Memory Organization Concepts

CCS 3001: Computer Organization with Assembly

Programming
ORGANIZATION OF MEMORY
Storing Words in Memory
Big Endian
Little Endian

Address Value
1003 90
1002 AB
1001 12
1000 CD
ORGANIZATION OF MEMORY
Storing Words in Memory
Big Endian
Little Endian

Address Value
1003 90
1002 AB
1001 12
1000 CD
ORGANIZATION OF MEMORY
Storing Words in Memory
Big Endian
Little Endian

Address Value
1003 90
1002 AB
1001 12
1000 CD
What's a Register
A CPU contains very fast memory called registers. For
example, a MIPS ISA stores 32 32-bit registers.
Think of a register as a black box that contains an
array.
 CPU Registers
CPU registers are very special memory locations
constructed from flips-flops. They are not part of main
memory; the CPU implements them on- chip. All
arithmetic and locations operations occur in the CPU
registers.
Registers contain 16 bits in size, and in hexadecimal
format
Registers default value is set to 0000H
CPU Register Types
General Purpose Registers
Segment Registers
Index Registers
Pointer Registers
General Purpose Registers
AX - the accumulator register
BX - the base address register
CX - the count register
DX - the data register

 The AX register (Accumulator) – is where the most arithmetic and logical

computations take place. Although most arithmetic and logical operations are
done in other register, it is often more efficient to use the AX.
 The BX registers (Base) – it is commonly used to hold indirect addresses.
(Character String Manipulation)
 The CX registers (Count) – as its name implies, counts things. Used to
count off the number of iterations in a loop or specify the number of
characters in a string.
 The DX register (Data) – has two special purposes: it holds the overflow
from certain arithmetic operations, and it holds l/O addresses when accessing
data.
Segment Registers
CS-code segment: points at the segment containing the
currently executing machine and instructions.
DS-Data Segment: generally points at global variables
for the program.
ES-Extra Segment: an extra segment register.
SS-Stack Segment: points at the segment containing
the 8086 stack. The stack is where the 8086 store’s
important machine state information, subroutine return
addresses, procedure parameters , and local variables
Index and Pointer Registers
The SI and DI register (Source Index and
Destination Index) these register are pointers (much
like the BX register) to indirectly access memory.
The BP register (Base Pointer) – similar to the BX
register. Generally used to access parameter and local
variables in a procedure.
The SP (Stack Pointer) – has a very special purpose – it
maintains the program stacks. The register is not for
arithmetic computations. The proper operations of most
programs defends upon the careful use if this register.
IP – Instruction Pointer: contains the address of the
currently executing instruction
Understanding Registers

 AL stands for “AX’s L.B.

 AH stands for “ AX’s H.B.”
 The name of the other 8 bit register mean the same thing with
respect to BX, CX and DX.
 AX, BX, CX, DX are 8 bit registers that is accessing its higher
and lower nibble is easy for it is divided into 4 bits it each.
Reading the Memory Map
Reading the Memory Map
Memory Map in Debug
MOST USED INSTRUCTION FOR
REGISTER HANDLING
Mnemonic Meaning Format Operation
MOV Move MOV D,S (D)←(S)
Addressing Modes
Address space is the maximum amount of memory that
a processor can address. Some processors use a multi-
level addressing scheme, with main memory divided into
segments or pages and some or all instructions mapping
into the current segment(s) or page(s).
Addressing Modes:
 REGISTER ADDRESSING
 REGISTER INDIRECT ADDRESSING
 IMMEDIATE ADDRESSING
 INDEX ADDRESSING
 BASE ADDRESING
 BASE INDEX ADDRESSING
REGISTER ADDRESSING
REGISTER INDIRECT ADDRESSING
IMMEDIATE ADDRESSING
INDEX ADDRESSING
BASE ADDRESING
BASE INDEX ADDRESSING