CSC 222: Computer Organization

& Assembly Language

4 – Assembly Language Basics

Outline
 Assembly Language – Basic Elements
 Statement Syntax: Name Field, Operation Field, Operand Field, Comments
 Program Data
 Variables
 Named Constants
 A Few Basic Instructions
 Translation of High Level Language to Assembly Language
 Program Structure
 Input Output Instructions

References
 Chapter 3, 4, Ytha Yu and Charles Marut, “Assembly Language
Programming and Organization of IBM PC”
 Chapter 3,Assembly Language for Intel Based-Computers

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Basic Elements
Statements
 Syntax:
name operation operand(s) comments
 name and comment are optional
 Number of operands depend on the instruction
 One statement per line
 At least one blank or tab character must separate the field.

 Each statement is either:

 Instruction (translated into machine code)
 Assembler Directive (instructs the assembler to perform some specific
task such as allocating memory space for a variable or creating a
procedure)

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Statement Example
operation
Operands
Comment

Label ; Code
Here: mov ax,count ;store count into ax

MAIN PROC ;creates a procedure called MAIN

Name

Assembler Directive Comment

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Name/Label Field
 The assembler translates names into memory addresses.
 Names can be 1 to 31 character long and may consist of letter, digit or
special characters. If period is used, it must be first character.
 Embedded blanks are not allowed.
 May not begin with a digit.
 Not case sensitive

Examples of legal names Examples of illegal names

COUNTER_1 TWO WORDS
@character 2abc
.TEST A45.28
DONE? YOU&ME

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Operation Field: Symbolic operation (Op code)
 Symbolic op code translated into Machine Language op code
 Examples: ADD, MOV, SUB

 In an assembler directive, the operation field represents Pseudo-op code

 Pseudo-op is not translated into Machine Language op code, it only tells
assembler to do something.
 Example: PROC psuedo-op is used to create a procedure

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Operand Field
 An instruction may have zero, one or more operands.
 In two-operand instruction, first operand is destination, second
operand is source.
 For an assembler directive, operand field represents more
information about the directive
 Examples
NOP ;no operand, does nothing
INC AX ;one operand, adds 1 to the contents of AX
ADD AX, 2 ;two operands, adds value 2 to the contents of AX

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Comments
 Optional
 Marked by semicolon in the beginning
 Ignored by assembler
 Good practice

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Program Data
 Processor operates only on binary data.
 In assembly language, you can express data in:
 Binary
 Decimal
 Hexadecimal
 Characters
 Numbers
 For Hexadecimal, the number must begin with a decimal digit. E.g.:
write 0ABCh not only ABCH.
 Cannot contain any non-digit character. E.g.: 1,234 not allowed
 Characters enclosed in single or double quotes.
 ASCII codes can be used
 No difference in “A” and 41h
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Contd..

 Use a radix symbol (suffix) to select binary, octal, decimal, or

hexadecimal

6A15h ; hexadecimal
0BAF1h ; leading zero required
32q ; octal
1011b ; binary
35d ; decimal (default)

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Variables
 Each variable has a data type and is assigned a memory address
by the program.
 Possible Values:
 Numeric, String Constant, Constant Expression, ?
 8 Bit Number Range: Signed (-128 to 127), Unsigned (0-255)
 16 Bit Number Range: Signed (-32,678 to 32767), Unsigned (0-
65,535)
 ? To leave variable uninitialized

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 Contd..
 Syntax
variable_name type initial_value
variable_name type value1, value2, value3
 Data Definition Directives Or Data Defining Pseudo-ops
 DB, DW, DD, DQ, DT

Data Definition Directives Values

myArray dw 1000h,2000h
dw 3000h,4000h
Data name

Remember: you can skip variable name!

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Contd..
Pseudo-ops Description Bytes Examples

DB Define Byte 1 var1 DB ‘A’

Var2 DB ?
array1 DB 10, 20,30,40

DW Define Word 2 var2 DW ‘AB’

array2 DW 1000, 2000

DD Define Double Word 4 Var3 DD -214743648

Note:
Consider
var2 DW 10h
Still in memory the value saved will be 0010h

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Arrays
 Sequence of memory bytes or words
 Example 1:
B_ARRAY DB 10h, 20h, 30h

Symbol Address Contents

B_ARRAY 0200h 10h

B_ARRAY+1 0201h 20h
B_ARRAY+2 0202h 30h

*If B_ARRAY is assigned offset address 0200h by assembler

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Example 2
 W_ARRAY DW 1000, 40, 29887, 329
*If W_ARRAY is assigned offset address 0300h by assembler

Symbol Address Contents

W_ARRAY 0300h 1000d

W_ARRAY+ 2 0302h 40d
W_ARRAY+ 4 0304h 29887d
W_ARRAY+ 6 0306h 329d

 High & Low Bytes of a Word

WORD1 DW 1234h
 Low Byte = 34h, symbolic address is WORD1
 High Byte = 12h, symbolic address is WORD1+1
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Character String
LETTERS DB ‘ABC’
Is equivalent to
LETTERS DB 41h, 42h, 43h
 Assembler differentiates between upper case and lower case.
 Possible to combine characters and numbers.
MSG DB ‘HELLO’, 0Ah, 0Dh,‘$’
Is equivalent to
MSG DB 48h, 45h, 4Ch, 4Ch, 4Fh, 0Ah, 0Dh, 24h

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Example 3
 Show how character string “RG 2z” is stored in memory
starting at address 0.
 Solution:
Address Character ASCII Code (HEX) ASCII Code (Binary)
[Memory Contents]
0 R 52 0101 0010
1 G 47 0100 0111
2 Space 20 0010 0000
3 2 32 0011 0010
4 z 7A 0111 1010

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Named Constants
 Use symbolic name for a constant quantity
 Syntax:
name EQU constant
 Example:
LF EQU 0Ah

 No memory allocated

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A Few Basic Instructions
MOV
 Transfer data
 Between registers
 Between register and a memory location
 Move a no. directly to a register or a memory location
 Syntax
MOV destination, source
 Example Before After
MOV AX, WORD1 AX 0006 0008

WORD1 0008 0008

 Difference?
 MOV AH,‘A’
 MOV AX,‘A’
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Legal Combinations of Operands for MOV
Destination Operand Source Operand Legal

General Register General Register YES

General Register Memory Location YES

General Register Segment Register YES

General Register Constant YES

Memory Location General Register YES

Memory Location Memory Location NO

Memory Location Segment Register YES

Memory Location Constant YES

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XCHG
 Exchange the contents of
 Two registers
 Register and a memory location
 Syntax
XCHG destination, source
 Example
XCHG AH, BL
Before After

1A 00 05 00

AH AL AH AL

00 05 00 1A
BH BL BH BL
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Legal Combinations of Operands for XCHG

Destination Operand Source Operand Legal

General Register General Register YES

General Register Memory Location YES

Memory Location General Register YES

Memory Location Memory Location NO
ADD Instruction
 To add contents of:
 Two registers
 A register and a memory location
 A number to a register
 A number to a memory location
 Example
ADD WORD1,AX

Before After

AX 01BC 01BC

WORD1 0523 06DF

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SUB Instruction
 To subtract the contents of:
 Two registers
 A register and a memory location
 A number from a register
 A number from a memory location
 Example
SUB AX, DX

Before After

AX 0000 FFFF

DX 0001 0001

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Legal Combinations of Operands for
ADD & SUB instructions

Destination Operand Source Operand Legal

General Register General Register YES

General Register Memory Location YES

General Register Constant YES

Memory Location General Register YES

Memory Location Memory Location NO

Memory Location Constant YES

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Contd..
ADD BYTE1, BYTE2 ILLEGAL instruction
 Solution?
MOV AL, BYTE2
ADD BYTE1,AL

 What can be other possible solutions?

 How can you add two word variables?

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INC & DEC
 INC (increment) instruction is used to add 1 to the contents
of a register or memory location.
 Syntax: INC destination
 Example: INC WORD1

 DEC (decrement) instruction is used to subtract 1 from the

contents of a register or memory location.
 Syntax: DEC destination
 Example: DEC BYTE1

 Destination can be 8-bit or 16-bits wide.

 Destination can be a register or a memory location.
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Contd..
INC WORD1

Before After
WORD1 0002 0003

DEC BYTE1

Before After

BYTE1 FFFE FFFD

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NEG
 Used to negate the contents of destination.
 Replace the contents by its 2’s complement.
 Syntax
NEG destination
 Example
NEG BX

Before After

BX 0002 FFFE

How?
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Translation
Examples
 Consider instructions: MOV,ADD, SUB, INC, DEC, NEG
 A and B are two word variables
 Translate statements into assembly language:
Statement Translation

B =A MOV AX, A
MOV B, AX

A = 5 -A MOV AX, 5
SUB AX, A
MOV AX, A
OR
NEG A
ADD A, 5
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Contd..
Statement Translation

A = B – 2 xA MOV AX, B
SUB AX, A
SUB AX, A
MOV A, AX

 Remember: Solution not unique!

 Be careful! Word variable or byte variable?

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Program Structure
Program Segments
 Machine Programs consists of
 Code
 Data
 Stack
 Each part occupies a memory segment.
 Same organization is reflected in an assembly language
program as Program Segments.
 Each program segment is translated into a memory segment
by the assembler.

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Memory Models
 Determines the size of data and code a program can have.
 Syntax:
.MODEL memory_model

Model Description

SMALL code in one segment, data in one segment

MEDIUM code in more than one segment, data in one segment

COMPACT code in one segment, data in more than one segment

LARGE Both code and data in more than one segments

No array larger than 64KB

HUGE Both code and data in more than one segments

37 array may be larger than 64KB
Data Segment
 All variable definitions
 Use .DATA directive
 For Example:

.DATA
WORD1 DW 2
BYTE1 DB 10h

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Stack Segment
 A block of memory to store stack
 Syntax
.STACK size
 Where size is optional and specifies the stack area size in bytes
 If size is omitted, 1 KB set aside for stack area

 For example:
.STACK 100h

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Code Segment
 Contains a program’s instructions
 Syntax

.CODE name

 Where name is optional

 Do not write name when using SMALL as a memory model

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Putting it Together!
ORG 0100h

.MODEL SMALL
.STACK 100h

.DATA
;data definition go here
.CODE
;instructions go here

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