Module 2: Assemblers

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 Assembler
 An Assembler can be defined as a program that translates an assembly language program into a
machine language program.


The assembler evaluates the mnemonics (symbols) in the operation field and finds the value of
symbols and literals to produce machine code.


Types of Assembler

On the basis of this functionality, assembler has two types:


Single-Pass Assembler: If an assembler does all this work in one scan then it is called a
single-pass assembler.


Multiple-Pass Assembler: If it does it in multiple scans then called a multiple-pass
assembler.

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 Elements of Assembly Language programming


An assembly language is a machine dependent, low level
programming language.

it is specific to certain computer system.
 It provide 3 basic features which simplify programming
 Mnemonic Operation Codes
 Symbolic operands
 Data declaration

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  Mnemonic operation codes: eliminates the need to memorize
numeric operation codes.

Symbolic operands: Symbolic names can be associated with
data or instructions. Symbolic names can be used as operands in
assembly statements

Data declarations: Data can be declared in a variety of
notations, including the decimal notation

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 Simple Assembly scheme

 An assembly language statement has the following format:

[Label] <Opcode> <operand specification>[,<operand specification>..]


<operand specification> has the following syntax:
<symbolic name> [± <displacement> ] [(<index register>)]

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 Some possible operand forms are as follows:

The operand AREA refers to the memory word with which the name AREA is associated.

The operand AREA+5 refers to the memory word that is 5 words away from the word
with
the name AREA. Here '5' is the displacement or offset from AREA.

The operand AREA(4) implies indexing the operand AREA with index register 4—that is,
the
operand address is obtained by adding the contents of index register 4 to the address of
AREA.

The operand AREA+5 (4) is a combination of the previous two specifications.

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 Types of Assembly Statements:
1. Imperative statement

An imperative statement indicates an action to be performed during the execution of the
assembled statement.

Each imperative statement typically translates into one machine instruction.

These are executable statements.

Some example of imperative statement are given below

MOVER BREG,X

STOP

READ X

PRINT Y

ADD AREG,Z
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 Types of Assembly Statements:
2. Declaration statement

Declaration statements are for reserving memory for variables.

The syntax of declaration statement is as follow:

[Label] DS <constant>

*Label+ DC ‘<value>’

DS: stands for Declare storage, DC: stands for Declare constant.

The DS statement reserves area of memory and associates name with them.

A DS 10

Above statement reserves 10 word of memory for variable A.

The DC statement constructs memory words containing constants.

ONE DC ‘1’
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 Types of Assembly Statements:


Above statement associates the name ONE with a memory word containing the value ‘1’

Any assembly program can use constant in two ways- as immediate operands, and as

literals.

Many machine support immediate operands in machine instruction. Ex: ADD AREG, 5

But hypothetical machine does not support immediate operands as a part of the machine
instruction. It can still handle literals.

A literal is an operand with the syntax =’<value>’. EX: ADD AREG,=’5’

It differs from constant because its location cannot be specified in assembly program.

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 Types of Assembly Statements:

3. Assembler Directive

Assembler directives instruct the assembler to perform certain action during the assembly
program.
a) START

START <Constant>

This directive indicates that first word of machine should be placed in the memory word with
address <constant>.

START 500

First word of the target program is stored from memory location 500 onwards.

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 Types of Assembly Statements:

b) END

This directive indicates end of the source program.

The operand indicates address of the instruction where the execution of

program should begin.

By default it is first instruction of the program.

END <operand 2>

Execution control should transfer to label given in operand field.

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 Basic Functions of Assembler
Assembler translates mnemonics opcodes to machine language.

Convert symbolic operands to their machine addresses.

Build machine instructions in the proper format

Convert data constants into machine representation.

Error checking is provided.

Changes can be quickly and easily incorporated with a reassembly.

Variables are represented by symbolic names, not as memory locations.

Assembly language statements are written one per line. A machine code program thus
consists of a sequence of assembly language statements, where each statement contains a
mnemonics.

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 Functions / Purpose of Assembler
An assembler must do the following

1. Generate instruction

a. Evaluate the mnemonics in the operation field to produce the machine code

b. Evaluate the subfield-fine the value of each symbol. Process literals and assign
addresses.

2. Process pseudo ops

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 Pass structure of assembler
2. Process pseudo ops
a) Pass 1 (Define symbol and literals)
i. Determine length of machine instruction ( MOTGET)
ii. Keep track of location counter (LC)
iii. Remember value of symbol until pass 2 (STSTO)
iv. Process some pseudo ops(POTGET1)
v. Remember literal (LITSTO)
b) Pass 2 (Generate object Program)
i. Look up value of symbol (STGET)
ii. Generate instruction (MOTGET2)
iii. Generate data (for DS, DC and Literal)
iv. Process pseudo ops (POTGET2)
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 SINGLE PASS ASSEMBLER


These assemblers are used when it is necessary or desirable to avoid a second pass
over the source program.

The main problem in designing the assembler using single pass was to resolve forward
references.

One-pass assemblers could produce object codes either in memory or to external
storage.

One-pass assemblers usually need to modify object code already generated.

Whether object code is stored in memory or external storage imposes different
considerations on assembler design.

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 SINGLE PASS ASSEMBLER

Based on whether the object code is stored in memory or external storage, one-pass
assemblers can be classified into two types:

1. One that produces object code directly in memory for immediate

execution (Load and-go assemblers).

2. One pass assembler generating object code for later execution.

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 1. Load-and-Go Assembler SINGLE PASS ASSEMBLER

1. Load-and-Go Assembler

Load-and-go assembler generates their object code in memory for immediate execution.

Since no object program is written out, no loader is needed.

It is useful in a system with frequent program development and testing.

Since the object program is produced in memory, the handling of forward references
becomes less difficult.

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 Working of One pass assembler (Load and Go Assembler)

In load-and-Go assemblers when a forward reference is encountered :

 Omits the operand address if the symbol has not yet been defined. (placess 000 at the
operand addresses position)
 Enters this undefined symbol into SYMTAB and indicates that it is undefined.
 Adds the location at which the operand is referenced to a list of forward references
associated with the SYMTAB entry.
 When the definition for the symbol is encountered, scans the reference list and inserts
the address.

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 Working of One pass assembler (Load and Go Assembler)

 At the end of the program, reports the error if there are still SYMTAB entries
indicated undefined symbols(* indicates undefined).
 When the END statement is encountered, search SYMTAB for the symbol named in
the END statement and jumps to this location to begin execution if there is no error.

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 One Pass Assembler Generating Object Code for Later Execution

• In this type of one pass assembler, the generated object program is stored in
external storage (e.g.,files on disks).
• Random updates to operands target addresses are not permitted.
• For any symbol involved in forward references, once the target address of the
symbol is identified, additional text records must be generated to overwrite those
previously omitted target addresses.
• Records must be loaded in the same order as they appear in the object
program.
• Handling of forward references are jointly done by the assembler and the
linking loader.
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 One Pass Assembler Generating Object Code for Later Execution

One pass assembler which generates object code operates in the following
fashion:
 If the operand contains an undefined symbol, use 0 as the address and write
the Text
record to the object program.
 Forward references are entered into lists as in the load-and-go assembler.

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 One Pass Assembler Generating Object Code for Later Execution

 When the definition of a symbol is encountered, the assembler

generates another Text
record with the correct operand address of each entry in the reference
list.
 When loaded, the incorrect address 0 will be updated by the latter
Text record
containing the symbol definition.

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