Chapter 3:

Assembly Language Fundamentals

Javeria Amin
 Chapter Overview
2

 Basic Elements of Assembly Language

 Example: Adding and Subtracting Integers
 Assembling, Linking, and Running Programs
 Defining Data
 Symbolic Constants
 Real-Address Mode Programming
 Basic Elements of Assembly Language
3

 Integer constants
 Integer expressions
 Character and string constants
 Reserved words and identifiers
 Directives and instructions
 Labels
 Mnemonics and Operands
 Comments
 Examples
 Example Program
4

main PROC
mov eax, 5 ; move 5 to the EAX register
add eax, 6 ; add 6 to the EAX register
call WriteInt ; display value in EAX
exit ; quit
main ENDP

Add two numbers and displays the result

 Integer Constants
5

 [{+ | -}] digits [radix]

 Optional leading + or – sign
 binary, decimal, hexadecimal, or octal digits
 Common radix characters:
 h – hexadecimal

 q | o – octal

 d – decimal

 b – binary

 r – encoded real

 If no radix given, assumed to be decimal

Examples: 30d, 6Ah, 42, 1101b
Hexadecimal beginning with letter: 0A5h
 Reserved Words
6

 Reserved words cannot be used as identifiers

 Instruction mnemonics
 MOV, ADD, MUL,, …
 Register names
 Directives – tells MASM how to assemble programs

 type attributes – provides size and usage information

 BYTE, WORD
 Operators – used in constant expressions
 predefined symbols – @data

 See MASM reference in Appendix A

 Instructions
7

 An instruction is a statement that becomes executable

when a program is assembled.
 Assembled into machine code by assembler
 Executed at runtime by the CPU
 An instruction contains:
 Label (optional)
 Mnemonic (required)
 Operand (depends on the instruction)
 Comment (optional)

 Basic syntax
 [label:] mnemonic [operands] [ ; comment]
 Labels
8

 Act as place markers

 marks the address (offset) of code and data

 Follow identifer rules

 Data label
 must be unique

 example: myArray (not followed by colon)

 count DWORD 100

 Code label
 target of jump and loop instructions

 example: L1: (followed by colon)

target:
mov ax, bx
…
jmp target
 Mnemonics and Operands
9

 Instruction Mnemonics
 examples: MOV, ADD, SUB, MUL, INC, DEC
 Operands
 constant 96
 constant expression 2+4
 register eax
 memory (data label) count

Constants and constant expressions are often called immediate values

 Mnemonics and Operands
Examples
10

STC instruction
stc ; set Carry flag

INC instruction
inc eax ; add 1 to EAX

MOV instruction
mov count, ebx ; move EBX to count
; first operation is destination
; second is the source
IMUL instruction (three operands)
imul eax, ebx, 5 ; ebx multiplied by 5, product in EAX
 Comments
11

 Comments are good!

 explain the program's purpose
 when it was written, and by whom
 revision information
 tricky coding techniques
 application-specific explanations

 Single-line comments
 begin with semicolon (;)
 Multi-line comments
 begin with COMMENT directive and a programmer-
chosen character
 end with the same programmer-chosen character
 Comments
12

 Single line comment

 inc eax ; single line at end of instruction
 ; single line at beginning of line
 Multiline comment
COMMENT !
This line is a comment
This line is also a comment
!
COMMENT &
This is a comment
This is also a comment
&
 Instruction Format Examples
13

 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
 What's Next
14

 Basic Elements of Assembly Language

 Example: Adding and Subtracting Integers
 Assembling, Linking, and Running Programs
 Defining Data
 Symbolic Constants
 Real-Address Mode Programming
 Example: Adding and Subtracting
Integers
15

TITLE Add and Subtract (AddSub.asm)

; This program adds and subtracts 32-bit integers.

INCLUDE Irvine32.inc
.code
main PROC
mov eax,10000h ; EAX = 10000h
add eax,40000h ; EAX = 50000h
sub eax,20000h ; EAX = 30000h
call DumpRegs ; display registers
exit
main ENDP
END main
 Example Output
16

Program output, showing registers and flags:

EAX=00030000 EBX=7FFDF000 ECX=00000101 EDX=FFFFFFFF

ESI=00000000 EDI=00000000 EBP=0012FFF0 ESP=0012FFC4
EIP=00401024 EFL=00000206 CF=0 SF=0 ZF=0 OF=0
 Suggested Coding Standards (1 of 2)
17

 Some approaches to capitalization

 capitalize nothing
 capitalize everything
 capitalize all reserved words, including instruction
mnemonics and register names
 capitalize only directives and operators

 Other suggestions
 descriptive identifier names
 spaces surrounding arithmetic operators
 blank lines between procedures
 Alternative Version of AddSub
18

TITLE Add and Subtract (AddSubAlt.asm)

; This program adds and subtracts 32-bit integers.

.386
.MODEL flat,stdcall
.STACK 4096

ExitProcess PROTO, dwExitCode:DWORD

DumpRegs PROTO

.code
main PROC
mov eax,10000h ; EAX = 10000h
add eax,40000h ; EAX = 50000h
sub eax,20000h ; EAX = 30000h
call DumpRegs
INVOKE ExitProcess,0
main ENDP
END main
 Program Template
19
TITLE Program Template (Template.asm)

;***************************************************
; Program Name:
; Program Description:
; Author:
; Version:
; Date:
; Other Information:
;***************************************************

INCLUDE Irvine32.inc
.data
; (insert variables here)
.code
main PROC
; (insert executable instructions here)
exit
main ENDP
; (insert additional procedures here)
END main
 What's Next
20

 Basic Elements of Assembly Language

 Example: Adding and Subtracting Integers
 Assembling, Linking, and Running Programs
 Defining Data
 Symbolic Constants
 Real-Address Mode Programming
 Assembling, Linking, and Running Programs
21

 Assemble-Link-Execute Cycle
 Listing File
 Map File
 Assemble-Link Execute Cycle
22

 Assembly language program must be translated to machine language for

the target processor.
 The following diagram describes the steps from creating a source program
through executing the compiled program.
 If the source code is modified, Steps 2 through 4 must be repeated.

Link
Library
Step 2: Step 3: Step 4:
Source assembler Object linker Executable OS loader
Output
File File File

Listing Map
Step 1: text editor File File
 Assemble-Link-Execute
23

Step 1: A programmer uses a text editor to create an ASCII text file

named the source file.
Step 2: The assembler reads the source file and produces an object file, a
machine-language translation of the program. Optionally, it produces a
listing file. If any errors occur, the programmer must return to Step 1 and
fix the program.
Step 3: The linker reads the object file and checks to see if the program
contains any calls to procedures in a link library. The linker copies any
required procedures from the link library, combines them with the object
file, and produces the executable file.
Step 4: The operating system loader utility reads the executable file into
memory and branches the CPU to the program’s starting address, and the
program begins to execute.
 Listing File
24

 Use it to see how your program is compiled

 Contains
 source code
 addresses
 object code (machine language)
 segment names
 symbols (variables, procedures, and constants)

 Example: addSub.lst
 Map File
25

 Information about each program segment:

 startingaddress
 ending address

 size

 segment type

 Example: addSub.map (16-bit version)

 What's Next
26

 Basic Elements of Assembly Language

 Example: Adding and Subtracting Integers
 Assembling, Linking, and Running Programs
 Defining Data
 Symbolic Constants
 Real-Address Mode Programming
 What's Next
27

 Basic Elements of Assembly Language

 Example: Adding and Subtracting Integers
 Assembling, Linking, and Running Programs
 Defining Data
 Symbolic Constants
 Real-Address Mode Programming
 Defining Data
28

 Intrinsic Data Types

 Data Definition Statement
 Defining BYTE and SBYTE Data
 Defining WORD and SWORD Data
 Defining DWORD and SDWORD Data
 Defining QWORD Data
 Defining TBYTE Data
 Defining Real Number Data
 Little Endian Order
 Adding Variables to the AddSub Program
 Declaring Uninitialized Data
 Intrinsic Data Types (1 of 2)
29

 BYTE, SBYTE
 8-bit unsigned integer; 8-bit signed integer
 WORD, SWORD
 16-bit unsigned & signed integer
 DWORD, SDWORD
 32-bit unsigned & signed integer
 QWORD
 64-bit integer
 TBYTE
 80-bit integer
 Data Definition Statement
30

 A data definition statement sets aside storage in memory for a

variable.
 May optionally assign a name (label) to the data
 Syntax:
[name] directive initializer [,initializer] . . .

value1 BYTE 10
 Defining BYTE and SBYTE Data
31

Each of the following defines a single byte 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

• MASM does not prevent you from initializing a BYTE with a

negative value, but it's considered poor style.
• If you declare a SBYTE variable, the Microsoft debugger will
automatically display its value in decimal with a leading sign.
 Offset Value
Defining Byte Arrays 0000 10
list1 0001 20
32
Examples that use 0002 30
0003 40
multiple initializers:
0004 10
list1 BYTE 10,20,30,40 list2 0005 20
list2 BYTE 10,20,30,40 0006 30
BYTE 50,60,70,80 0007 40
BYTE 81,82,83,84 0008 50
0009 60
list4 BYTE 0Ah,20h,‘A’,22h
000A 70
000B 80
000C 81
000D 82
000E 83
000F 84
list3 0010
 Defining Strings (1 of 3)
33

 A string is implemented as an array of characters

 For convenience, it is usually enclosed in quotation marks
 It often will be null-terminated (ending with ,0)
 Examples:
str1 BYTE "Enter your name",0
str2 BYTE 'Error: halting program',0
str3 BYTE 'A','E','I','O','U'
greeting BYTE "Welcome to the Encryption Demo program "
BYTE "created by Kip Irvine.",0
 Defining Strings (2 of 3)
34

 To continue a single string across multiple lines,

end each line with a comma:
menu BYTE "Checking Account",0dh,0ah,0dh,0ah,
"1. Create a new account",0dh,0ah,
"2. Open an existing account",0dh,0ah,
"3. Credit the account",0dh,0ah,
"4. Debit the account",0dh,0ah,
"5. Exit",0ah,0ah,
"Choice> ",0
 Defining Strings (3 of 3)
35

 End-of-line character sequence:

 0Dh = carriage return
 0Ah = line feed

str1 BYTE "Enter your name: ",0Dh,0Ah

BYTE "Enter your address: ",0

Idea: Define all strings used by your program in the same

area of the data segment.
 Using the DUP Operator
36

 Use DUP to allocate (create space for) an array or

string. Syntax: counter DUP ( argument )
 Counter and argument must be constants or constant
expressions
var1 BYTE 20 DUP(0) ; 20 bytes, all equal to zero
var2 BYTE 20 DUP(?) ; 20 bytes, uninitialized
var3 BYTE 4 DUP("STACK") ; 20 bytes: "STACKSTACKSTACKSTACK"
var4 BYTE 10,3 DUP(0),20 ; 5 bytes
var4 10
0
0
0
20
 Defining WORD and SWORD Data
37

 Define storage for 16-bit integers

 or double characters
 single value or multiple values

word1 WORD 65535 ; largest unsigned value

word2 SWORD –32768 ; smallest signed value
word3 WORD ? ; uninitialized, unsigned
word4 WORD "AB" ; double characters
myList WORD 1,2,3,4,5 ; array of words
array WORD 5 DUP(?) ; uninitialized array
 Defining DWORD and SDWORD Data
38

Storage definitions for signed and unsigned 32-bit

integers:
val1 DWORD 12345678h ; unsigned
val2 SDWORD –2147483648 ; signed
val3 DWORD 20 DUP(?) ; unsigned array
val4 SDWORD –3,–2,–1,0,1 ; signed array
 Defining QWORD, TBYTE, Real Data
39

Storage definitions for quadwords, tenbyte values,

and real numbers:
quad1 QWORD 1234567812345678h
val1 TBYTE 1000000000123456789Ah
rVal1 REAL4 -2.1
rVal2 REAL8 3.2E-260
rVal3 REAL10 4.6E+4096
ShortArray REAL4 20 DUP(0.0)
 Little Endian Order
40

 All data types larger than a byte store their individual

bytes in reverse order. The least significant byte occurs
at the first (lowest) memory address.

 Example:
val1 DWORD 12345678h
 Adding Variables to AddSub
41

TITLE Add and Subtract, Version 2 (AddSub2.asm)

; This program adds and subtracts 32-bit unsigned
; integers and stores the sum in a variable.
INCLUDE Irvine32.inc
.data
val1 DWORD 10000h
val2 DWORD 40000h
val3 DWORD 20000h
finalVal DWORD ?
.code
main PROC
mov eax,val1 ; start with 10000h
add eax,val2 ; add 40000h
sub eax,val3 ; subtract 20000h
mov finalVal,eax ; store the result (30000h)
call DumpRegs ; display the registers
exit
main ENDP
END main
 Declaring Unitialized Data
42

 Use the .data? directive to declare an

unintialized data segment:
.data?
 Within the segment, declare variables with "?"
initializers:
smallArray DWORD 10 DUP(?)

Advantage: the program's EXE file size is reduced.