Machine & Assembly Language • Assemblylanguage o Isalower level
programming language for a computer. o Assembly language uses a mnemonic
representation to represent each low level machine operation i.e. MUL may stand
for “multiply” o Assembly language is converted into executable machine code by
a utility program referred to as an assembler; the conversion process is referred to
as assembly, or assembling the code. o Assemblers can be of two types: cross
assembler and native assembler. o Cross assembler runs on one computer and
generates machine instructions that will be executed by another computer that has
different instruction set, e.g. freeware ASM68K. o Nativeassembler runs and
generates instructions for the same computer. o Drawbacks of assembly programs
are: o dependent on hardware organization, difficult to understand long programs,
low programmer productivity
Onprogramstart: 0. Load the program counter (PC) with the address of the first
instruction • Fetch phase: 1. Read the instruction and put it into the instruction
register (IR) 2. Control unit decodes the instruction; updates the PC for the next
instruction • Execute phase: 3. Find the data required by the instruction. 4.
Perform the required operation. 5. Store the results. 6. Repeat from Step 1
While (in operation) Fetch instruction pointed by PC Increment PC to point to next
Instruction Decode Instruction Load 1st Operand (if any) Load 2nd Operand (if
any) Execute Instruction End While
Selecting A μP • Choosetheright one for your application o Primary criteria: Cost,
Power, Size, Speed o Others: package options, integrated peripherals, potential
for future growth • Chooseonewithgoodsoftware development support o
development environment- goodcompiler and debuggeravailability o evaluation
boards o in-circuit emulators for those with deep pockets o Operating system
availability • Otherconsiderations o Code density: affects power consumption,
performance and system cost o Hardware availability: make sure you can actually
purchase the microcontroller before designing it in o Prior expertise, licensing, etc
