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26 views16 pages

Loader - Class Notes

Uploaded by

anchitaa
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Loaders and Linkers

Chapter 3
System Software
An introduction to systems programming

Leland L. Beck

1
Introduction
 To execute an object program, we needs
» Relocation, which modifies the object program so that it can be loaded at
an address different from the location originally specified

» Linking, which combines two or more separate object programs and


supplies the information needed to allow references between them

» Loading and Allocation, which allocates memory location and brings


the object program into memory for execution

2
Overview of Chapter 3

 Type of loaders

» assemble-and-go loader

» absolute loader (bootstrap loader)

» relocating loader (relative loader)

» direct linking loader

3
Assemble-and-go Loader

 Characteristic
» the object code is stored in memory after assembly

» single JUMP instruction

 Advantage
» simple, developing environment

 Disadvantage
» whenever the assembly program is to be executed, it has to be
assembled again
» programs have to be coded in the same language

4
Design of an Absolute Loader

 Absolute Program
» Advantage
– Simple and efficient
» Disadvantage
– the need for programmer to specify the actual address
– difficult to use subroutine libraries
 Program Logic

5
Fig. 3.2 Algorithm for an absolute
loader

Begin
read Header record
verify program name and length
read first Text record
while record type is not ‘E’ do
begin
{if object code is in character form, convert into internal
representation}
move object code to specified location in memory
read next object program record
end
jump to address specified in End record
end

6
7
8
Object Code Representation

 Figure 3.1 (a)


» each byte of assembled code is given using its hexadecimal
representation in character form
» easy to read by human beings
 In general
» each byte of object code is stored as a single byte
» most machine store object programs in a binary form
» we must be sure that our file and device conventions do not
cause some of the program bytes to be interpreted as control
characters

9
A Simple Bootstrap Loader

 Bootstrap Loader
» When a computer is first tuned on or restarted, a special type
of absolute loader, called bootstrap loader is executed
» This bootstrap loads the first program to be run by the
computer -- usually an operating system
 Example (SIC bootstrap loader)
» The bootstrap itself begins at address 0
» It loads the OS starting address 0x80
» No header record or control information, the object code is
consecutive bytes of memory

10
Fig. 3.3 SIC Bootstrap Loader
Logic
Begin
X=0x80 (the address of the next memory location to be loaded
Loop
AGETC (and convert it from the ASCII character code to the value of
the hexadecimal digit)
save the value in the high-order 4 bits of S
AGETC
combine the value to form one byte A (A+S)
store the value (in A) to the address in register X
XX+1
End GETC Aread one character
if A=0x04 then jump to 0x80
0~9 : 30~39 if A<48 then GETC
A~F : 41~46 A  A-48 (0x30)
if A<10 then return
A  A-7
return
11
Relocating Loaders

 Motivation
» efficient sharing of the machine with larger memory and when
several independent programs are to be run together
» support the use of subroutine libraries efficiently
 Two methods for specifying relocation
» modification record (Fig. 3.4, 3.5)
» relocation bit (Fig. 3.6, 3.7)
– each instruction is associated with one relocation bit
– these relocation bits in a Text record is gathered into bit
masks

12
Modification Record
 For complex machines
 Also called RLD specification
» Relocation and Linkage Directory

Modification record
col 1: M
col 2-7: relocation address
col 8-9: length (halfbyte)
col 10: flag (+/-)
col 11-17: segment name

13
Fig. 3.5

HCOPY  000000 001077


T000000 1D17202D69202D48101036032026...3F2FEC032010
T00001D130F20160100030F200D4B10105D3E2003454F46
T001035 1DB410B400B44075101000E32019...57C003B850
T0010531D3B2FEA1340004F0000F1B410...DF2008B850
T00070073B2FEF4F000005
M00000705+COPY
M00001405+COPY
M00002705+COPY
E000000

14
Relocation Bit
 For simple machines
 Relocation bit
Text record
» 0: no modification is necessary col 1: T
» 1: modification is needed col 2-7: starting address
col 8-9: length (byte)
col 10-12: relocation bits
col 13-72: object code

 Twelve-bit mask is used in each Text record


» since each text record contains less than 12 words
» unused words are set to 0
» any value that is to be modified during relocation must
coincide with one of these 3-byte segments
– e.g. line 210

15
Fig. 3-7

HCOPY  000000 00107A


T0000001EFFC140033481039000036280030300015481061…
T00001E15E000C00364810610800334C0000454F4600000300
0000
T0010391EFFC040030000030E0105D30103FD8105D280030...
T0010570A 8001000364C0000F1001000
T00106119FE0040030E01079301064508039DC10792C0036...
E000000

16

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