Fall 2019

Assembly Programming

Professor Pooja Vashisth

Overview (1):
ASCII
Introduction/overview

MIPS Assembly Language

Instruction set
Arithmetic Operations
Procedure Calling
ASCII Code
Introduction (1):
What is a Character Code ?
Every computer has a set of characters that it uses
At the bare minimum this includes
26 upper-case characters
26 lower-case characters
Digits from 0 – 9
Special symbols  space, period, minus sign, plus
sign etc.
To transfer these characters into the computer
Each symbol is assigned a unique number
For example  a=1, b=2, … z=26 etc…
Introduction (2):
What is a Character Code ? (cont.)
The mapping of characters onto integers is known as a
character code
In order for computers to be able to communicate
with each other they must use the same code  this
is essential otherwise, they will not understand each
other!
Standard codes have been developed to allow for
computers to communicate with each other
ASCII
UNICODE
Introduction (3):
ASCII Character Code
American Standard Code for Information Interchange
Very widely used  one of the oldest and most used
Each ASCII character has 7 bits
Allows for 128 characters (e.g., 27 = 128)
Codes 0 – 1FH are control characters and will not
print on the screen
Many ASCII control characters are intended for data
transmission
 §2.9 Communicating with People
Character Data
Byte-encoded character sets
ASCII: 128 characters
95 graphic, 33 control
Latin-1: 256 characters
ASCII, +96 more graphic characters

Unicode: 32-bit character set

Used in Java, C++ wide characters, …
Most of the world’s alphabets, plus symbols
UTF-8, UTF-16: variable-length encodings

Chapter 2 — Instructions: Language of the Computer — 7

Introduction (4):
ASCII Character Code (cont.)
Characters 0 - 31
Introduction (5):
ASCII Character Code (cont.)
Characters 32 - 127
 MIPS Assembly &
MIPS Instruction Set
 §2.1 Introduction
Instruction Set
The repertoire of instructions of a computer
Different computers have different instruction
sets
But with many aspects in common
Early computers had very simple instruction
sets
Simplified implementation
Many modern computers also have simple
instruction sets

Chapter 2 — Instructions: Language of the Computer — 11

The MIPS Instruction Set
Used as the example throughout the book

Stanford MIPS commercialized by MIPS

Technologies (www.mips.com)

Large share of embedded core market

Applications in consumer electronics, network/storage
equipment, cameras, printers, …

Typical of many modern ISAs

See MIPS Reference Data tear-out card, and
Appendixes
Chapter 2 — Instructions: Language of the Computer — 12
 §2.2 Operations of the Computer Hardware
Arithmetic Operations
Add and subtract, three operands
Two sources and one destination

add a, b, c # a gets b + c

All arithmetic operations have this form

Design Principle 1: Simplicity favours

regularity
Regularity makes implementation simpler
Simplicity enables higher performance at lower cost

Chapter 2 — Instructions: Language of the Computer — 13

Arithmetic Example
C code:

f = (g + h) - (i + j);

MIPS Code:

add $t0, $s1, $s2 # temp t0 = g + h

add $t1, $s3, $s4 # temp t1 = i + j
sub $s0, $t0, $t1 # f = t0 - t1

Chapter 2 — Instructions: Language of the Computer — 14

 §2.3 Operands of the Computer Hardware
Register Operands
Arithmetic instructions use register
operands
MIPS has a 32 × 32-bit register file
Use for frequently accessed data
Numbered 0 to 31
32-bit data called a “word”
Assembler names
$t0, $t1, …, $t9 for temporary values
$s0, $s1, …, $s7 for saved variables
Design Principle 2: Smaller is faster
c.f. main memory: millions of locations

Chapter 2 — Instructions: Language of the Computer — 15

Register Operand Example
C code:

f = (g + h) - (i + j);
f, …, j in $s0, …, $s4

Compiled MIPS code:

add $t0, $s1, $s2

add $t1, $s3, $s4
sub $s0, $t0, $t1

Chapter 2 — Instructions: Language of the Computer — 16

Memory Operands … Imp!
Main memory used for composite data
Arrays, structures, dynamic data
To apply arithmetic operations
Load values from memory into registers
Store result from register to memory
Memory is byte addressed
Each address identifies an 8-bit byte
Words are aligned in memory
Address must be a multiple of 4
MIPS is Big Endian
Most-significant byte at least address of a word
c.f. Little Endian: least-significant byte at least address

Chapter 2 — Instructions: Language of the Computer — 17

Memory Operand Example 1
C code:

g = h + A[8];
g in $s1, h in $s2, base address of A in $s3

Compiled MIPS code:

Index 8 requires offset of 32
4 bytes per word

lw $t0, 32($s3) # load word

add $s1, $s2, $t0
offset base register

Chapter 2 — Instructions: Language of the Computer — 18

Memory Operand Example 2
C code:

A[12] = h + A[8];
h in $s2, base address of A in $s3

Compiled MIPS code:

Index 8 requires offset of 32

lw $t0, 32($s3) # load word

add $t0, $s2, $t0
sw $t0, 48($s3) # store word
Chapter 2 — Instructions: Language of the Computer — 19
Registers vs. Memory
Registers are faster to access than memory
Operating on memory data requires loads and
stores
More instructions to be executed
Compiler must use registers for variables as
much as possible
Only spill to memory for less frequently used variables
Register optimization is important!

Chapter 2 — Instructions: Language of the Computer — 20

Immediate Operands
Constant data specified in an instruction

addi $s3, $s3, 4

No subtract immediate instruction

Just use a negative constant
addi $s2, $s1, -1

Design Principle 3: Make the common case fast

Small constants are common
Immediate operand avoids a load instruction

Chapter 2 — Instructions: Language of the Computer — 21

The Constant Zero
MIPS register 0 ($zero) is the constant 0
Cannot be overwritten

Useful for common operations

E.g., move between registers
add $t2, $s1, $zero

Chapter 2 — Instructions: Language of the Computer — 22

 §2.4 Signed and Unsigned Numbers
Unsigned Binary Integers

Given an n-bit number

n 1 n2
x  x n1 2  x n2 2    x1 2  x 0 2 1 0

 Range: 0 to +2n – 1
 Example
 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 10112
= 0 + … + 1×23 + 0×22 +1×21 +1×20
= 0 + … + 8 + 0 + 2 + 1 = 1110
 Using 32 bits
 0 to +4,294,967,295

Chapter 2 — Instructions: Language of the Computer — 23

2s-Complement Signed Integers
Given an n-bit number
n 1 n2
x   x n1 2  x n2 2    x1 2  x 0 2
1 0

 Range: –2n – 1 to +2n – 1 – 1

 Example
 1111 1111 1111 1111 1111 1111 1111 11002
= –1×231 + 1×230 + … + 1×22 +0×21 +0×20
= –2,147,483,648 + 2,147,483,644 = –410
 Using 32 bits
 –2,147,483,648 to +2,147,483,647

Chapter 2 — Instructions: Language of the Computer — 24

2s-Complement Signed Integers
Bit 31 is sign bit
1 for negative numbers
0 for non-negative numbers
–(–2n – 1) can’t be represented
Non-negative numbers have the same
unsigned and 2s-complement representation
Some specific numbers
0: 0000 0000 … 0000
–1: 1111 1111 … 1111
Most-negative: 1000 0000 … 0000
Most-positive: 0111 1111 … 1111

Chapter 2 — Instructions: Language of the Computer — 25

Signed Negation

Complement and add 1

Complement means 1 → 0, 0 → 1

x  x  1111...1112  1

x  1  x

 Example: negate +2
 +2 = 0000 0000 … 00102
 –2 = 1111 1111 … 11012 + 1
= 1111 1111 … 11102

Chapter 2 — Instructions: Language of the Computer — 26

Sign Extension
Representing a number using more bits
Preserve the numeric value
In MIPS instruction set
addi: extend immediate value
lb, lh: extend loaded byte/halfword
beq, bne: extend the displacement
Replicate the sign bit to the left
c.f. unsigned values: extend with 0s
Examples: 8-bit to 16-bit
+2: 0000 0010 => 0000 0000 0000 0010
–2: 1111 1110 => 1111 1111 1111 1110

Chapter 2 — Instructions: Language of the Computer — 27

 §2.5 Representing Instructions in the Computer
Representing Instructions
Instructions are encoded in binary
Called machine code

MIPS instructions
Encoded as 32-bit instruction words
Small number of formats encoding operation code (opcode),
register numbers, …
Regularity!

Register numbers
$t0 – $t7 are reg’s 8 – 15
$t8 – $t9 are reg’s 24 – 25
$s0 – $s7 are reg’s 16 – 23
Chapter 2 — Instructions: Language of the Computer — 28
MIPS R-format Instructions

op rd rs rt shamt funct
6 bits 5 bits 5 bits 5 bits 5 bits 6 bits

Instruction fields
op: operation code (opcode)
rs: first source register number
rt: second source register number
rd: destination register number
shamt: shift amount (00000 for now)
funct: function code (extends opcode)
Chapter 2 — Instructions: Language of the Computer — 29
R-format Example

op rd rs rt shamt funct
6 bits 5 bits 5 bits 5 bits 5 bits 6 bits

add $t0, $s1, $s2

special $t0 $s1 $s2 0 add

0 8 17 18 0 32

000000 01000 10001 10010 00000 100000

000000100011001001000000001000002 = 0232402016

Chapter 2 — Instructions: Language of the Computer — 30

Hexadecimal
Base 16
Compact representation of bit strings
4 bits per hex digit

0 0000 4 0100 8 1000 c 1100

1 0001 5 0101 9 1001 d 1101
2 0010 6 0110 a 1010 e 1110
3 0011 7 0111 b 1011 f 1111

 Example: eca8 6420

 1110 1100 1010 1000 0110 0100 0010 0000

Chapter 2 — Instructions: Language of the Computer — 31

MIPS I-format Instructions
op rs rt constant or address
6 bits 5 bits 5 bits 16 bits

Immediate arithmetic and load/store

instructions
rt: destination or source register number
Constant: –215 to +215 – 1
Address: offset added to base address in rs
Design Principle 4: Good design demands
good compromises
Different formats complicate decoding, but allow 32-bit
instructions uniformly
Keep formats as similar as possible

Chapter 2 — Instructions: Language of the Computer — 32

Stored Program Computers
The BIG Picture Instructions represented in
binary, just like data
Instructions and data
stored in memory
Programs can operate on
programs
e.g., compilers, linkers, …
Binary compatibility allows
compiled programs to work
on different computers
Standardized ISAs

Chapter 2 — Instructions: Language of the Computer — 33

 §2.6 Logical Operations
Logical Operations

Instructions for bitwise manipulation

Operation C Java MIPS
Shift left << << sll
Shift right >> >>> srl
Bitwise AND & & and, andi
Bitwise OR | | or, ori
Bitwise NOT ~ ~ nor

 Useful for extracting and inserting

groups of bits in a word
Chapter 2 — Instructions: Language of the Computer — 34
Shift Operations

op rs rt rd shamt funct
6 bits 5 bits 5 bits 5 bits 5 bits 6 bits

shamt: how many positions to shift

Shift left logical
Shift left and fill with 0 bits
sll by i bits multiplies by 2i
Shift right logical
Shift right and fill with 0 bits
srl by i bits divides by 2i (unsigned only)

Chapter 2 — Instructions: Language of the Computer — 35

AND Operations

Useful to mask bits in a word

Select some bits, clear others to 0

and $t0, $t1, $t2

$t2 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 1101 1100 0000

$t1 0000 0000 0000 0000 0011 1100 0000 0000

$t0 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 1100 0000 0000

Chapter 2 — Instructions: Language of the Computer — 36

OR Operations

Useful to include bits in a word

Set some bits to 1, leave others unchanged

or $t0, $t1, $t2

$t2 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 1101 1100 0000

$t1 0000 0000 0000 0000 0011 1100 0000 0000

$t0 0000 0000 0000 0000 0011 1101 1100 0000

Chapter 2 — Instructions: Language of the Computer — 37

NOT Operations

Useful to invert bits in a word

Change 0 to 1, and 1 to 0

MIPS has NOR 3-operand instruction

a NOR b == NOT ( a OR b )
Register 0: always
read as zero
nor $t0, $t1, $zero
$t1 0000 0000 0000 0000 0011 1100 0000 0000

$t0 1111 1111 1111 1111 1100 0011 1111 1111

Chapter 2 — Instructions: Language of the Computer — 38

 §2.7 Instructions for Making Decisions
Conditional Operations
Branch to a labeled instruction if a condition is
true
Otherwise, continue sequentially
beq rs, rt, L1
if (rs == rt) branch to instruction labeled L1;
bne rs, rt, L1
if (rs != rt) branch to instruction labeled L1;
j L1
unconditional jump to instruction labeled L1

Chapter 2 — Instructions: Language of the Computer — 39

Compiling If Statements
C code:
if (i==j) f = g+h;
else f = g-h;
f, g, … in $s0, $s1, …
Compiled MIPS code:
bne $s3, $s4, Else
add $s0, $s1, $s2
j Exit
Else: sub $s0, $s1, $s2
Exit: …

Assembler calculates addresses

Chapter 2 — Instructions: Language of the Computer — 40

Compiling Loop Statements
C code:
while (save[i] == k) i += 1;
i in $s3, k in $s5, address of save in $s6
Compiled MIPS code:
Loop: sll $t1, $s3, 2
add $t1, $t1, $s6
lw $t0, 0($t1)
bne $t0, $s5, Exit
addi $s3, $s3, 1
j Loop
Exit: …

Chapter 2 — Instructions: Language of the Computer — 41

Basic Blocks

A basic block is a sequence of instructions

with
No embedded branches (except at end)
No branch targets (except at beginning)

 A compiler identifies basic

blocks for optimization
 An advanced processor
can accelerate execution
of basic blocks
Chapter 2 — Instructions: Language of the Computer — 42
More Conditional Operations
Set result to 1 if a condition is true
Otherwise, set to 0

slt rd, rs, rt

if (rs < rt) rd = 1; else rd = 0;

slti rt, rs, constant

if (rs < constant) rt = 1; else rt = 0;

Use in combination with beq, bne

slt $t0, $s1, $s2 # if ($s1 < $s2)
bne $t0, $zero, L # branch to L
Chapter 2 — Instructions: Language of the Computer — 43
Branch Instruction Design
Why not blt, bge, etc?

Hardware for <, ≥, … slower than =, ≠

Combining with branch involves more work per
instruction, requiring a slower clock
All instructions penalized!

beq and bne are the common case

This is a good design compromise

Chapter 2 — Instructions: Language of the Computer — 44

 §2.8 Supporting Procedures in Computer Hardware
Procedure Calling
Steps required
1. Place parameters in registers
2. Transfer control to procedure
3. Acquire storage for procedure
4. Perform procedure’s operations
5. Place result in register for caller
6. Return to place of call

Chapter 2 — Instructions: Language of the Computer — 45

Register Usage
$a0 – $a3: arguments (reg’s 4 – 7)
$v0, $v1: result values (reg’s 2 and 3)
$t0 – $t9: temporaries
Can be overwritten by callee
$s0 – $s7: saved
Must be saved/restored by callee
$gp: global pointer for static data (reg 28)
$sp: stack pointer (reg 29)
$fp: frame pointer (reg 30)
$ra: return address (reg 31)

Chapter 2 — Instructions: Language of the Computer — 46

Procedure Call Instructions
Procedure call: jump and link

jal ProcedureLabel
Address of following instruction put in $ra
Jumps to target address

Procedure return: jump register

jr $ra
Copies $ra to program counter
Can also be used for computed jumps
e.g., for case/switch statements
Chapter 2 — Instructions: Language of the Computer — 47
Leaf Procedure Example
C code:

int leaf_example (int g, h, i, j)

{ int f;
f = (g + h) - (i + j);
return f;
}
Arguments g, …, j in $a0, …, $a3
f in $s0 (hence, need to save $s0 on stack)
Result in $v0
Chapter 2 — Instructions: Language of the Computer — 48
Leaf Procedure Example
Example MIPS code:
jal leaf_example # a procedure call
leaf_example:
addi $sp, $sp, -4
sw $s0, 0($sp) Save $s0 on stack
add $t0, $a0, $a1 Procedure body
add $t1, $a2, $a3
sub $s0, $t0, $t1
add $v0, $s0, $zero Result
lw $s0, 0($sp) Restore $s0
addi $sp, $sp, 4
jr $ra Return
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