use of a macro may
make your executable too big (procedures are better
for size optimization).

emu8086.inc also defines the following procedures:

PRINT_NUM - procedure that prints a signed number in AX register.

To use
it declare: DEFINE_PRINT_NUM
and DEFINE_PRINT_NUM_UNS before
END directive.

PRINT_NUM_UNS - procedure that prints out an unsigned

number in AX
register.
To use it declare: DEFINE_PRINT_NUM_UNS
before END
directive.

GET_STRING - procedure to get a null terminated

string from a user, the
received string is written to buffer
at DS:DI, buffer size should be in DX.
Procedure stops the input when 'Enter' is pressed.
To use it declare:
DEFINE_GET_STRING
before END directive.

PRINT_STRING - procedure to print a null terminated

string at current
cursor position,
receives address of string in DS:SI
register.
To use it
declare: DEFINE_PRINT_STRING
before END directive.

To use any of the above procedures you should first declare the
function in
the bottom of your file (but before the END directive), and then
use CALL
instruction followed by a procedure name.
For example:

; demonstrate get_string and print_string

;----------------------------------------

include 'emu8086.inc'

ORG 100h

LEA SI, msg1 ; set up pointer (SI) to msg

; to ask for the number

CALL print_string ; print message that SI points to

LEA DI, buffer ; set up pointer (DI) to input buffer

MOV DX, bufSize ; set size of buffer

CALL get_string ; get name & put in buffer

LEA SI, newln ; point at CR/LF / Hello message

CALL print_string ; print message that SI points to

RET ; return to operating system.

; data

msg1 DB "Enter your name: ", 0

newln DB 13, 10

DB "Hello, "

buffer DB 20 DUP (0) ; input buffer for get_string

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5/11/21 16:24 8086 assembler tutorial for beginners (part 5)

bufSize = $-buffer ; calculates size of buffer

DEFINE_GET_STRING

DEFINE_PRINT_STRING

END ; directive to stop the compiler.

CLEAR_SCREEN - procedure to clear the screen,

(done by scrolling entire
screen window),
and set cursor position to top of it.
To use it declare:
DEFINE_CLEAR_SCREEN
before END directive.

PTHIS - procedure to print a null terminated

string at current cursor
position (just as PRINT_STRING).
The ZERO TERMINATED string should be
defined just after the CALL. For example:

CALL PTHIS

db 'Hello World!', 0

Address of string is stored in the Stack as return address.

Procedure
updates value in the Stack to make return after string definition.
To use it
declare: DEFINE_PTHIS
before END directive.

SCAN_NUM - procedure that

gets the multi-digit SIGNED number from the
keyboard,
and stores the result in CX register.
To use it declare:
DEFINE_SCAN_NUM
before END directive.

To use any of the above procedures you should first declare the
function in the
bottom of your file (but before the END directive), and then
use CALL
instruction followed by a procedure name.
For example:

; demonstrate scan_num, print_num, pthis

;----------------------------------------

include 'emu8086.inc'

ORG 100h

LEA SI, msg1 ; ask for the number

CALL print_string ;

CALL scan_num ; get number in CX.

MOV AX, CX ; copy the number to AX.

; print the following string:

CALL pthis

DB 13, 10, 'You have entered: ', 0

CALL print_num ; print number in AX.

RET ; return to operating system.

; data

msg1 DB 'Enter the number: ', 0

; macros to define procs

DEFINE_SCAN_NUM

DEFINE_PRINT_STRING

DEFINE_PRINT_NUM

DEFINE_PRINT_NUM_UNS ; required for print_num.

DEFINE_PTHIS

END ; directive to stop the compiler.

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5/11/21 16:24 8086 assembler tutorial for beginners (part 5)

First, the compiler processes the declarations (these are just regular the macros
that are expanded to procedures). When compiler gets to CALL
instruction it
replaces the procedure name with the address of the code
where the procedure
is declared. When CALL instruction is executed control
is transferred to
procedure. This is quite useful, since even if you
call the same procedure 100
times in your code you will still have relatively
small executable size. Seems
complicated, isn't it? That's ok, with the
time you will learn more, currently it's
required that you understand the
basic principle.

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