hapter 4:

8086 Microprocessor Assembly

language programming

Dr. Mohsen NASRI

College of Computer and Information Sciences,
Majmaah University, Al Majmaah
[email protected]
 Introduction Fifth Generation Pentium

Fourth Generation
During 1980s
Low power version of HMOS technology
(HCMOS)
Third Generation 32 bit processors
During 1978 Physical memory space 224 bytes = 16 Mb
HMOS technology  Faster speed, Higher Virtual memory space 240 bytes = 1 Tb
packing density Floating point hardware
16 bit processors  40/ 48/ 64 pins Supports increased number of addressing
Easier to program modes
Dynamically relatable programs
Processor has multiply/ divide arithmetic Intel 80386
hardware
More powerful interrupt handling
capabilities Second Generation
Flexible I/O port addressing During 1973
NMOS technology  Faster speed, Higher
Intel 8086 (16 bit processor) density, Compatible with TTL
4 / 8/ 16 bit processors  40 pins
First Generation Ability to address large memory spaces
Between 1971 – 1973 and I/O ports
PMOS technology, non compatible with TTL Greater number of levels of subroutine
4 bit processors  16 pins nesting
8 and 16 bit processors  40 pins Better interrupt handling capabilities
Due to limitations of pins, signals are
multiplexed Intel 8085 (8 bit processor)
 Functional blocks

Various conditions of the

Computational Unit;
results are stored as
performs arithmetic and Internal storage of data
status bits called flags in
logic operations
flag register

Register array or Data Bus

internal memory
ALU
Generates the
address of the
Instruction
Flag instructions to be
decoding unit
Register fetched from the
memory and send
through address
bus to the
Timing and memory
control unit PC/ IP

Control Bus Address Bus

Generates control signals for Decodes instructions; sends

internal and external operations information to the timing and
of the microprocessor control unit
 Overview

First 16- bit processor released by Addressable memory space is

INTEL in the year 1978 organized in to two banks of 512 kb
each; Even (or lower) bank and Odd (or
higher) bank. Address line A0 is used to
Originally HMOS, now manufactured select even bank and control signal
using HMOS III technique is used to access odd bank

Uses a separate 16 bit address for I/O

Approximately 29, 000 transistors, 40 mapped devices  can generate 216 =
pin DIP, 5V supply 64 k addresses.

Operates in two modes: minimum mode

Does not have internal clock; external and maximum mode, decided by the
asymmetric clock source with 33% signal at MN and pins.
duty cycle

20-bit address to access memory  can

address up to 220 = 1 megabytes of
memory space.
8086 microprocessor Pins and Signals Common signals

AD0-AD15 (Bidirectional)

Address/Data bus

Low order address bus; these are

multiplexed with data.

When AD lines are used to transmit

memory address the symbol A is used
instead of AD, for example A0-A15.

When data are transmitted over AD lines

the symbol D is used in place of AD, for
example D0-D7, D8-D15 or D0-D15.

A16/S3, A17/S4, A18/S5, A19/S6

High order address bus. These are

multiplexed with status signals
8086 microprocessor Pins and Signals Common signals

BHE (Active Low)/S7 (Output)

Bus High Enable/Status

It is used to enable data onto the most

significant half of data bus, D8-D15. 8-bit
device connected to upper half of the
data bus use BHE (Active Low) signal. It
is multiplexed with status signal S 7.

MN/ MX

MINIMUM / MAXIMUM

This pin signal indicates what mode the

processor is to operate in.

RD (Read) (Active Low)

The signal is used for read operation.

It is an output signal.
It is active when low.
8086 microprocessor Pins and Signals Common signals

TEST

input is tested by the ‘WAIT’ instruction.

8086 will enter a wait state after

execution of the WAIT instruction and
will resume execution only when the is
made low by an active hardware.

This is used to synchronize an external

activity to the processor internal
operation.

READY

This is the acknowledgement from the

slow device or memory that they have
completed the data transfer.

The signal made available by the devices

is synchronized by the 8284A clock
generator to provide ready input to the
8086.

The signal is active high.

8086 microprocessor Pins and Signals Common signals

RESET (Input)

Causes the processor to immediately

terminate its present activity.

The signal must be active HIGH for at

least four clock cycles.

CLK

The clock input provides the basic timing

for processor operation and bus control
activity. Its an asymmetric square wave
with 33% duty cycle.

INTR Interrupt Request

This is a triggered input. This is sampled

during the last clock cycles of each
instruction to determine the availability
of the request. If any interrupt request is
pending, the processor enters the
interrupt acknowledge cycle.

This signal is active high and internally

synchronized.
8086 microprocessor Pins and Signals Min/ Max Pins

The 8086 microprocessor can work in two

modes of operations : Minimum mode and
Maximum mode.

In the minimum mode of operation the

microprocessor do not associate with any
co-processors and can not be used for
multiprocessor systems.

In the maximum mode the 8086 can work

in multi-processor or co-processor
configuration.

Minimum or maximum mode operations

are decided by the pin MN/ MX(Active
low).

When this pin is high 8086 operates in

minimum mode otherwise it operates in
Maximum mode.
8086 microprocessor Pins and Signals Minimum mode signals

Pins 24 -31

For minimum mode operation, the MN/ is tied to

VCC (logic high)

8086 itself generates all the bus control signals

DT/ (Data Transmit/ Receive) Output signal from the

processor to control the direction of data flow
through the data transceivers

(Data Enable) Output signal from the processor

used as out put enable for the transceivers

ALE (Address Latch Enable) Used to demultiplex the

address and data lines using external latches

M/ Used to differentiate memory access and I/O

access. For memory reference instructions, it is
high. For IN and OUT instructions, it is low.

Write control signal; asserted low Whenever

processor writes data to memory or I/O port

(Interrupt Acknowledge) When the interrupt

request is accepted by the processor, the output is
low on this line.
8086 microprocessor Pins and Signals Minimum mode signals

Pins 24 -31

For minimum mode operation, the MN/ is tied to

VCC (logic high)

8086 itself generates all the bus control signals

HOLD Input signal to the processor form the bus masters

as a request to grant the control of the bus.

Usually used by the DMA controller to get the

control of the bus.

HLDA (Hold Acknowledge) Acknowledge signal by the

processor to the bus master requesting the control
of the bus through HOLD.

The acknowledge is asserted high, when the

processor accepts HOLD.
8086 microprocessor Pins and Signals Maximum mode signals

During maximum mode operation, the MN/ is

grounded (logic low)

Pins 24 -31 are reassigned

,, Status signals; used by the 8086 bus controller to

generate bus timing and control signals. These are
decoded as shown.
8086 microprocessor Pins and Signals Maximum mode signals

During maximum mode operation, the MN/ is

grounded (logic low)

Pins 24 -31 are reassigned

, (Queue Status) The processor provides the status

of queue in these lines.

The queue status can be used by external device to

track the internal status of the queue in 8086.

The output on QS0 and QS1 can be interpreted as

shown in the table.
8086 microprocessor Pins and Signals Maximum mode signals

During maximum mode operation, the MN/ is

grounded (logic low)

Pins 24 -31 are reassigned

, (Bus Request/ Bus Grant) These requests are used

by other local bus masters to force the processor
to release the local bus at the end of the
processor’s current bus cycle.

These pins are bidirectional.

The request on will have higher priority than

An output signal activated by the LOCK prefix

instruction.

Remains active until the completion of the

instruction prefixed by LOCK.

The 8086 output low on the pin while executing an

instruction prefixed by LOCK to prevent other bus
masters from gaining control of the system bus.
8086 microprocessor Architecture

Execution Unit (EU) Bus Interface Unit (BIU)

EU executes instructions that have BIU fetches instructions, reads data

already been fetched by the BIU. from memory and I/O ports, writes
data to memory and I/ O ports.
BIU and EU functions separately.
8086 microprocessor Architecture Bus Interface Unit (BIU)

Dedicated Adder to
generate 20 bit address

Four 16-bit segment

registers

Code Segment (CS)

Data Segment (DS)
Stack Segment (SS)
Extra Segment (ES)

Segment Registers >>

8086 microprocessor Architecture Bus Interface Unit (BIU)

Segment Code Segment Register

Registers
16-bit

CS contains the base or start of the current code segment;

IP contains the distance or offset from this address to the
next instruction byte to be fetched.

BIU computes the 20-bit physical address by logically

shifting the contents of CS 4-bits to the left and then
adding the 16-bit contents of IP.

That is, all instructions of a program are relative to the

contents of the CS register multiplied by 16 and then
offset is added provided by the IP.
8086 microprocessor Architecture Bus Interface Unit (BIU)

Segment Data Segment Register

Registers
16-bit

Points to the current data segment; operands for most

instructions are fetched from this segment.

The 16-bit contents of the Source Index (SI) or

Destination Index (DI) or a 16-bit displacement are used
as offset for computing the 20-bit physical address.
8086 microprocessor Architecture Bus Interface Unit (BIU)

Segment Stack Segment Register

Registers
16-bit

Points to the current stack.

The 20-bit physical stack address is calculated from the

Stack Segment (SS) and the Stack Pointer (SP) for stack
instructions such as PUSH and POP.

In based addressing mode, the 20-bit physical stack

address is calculated from the Stack segment (SS) and the
Base Pointer (BP).
8086 microprocessor Architecture Bus Interface Unit (BIU)

Segment Extra Segment Register

Registers
16-bit

Points to the extra segment in which data (in excess of

64K pointed to by the DS) is stored.

String instructions use the ES and DI to determine the 20-

bit physical address for the destination.
8086 microprocessor Architecture Bus Interface Unit (BIU)

Segment Instruction Pointer

Registers
16-bit

Always points to the next instruction to be executed

within the currently executing code segment.

So, this register contains the 16-bit offset address pointing

to the next instruction code within the 64Kb of the code
segment area.

Its content is automatically incremented as the execution

of the next instruction takes place.
8086 microprocessor Architecture Bus Interface Unit (BIU)

Instruction queue

A group of First-In-First-
Out (FIFO) in which up to
6 bytes of instruction
code are pre fetched
from the memory ahead
of time.

This is done in order to

speed up the execution
by overlapping
instruction fetch with
execution.

This mechanism is known

as pipelining.
8086 microprocessor Architecture Execution Unit (EU)

EU decodes and
executes instructions.

A decoder in the EU
control system
translates instructions.

16-bit ALU for

performing arithmetic
and logic operation

Four general purpose

registers(AX, BX, CX, DX);

Pointer registers (Stack

Pointer, Base Pointer);

and
Some of the 16 bit registers can be
Index registers (Source used as two 8 bit registers as :
Index, Destination Index)
each of 16-bits AX can be used as AH and AL
BX can be used as BH and BL
CX can be used as CH and CL
DX can be used as DH and DL
8086 microprocessor Architecture Execution Unit (EU)

EU Accumulator Register (AX)

Registers
Consists of two 8-bit registers AL and AH, which can be
combined together and used as a 16-bit register AX.

AL in this case contains the low order byte of the word,

and AH contains the high-order byte.

The I/O instructions use the AX or AL for inputting /

outputting 16 or 8 bit data to or from an I/O port.

Multiplication and Division instructions also use the AX or

AL.
8086 microprocessor Architecture Execution Unit (EU)

EU Base Register (BX)

Registers
Consists of two 8-bit registers BL and BH, which can be
combined together and used as a 16-bit register BX.

BL in this case contains the low-order byte of the word,

and BH contains the high-order byte.

This is the only general purpose register whose contents

can be used for addressing the 8086 memory.

All memory references utilizing this register content for

addressing use DS as the default segment register.
8086 microprocessor Architecture Execution Unit (EU)

EU Counter Register (CX)

Registers
Consists of two 8-bit registers CL and CH, which can be
combined together and used as a 16-bit register CX.

When combined, CL register contains the low order byte of

the word, and CH contains the high-order byte.

Instructions such as SHIFT, ROTATE and LOOP use the

contents of CX as a counter.

Example:

The instruction LOOP START automatically decrements

CX by 1 without affecting flags and will check if [CX] =
0.

If it is zero, 8086 executes the next instruction;

otherwise the 8086 branches to the label START.
8086 microprocessor Architecture Execution Unit (EU)

EU Data Register (DX)

Registers
Consists of two 8-bit registers DL and DH, which can be
combined together and used as a 16-bit register DX.

When combined, DL register contains the low order byte of

the word, and DH contains the high-order byte.

Used to hold the high 16-bit result (data) in 16 X 16

multiplication or the high 16-bit dividend (data) before a
32 16 division and the 16-bit reminder after division.
8086 microprocessor Architecture Execution Unit (EU)

EU Stack Pointer (SP) and Base Pointer (BP)

Registers
SP and BP are used to access data in the stack segment.

SP is used as an offset from the current SS during

execution of instructions that involve the stack segment in
the external memory.

SP contents are automatically updated (incremented/

decremented) due to execution of a POP or PUSH
instruction.

BP contains an offset address in the current SS, which is

used by instructions utilizing the based addressing mode.
 8086 Architecture Execution Unit (EU)
Microprocessor

EU Source Index (SI) and Destination Index (DI)

Registers
Used in indexed addressing.

Instructions that process data strings use the SI and DI

registers together with DS and ES respectively in order to
distinguish between the source and destination addresses.
 8086 Architecture Execution Unit (EU)
Microproces
sor
EU Source Index (SI) and Destination Index (DI)
Registers
Used in indexed addressing.

Instructions that process data strings use the SI and DI

registers together with DS and ES respectively in order to
distinguish between the source and destination addresses.
8086 microprocessor Architecture Execution Unit (EU)
Auxiliary Carry Flag
Carry Flag
Flag Register This is set, if there is a carry from the
This flag is set, when there is
lowest nibble, i.e, bit three during
addition, or borrow for the lowest a carry out of MSB in case of
nibble, i.e, bit three, during addition or a borrow in case
subtraction. of subtraction.

Sign Flag Zero Flag Parity Flag

This flag is set, when the This flag is set, if the result of This flag is set to 1, if the lower
result of any computation the computation or comparison byte of the result contains even
is negative performed by an instruction is number of 1’s ; for odd number
zero of 1’s set to zero.

15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0

OF DF IF TF SF ZF AF PF CF

Tarp Flag
Over flow Flag If this flag is set, the processor
This flag is set, if an overflow occurs, i.e, if the result of a signed enters the single step execution
operation is large enough to accommodate in a destination
mode by generating internal
register. The result is of more than 7-bits in size in case of 8-bit
signed operation and more than 15-bits in size in case of 16-bit interrupts after the execution of
sign operations, then the overflow will be set. each instruction

Direction Flag Interrupt Flag

This is used by string manipulation instructions. If this flag bit
is ‘0’, the string is processed beginning from the lowest Causes the 8086 to recognize
address to the highest address, i.e., auto incrementing mode. external mask interrupts; clearing IF
Otherwise, the string is processed from the highest address disables these interrupts.
towards the lowest address, i.e., auto incrementing mode.
8086 microprocessor Architecture

8086 registers
categorized 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0

into 4 groups OF DF IF TF SF ZF AF PF CF

Sl.No. Type Register width Name of register

1 General purpose register 16 bit AX, BX, CX, DX

8 bit AL, AH, BL, BH, CL, CH, DL, DH

2 Pointer register 16 bit SP, BP

3 Index register 16 bit SI, DI

4 Instruction Pointer 16 bit IP

5 Segment register 16 bit CS, DS, SS, ES

6 Flag (PSW) 16 bit Flag register

8086 microprocessor Architecture Registers and Special Functions

Register Name of the Register Special Function

AX 16-bit Accumulator Stores the 16-bit results of arithmetic and logic

operations

AL 8-bit Accumulator Stores the 8-bit results of arithmetic and logic

operations

BX Base register Used to hold base value in base addressing mode

to access memory data

CX Count Register Used to hold the count value in SHIFT, ROTATE

and LOOP instructions

DX Data Register Used to hold data for multiplication and division

operations

SP Stack Pointer Used to hold the offset address of top stack

memory

BP Base Pointer Used to hold the base value in base addressing

using SS register to access data from stack
memory

SI Source Index Used to hold index value of source operand (data)

for string instructions

DI Data Index Used to hold the index value of destination

operand (data) for string operations
8086 microprocessor Memory organization in 8086

Memory IC’s : Byte oriented

8086 : 16-bit

Word : Stored by two consecutive

memory locations; for LSB and
MSB

Address of word : Address of LSB

Bank 0 : A0 = 0  Even
addressed memory bank

Bank 1 : = 0  Odd
addressed memory bank
8086 microprocessor Memory organization in 8086

Operation A0 Data Lines Used

1 Read/ Write byte at an even address 1 0 D7 – D 0

2 Read/ Write byte at an odd address 0 1 D15 – D8

3 Read/ Write word at an even address 0 0 D15 – D0

4 Read/ Write word at an odd address 0 1 D15 – D0 in first operation

byte from odd bank is
transferred
Read/ Write word at an Even address 1 0 D7 – D0 in first operation
byte from odd bank is
transferred
8086 microprocessor Computer language

Computer language

High Level Low Level

Machine Language Assembly Language

 Binary bits  English Alphabets

 ‘Mnemonics’
 Assembler
Mnemonics  Machine
Language
8086 microprocessor Assembly Language vs Machine Language Programming

• Machine Language Programming

– Writing a list of numbers representing the
bytes of machine instructions to be
executed and data constants to be used by
the program
• Assembly Language Programming
– Using symbolic instructions to represent
the raw data that will form the machine
language program and initial data
constants
8086 microprocessor Assembly Language vs Machine Language Programming

• Mnemonics represent Machine

Instructions
– Each mnemonic used represents a single
machine instruction
– The assembler performs the translation
• Some mnemonics require operands
– Operands provide additional information
• register, constant, address, or variable
8086 microprocessor Addressing mode and instruction set
 8086 Addressing Modes
Microprocessor
Every instruction of a program has to operate on a data.
The different ways in which a source operand is denoted
in an instruction are known as addressing modes.

1. Register Addressing
Group I : Addressing modes for
2. Immediate Addressing register and immediate data

3. Direct Addressing

4. Register Indirect Addressing

5. Based Addressing
Group II : Addressing modes for
6. Indexed Addressing memory data
7. Based Index Addressing

8. String Addressing

9. Direct I/O port Addressing

Group III : Addressing modes for
10. Indirect I/O port Addressing I/O ports

11. Relative Addressing Group IV : Relative Addressing mode

12. Implied Addressing Group V : Implied Addressing mode

 8086 Addressing Modes
Microprocessor
Register Addressing

The instruction will specify the name of the register which

holds the data to be operated by the instruction.

Example:

MOV CL, DH

The content of 8-bit register DH is moved to another 8-bit

register CL

(CL)  (DH)
 8086 Addressing Modes
Microprocessor
Register Addressing
 8086 Addressing Modes
Microprocessor
Register Addressing

Syntax as: Mov Dest, Source

MOV AX,1
MOV BX, AX
immediate

Register
 8086 Addressing Modes
Microprocessor
Register Addressing

#3:
lue less than FFH is moved into a 16-bit register, the rest of the
e assumed to be all zeros.
MOV BX, 5 BX =0005
BH = 00, BL = 05
 8086 Addressing Modes
Microprocessor
Immediate Addressing

In immediate addressing mode, an 8-bit or 16-bit data is specified as

part of the instruction

Example:

MOV DL, 08H

The 8-bit data (08H) given in the instruction is moved to DL

(DL)  08H

MOV AX, 0A9FH

The 16-bit data (0A9FH) given in the instruction is moved to AX register

(AX)  0A9FH
 8086
Microprocessor Addressing Modes
Direct Addressing

Here, the effective address of the memory

location at which the data operand is stored is
given in the instruction.

The effective address is just a 16-bit number

written directly in the instruction.

Example:

MOV BX, [1354H]

MOV BL, [0400H]

The square brackets around the 1354H denotes

the contents of the memory location. When
executed, this instruction will copy the contents of
the memory location into BX register.

This addressing mode is called direct because the

displacement of the operand from the segment
base is specified directly in the instruction.
 8086 Group II : Addressing modes
Microprocessor Addressing Modes for memory data

Register Indirect Addressing

In Register indirect addressing, name of the

register which holds the effective address (EA)
will be specified in the instruction.

Registers used to hold EA are any of the following

registers:

BX, BP, DI and SI.

Content of the DS register is used for base

address calculation.

Example:

MOV CX, [BX]

Arithmetic Instructions-ADD, ADC, INC
 Arithmetic Instructions-ADD, ADC, INC

INC Operand

Operand+1 Operand
 Arithmetic Instructions-ADD, ADC, INC

SUB Operand1, Operand2

Operand1-Operand2 0perand1

DEC Operand

Operand-1 Operand
Arithmetic Instructions-ADD, ADC, INC
Multiplication and Division
Multiplication and Division
Multiplication and Division
Multiplication and Division
Thank You
Have a Nice
Day