MICROCONTROLLERS & EMBEDDED SYSTEMS

PIC ASSEMBLY
LANGUAGE
Lecture (5)

Dr.Tarek Barhoum

2019 -2020
 Learning Outcomes
2
 At the end of this topic, students should be able to:
 Differentiate high level, assembly and machine language
 Define the terms : opcode/mnemonic, operand, label, comment,
machine code.
 Classify PIC16F877 instruction set into the following groups:
data movement, arithmetic, logic, branch and other instructions.
 Explain the function of PIC16F877 status register and the
changes to the flags when related instructions are executed.
 Explain the stack process according to LIFO & FIFO concept
and the instructions related to stack.
 Programming Language
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 The lowest-level language is called
Machine languages. It means those
languages which are closer to the
understanding of machine rather than
human beings. A machine language thus
comprises a string of binary O’s and 1’s.
 Machine language is actually a coded set
of instructions for a particular CPU
(Central Processing Unit), and it is also
known as a machine code.
 A machine language is designed to be
used by a computer without the need of
translation.
 Machine Language
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 Disadvantage :
1. It is a machine dependent programming language.
Machine dependent means the program designed in one type
of machine or computer could not be run on other type of
computer or machine. So programs designed in the machine
language in one computer are not easily portable to other
computers.

2. It is a very difficult language to understand and learn.

If there is any problem in the program, written in machine
language, then it is very difficult to find out the correct
mistake.
 Assembly language
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 Assembly language is one level above the machine
language. (Both Machine and Assembly language are
considered low-level language)
 It uses certain predefined symbolic codes instead of binary
codes. These symbolic codes are called mnemonics.
 Assembly language programs are translated into machine
language by a program called an assembler.

Assembler Process
 High-level language
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 High-Level Language overcomes the limitation of
writing a program in Machine and Assembly
language as it is difficult and time consuming.
 In High-Level Language, the programs can be
written using simple English words. Examples of
High-Level Language are BASIC, Fortran,
COBOL, C, C++.
 Programs written in high-level languages are
translated into machine language by a compiler.
 Assembly language syntax
7
 An assembly language program consists of statements. The
syntax of an assembly language program statement obeys
the following rules:

- Only one statement is written per line.

- Each statement is either an instruction or an assembler
directive.
- Each instruction has an op-code and possibly one, two or
no operands at all.
- An op-code is known as mnemonic.
- Each mnemonic represents a single machine instruction.
- Operands provide the data to work with.
 Basic Assembly Program Structure
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 Assembly language is made up of two(2) types of
statements:
 Assembler Directive:
Inform the assembler about the program and the
environment and NOT be translated into machine code.
 Executable Instruction:
One of the processor's valid instructions which can be
translated into machine code form by the assembler.
 Assembler directive
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 Assembler directives are instructions that are directed to
the assembler to do a specific thing.
 It is not translated into machine code.
(Assembler directives are executed by the assembler at
assembly time, not by the CPU at run time).
 Directives can be used to :
 Link symbolic names to actual values.
 Set up pre-defined constants.
 Allocate storage for data in memory.
 Control the assembly process.
 Include additional source files.
 starting address for the program.
 Example of assembler directives
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 EQU - Equate
Assigns a value to a symbol (same as = ) e.g. TRISA EQU 0x85

 ORG - Origin
Sets the current origin to a new value. This is used to set the program or register address
during assembly. For example, ORG 0x00 tells the assembler to assemble all
subsequent code starting at address 0000H.

 INCLUDE
An assembler include, or header, file is any file containing valid assembly code.
Usually, the file contains device-specific register and bit assignments. This file may
be “included” in the code so that it may be reused by many programs. As an example,
to add the standard header file for the PIC16F877 device to your assembly code, use:
#INCLUDE P16F877.INC
 END
This directive is the last statement in an assembly language program. The END
directive terminates an assembly language program.
 PIC Assembly Code
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 Consists of 4 fields: 3
operand
1 2 4

f = Source : name of special-purpose register or RAM variable

F(W) = Destination :
F – destination is f
W – destination is Working Register
 Instruction format – Label
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 A label is used to represent a line or group of code, or a
constant value. It is needed for branching instructions.
 Labels should start in column 1. They may be followed by
a colon (:), space, tab or the end of line.
 Labels must begin with an alpha character or an under bar
(_) and may contain alphanumeric characters, the under bar
and the question mark.
 Labels must not:
 begin with two leading underscores, e.g. __temp
 begin with a leading underscore and number.

e.g. _2NDLOOP
 be an assembler reserved word (mnemonic, directive, etc.).
 Instruction format – Label
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 Labels may be up to 32 characters long.
 By default they are case sensitive, but case

sensitivity may be overridden by a command-line

option (/c).
 If a colon is used when defining a label, it is treated

as a label operator and not part of the label itself.

 Example:

Here NOP
GOTO Here
 Instruction format - Opcode
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 This field consists of a symbolic operation code,
known as op-code.
 The opcode describes the operation.

 Symbolic op-codes (known as mnemonic) are

translated into machine language opcode.

 Mnemonics are not case sensitive.

 Example: BSF (Bit Set f)

CLRW (Clear W)
 Instruction format - Operand Field
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 Operands give information to the instruction on the data
that should be used and the storage location for the
instruction.
 Operands must be separated from mnemonics by one or
more spaces, or tabs.
 It may has one, two or no operands at all. Multiple
operands must be separated by commas.
 Examples of instructions with different operand fields
NOP ; Instruction with no operand
ANDLW 0x34 ; Instruction with one operand
ADDWF FSR,1 ; Instruction with two operand
 Instruction format – Comment Field
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 Comments are text explaining the operation of a line or
lines of code.
 A semicolon (;) marks the beginning of a comment
 A semicolon in the beginning of a line makes it all a
comment line. All characters following the semicolon are
ignored through the end of the line.
 Good programming practice dictates the use of a
comment on almost every line.
Example:
;Statement line with a comment field
BSF PortA,0 ;set pin 0 of PortA
 Example MPASM Assembler Source Code
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 PIC16F877A Instruction set
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 Each microcontroller family has its own set of

instructions, which carry out essentially the same set of
operations, but using different syntax.
 The PIC16F877 only has 35 instructions. Each
instruction is 14-bit words.
 This instruction set organized by functional groups is
listed in Table 1.
 Table 1: PIC instruction set by functional
Instruction Type Definition
groups Examples
MOVE The contents of a register are copied to MOVF, MOVWF, MOVLW
19 another.
REGISTER Register operations affect only a single CLRW, CLRF, DECF, INCF,
register, and all except CLRW (clear W) SWAPF, COMF, RLF, RRF,
operate on file registers. BCF, BSF

ARITHMETIC Addition and subtraction in binary gives ADDWF, ADDLW, SUBWF,

the same result as in decimal or hex. . SUBLW

LOGIC Logic operations are carried out on bit ANDWF, ANDLW, IORWF,
pairs in two numbers to give the result IORLW, XORWF, XORLW
which would be obtained if they were fed
to the corresponding logic gate

TEST, SKIP & JUMP make decisions (conditional program BTFSC, BTFSS, DECFSZ,
branches) which depend on some input INCFSZ, GOTO, CALL,
condition or the result of a calculation RETURN, RETLW, RETFIE

CONTROL NOP, SLEEP, CLRWDT

 PIC16F877A Instruction set
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 Some instructions with alternate result destinations. The default destination
for the result of an operation is the file register, but the working register W
is sometimes an option.
 The instruction set can also organized by operational groups as shown in
Table 2.1 – Table 2.3.
 There are three basic categories:
 Byte-Oriented Instruction:
 F: File Register (or RAM)
 D: Destination
 D=0: Destination  W
 D=1: Destination  File Register
 Bit-Oriented Instruction:
 F: Register File where the Bit is located
 B: Bit Field
 Literal and Control Operation:
 K: 8-bit constant
 PIC16F877A Instruction set
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 Table 2.1- PIC instruction set :
Byte-oriented file register operations
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 Table 2.2 - PIC instruction set :
Bit-oriented file register operations
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 Table 2.3 - PIC instruction set :
Literal and Control Operations
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 PIC instruction set – description
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convention
 ADDLW
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 ADDWF
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27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
 Stack
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 A stack is a Last In, First Out
( LIFO ) data structure
 Stacks are used to temporarily store / Pull

items in memory (RAM)

 When an item enters the stack it is said
to be pushed on the stack. When an item
leaves the stack, it is said to be pulled
off the stack.

59
59
 In contrast to the Queue (Q):
 onlyone pointer to top element.
 PUSH and POP/PULL in different directions.
 wrap-around is not needed.

(PUSH)

Direction of
PULL operation 60
 The two fundamental operations:
60
1. Push
- push an element on the top
- PUSH should first decrement SP, $00FB
$00FC
then store the data, $00FD
$00FE

- Instruction used : $00FF

- Example:
Note: [ ] means the location pointed by SP
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 2. Pull
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- pull the top element from the stack
- removes an item from the top of the
list, and returns this value to the caller.
- Instruction used : X = $10, SP=[SP]+1
10
67

- PULL should first read the data, 08

then increment SP.

- Example:
62
Note: [ [ ] ] means the content of location pointed by SP
 FIFO
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 FIFO is an acronym for First In, First Out.
 This expression describes the principle of a queue (Q) : what
comes in first is handled first, what comes in next waits until
the first is finished, etc.
 It is a very common data structure used for I/O interfacing
 Example :The ASCII codes are PUT in a FIFO whenever you
hit the key. A FIFO is also used when you ask the computer to
print a file.
 FIFO Concept
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 FIFO/Queue operation:
 Needs two pointers – PUTPT and GETPT
 PUTPT and GETPT in same directions.
 wrap-around (items go on the rear and come off of the front of
the queue. ) is needed.

                                                       
 References
64
 PIC Instruction Set and Some Tips for Programming,
Dr. Charles J. Kim, Howard University
 Microchip PIC16F87X Data Sheet
 Getting Started with Development Tools,
Microchip.com
 Stack, http://en.wikipedia.org