EE-2003

Computer Organization
& Assembly Language
INSTRUCTOR

Engr. Aashir Mahboob

Lecturer, Department of Computer Science
FAST NUCES (Karachi)
[email protected]
 Chapter No: 03

ASSEMBLY LANGUAGE FUNDAMENTALS

 INSTRUCTIONS
 An instruction is a statement that becomes executable when a program is assembled.

 Instructions are translated by the assembler into machine language bytes, which are
loaded and executed by the CPU at runtime.

 An instruction contains four basic parts:

 Label (optional)
 Instruction mnemonic (required)
 Operand(s) (usually required)
 Comment (optional)
 INSTRUCTIONS
 This is how the different parts are arranged:

 [label:] mnemonic [operands] [;comment]

 A label is an identifier that acts as a place marker for instructions and data.
 It implies the address of instruction or variable.
 A data label identifies the location of a variable, providing a convenient way to
reference the variable in code.
 Example
 count DWORD 100
 array DWORD 1024, 2048
 INSTRUCTIONS
 A label in the code area of a program (where instructions are located) must end with
a colon (:) character.
 . Code labels are used as targets of jumping and looping instructions.
 Example

 A code label can share the same line with an instruction, or it can be on a line by itself:
 Instruction Mnemonic
 An instruction mnemonic is a short word that identifies an instruction.
 It provide hints about the type of operation they perform.
 Operands
 An operand is a value that is used for input or output for an instruction.
 Assembly language instructions can have between zero and three operands.
 Each of which can be a register, memory operand, integer expression, or input–output
port.
 Instruction Format Examples
 No operands
– stc ; set Carry flag

 One operand
– inc eax ; register
– inc myByte ; memory

 Two operands
– add ebx,ecx ; register, register
– sub myByte,25 ; memory, constant
– add eax,36 * 25 ; register, constant-expression
 Instruction Format Examples
 Three operands
- imul eax, ebx, 5

 There is a natural ordering of operands.

 When instructions have multiple operands, the first one is typically called the
destination operand.
 The second operand is usually called the source operand.
 In general, the contents of the destination operand are modified by the instruction.
 The NOP (No Operation) Instruction
 The safest (and the most useless) instruction is NOP (no operation).
 It takes up 1 byte of program storage and doesn’t do any work.
 It is sometimes used by compilers and assemblers to align code to efficient address
boundaries.
 In the following example, the first MOV instruction generates three machine code bytes.
 The NOP instruction aligns the address of the third instruction to a doubleword boundary
(even multiple of 4):

 x86 processors are designed to load code and data more quickly from even doubleword
addresses.
 Integer Constants
 An integer literal (also known as an integer constant ) is made up of an optional leading
sign, one or more digits, and an optional radix character that indicates the number’s
base:

 . If Constant doesn’t have a radix, so we assume it’s in decimal format.

 Integer Constants
 Here are some integer literals declared with various radixes. Each line contains a
comment:

 A hexadecimal literal beginning with a letter must have a leading zero to prevent the
assembler from interpreting it as an identifier.
 Such is the case with the hexadecimal value A3h in the foregoing list, which must be
written as 0A3h.
 CLASS ACTIVITY

 1. MOV AL, 255

Write down Contents
 2. MOV BL, 10 Of AL,BL & CL
 3. MOV CL, 20 After execution of each
 4. ADD AL, 1
instruction
 5. SUB BL,CL
 6. SUB AL,1
 7. INC BL
 8. INC CL
 9. SUB BL,CL
 Integer Expressions
 An integer expression is a mathematical expression involving integer values and arithmetic
operators
 The integer expression must evaluate to an integer,

 Precedence refers to the implied order of operations when an expression contains two or more
operators
 Integer Expressions
 Example:
 DEFINING DATA
 The assembler recognizes a basic set of intrinsic data types, which describe types in
terms of their size.
[name] directive initializer [, initializer]...
 Initializer: At least one initializer is required in a data definition, even if it is zero.

.data
sum DWORD 0
 If you prefer to leave the variable uninitialized (assigned a random value), the ? symbol
can be used as the initializer
sum DWORD ?
DEFINING DATA
 DEFINING DATA
 Defining BYTE and SBYTE Data
• Each initializer must fit into 8 bits of storage
value1 BYTE 'A’ ; character constant
value2 BYTE 0 ; smallest unsigned byte
value3 BYTE 255 ; largest unsigned byte
value4 SBYTE -128 ; smallest signed byte
value5 SBYTE +127 ; largest signed byte
value6 BYTE ? ; uninitialized byte
 DEFINING DATA
 Multiple Initializers

•If multiple initializers are used in the same data definition, its label refers only to the offset of
the first initializer.

list BYTE 10,20,30,40

Within a single data definition, its initializers can use different

radixes. Character and string literals can be freely mixed. In the
following example, list1 and list2 have the same contents:

list1 BYTE 10, 32, 41h, 00100010b

list2 BYTE 0Ah, 20h, 'A', 22h
Examples that use multiple initializers:

 list1 BYTE 10,20,30,40

 list2 BYTE 10,20,30,40
BYTE 50,60,70,80
BYTE 81,82,83,84
list3 BYTE ?,32,41h,00100010b
list4 BYTE 0Ah,20h,‘A’,22h
 Defining Strings:
 The most common type of string ends with a null byte (containing 0), called a null-
terminated string.
greeting1 BYTE "Good afternoon",0
greeting2 BYTE 'Good night',0

•Each character uses a byte of storage.

•The rule that byte values must be separated by commas does not apply on strings.
 DUP OPERATOR
 The DUP operator allocates storage for multiple data items, using a integer expression as a
counter.

var4 BYTE 10,3 DUP(0), 20

 EXERCISE
 Define
i. Largest unsigned Value (16-bits)
ii. Smallest Signed Value (16-bits)
iii. Initialized Array of 5 Words.
iv. Un-initialized Array of 5 Words.

 Define
i. Largest unsigned Value (32-bits)
ii. Smallest Signed Value (32-bits)
iii. Unsigned Array. (32- bits)
iv. Signed Array . (32-bits)
 Real Number
 Real number constants are represented as decimal reals or encoded (hexadecimal) reals.
 A decimal real contains are optional sign followed by an integer, a decimal point an optional
integer that expresses a fraction, and an optional exponent:
[sign] integer. [integer] [exponent]
 Following are the syntax for the sign and exponent:
sign {+,-}
exponent E [ { + , - } ] integer
 Following are examples of valid number constants:
2.
+3.0
-44.2E+05
26.E5
 At least one digit and a decimal point are required.
 Real Number

REAL4 defines a 4-byte single-precision floating-point variable. REAL8

defines an 8-byte double-precision value, and REAL10 defines a 10-byte
extended-precision value. Each requires one or more real constant
initializers:
The MASM assembler includes data types such as REAL4 and REAL8,
suggesting the values they represent are real numbers. More correctly, the
values are floating-point numbers, which have a limited amount of precision
and range.
Little and Big Endian
 Directive
 •A directive is a command embedded in the source code that is recognized and
acted upon by the assembler.

 • .data
 • .code
 • .stack
 • DWORD
 DIRECTIVE VS INSTRUCTION
 myVar DWORD 26
 DWORD directive tells the assembler to reserve space in
the program for a doubleword variable.

 mov eax,myVar
 The MOV instruction, on the other hand, executes at
runtime, copying the contents of myVar to the EAX
register.
 Class Room Activity
 Given the number 456789ABh, list out its byte values in
little endian order.
 Write a program that calculates the following
expression, using registers:
 A = (A + B) − (C + D).
 Assign integer values to the EAX, EBX, ECX, and EDX
registers.
 Class Room Activity
 (True/False): A code label is followed by a colon (:), but
a data label does not end with a colon.
 Which data directive creates a 32-bit signed integer
variable?
 Show the order of individual bytes in memory (lowest to
highest) for the following double-word variable:
EXAMPLE CODE
 EXAMPLE CODE (EXPLANATION)
 .386 directive identifies the program as a 32-bit program that can access 32-bit
registers and addresses.
 .model flat, stdcall selects the programs memory model, and identifies the calling
convention.

 The stdcall keyword tells the assembler how to manage the runtime stack when
procedures are called.

 It is a calling convention, that is a scheme for how subroutines receive parameters

from their caller and how they return a result.
 EXAMPLE CODE (EXPLANATION)
 .stack 4096 sets aside 4096 bytes of storage for the runtime stack.

 It tells the assembler how many bytes of memory to reserve for the
program’s runtime stack.
 Stack are used :
 to hold passed parameters
 to hold the address of the code that called the function. The CPU uses
this address to return when the function call finishes, back to the spot
where the function was called.
 Stack can hold local variables.
 EXAMPLE CODE (EXPLANATION)
 When your program is ready to finish, it calls ExitProcess that returns an integer that
tells the operating system that your program worked just fine.

 The ENDP directive marks the end of a procedure.

 Our program had a procedure named main, so the endp must use the same name.

 Line 16 uses the END directive to mark the last line to be assembled (end of program),
and it identifies the program entry point (main).

 If you add any more lines to a program after the END directive, they will be ignored by
the assembler.
 REVIEW QUESTIONS
 What is the Purpose of TITLE Directive?
 It marks entire line as comment.
 Example → TITLE Add and Subtract (AddSub.asm)

 What is the Purpose of INCLUDE Directive?

 Copies necessary definitions and setup information from text file.
 Example → INCLUDE irvine32.inc