Assembly Language for Intel-Based

Computers, 5th Edition

Kip R. Irvine

Chapter 8: Advanced Procedures

Slides prepared by Kip R. Irvine

Revision date: June 4, 2006

(c) Pearson Education, 2006-2007. All rights reserved. You may modify and copy this slide show for your personal use,
or for use in the classroom, as long as this copyright statement, the author's name, and the title are not changed.
 Chapter Overview

• Stack Frames
• Recursion
• .MODEL Directive
• INVOKE, ADDR, PROC, and PROTO
• Creating Multimodule Programs

Irvine, Kip R. Assembly Language for Intel-Based Computers 5/e, 2007. Web site Examples 2
 Stack Frames

• Stack Parameters
• Local Variables
• ENTER and LEAVE Instructions
• LOCAL Directive
• WriteStackFrame Procedure

Irvine, Kip R. Assembly Language for Intel-Based Computers 5/e, 2007. Web site Examples 3
 Stack Parameters
• More convenient than register parameters
• Two possible ways of calling DumpMem. Which is
easier?

pushad push TYPE array

mov esi,OFFSET array push LENGTHOF array
mov ecx,LENGTHOF array push OFFSET array
mov ebx,TYPE array call DumpMem
call DumpMem
popad

Irvine, Kip R. Assembly Language for Intel-Based Computers 5/e, 2007. Web site Examples 4
 Stack Frame
• Also known as an activation record
• Area of the stack set aside for a procedure's return
address, passed parameters, saved registers, and
local variables
• Created by the following steps:
• Calling program pushes arguments on the stack and
calls the procedure.
• The called procedure pushes EBP on the stack, and
sets EBP to ESP.
• If local variables are needed, a constant is subtracted
from ESP to make room on the stack.

Irvine, Kip R. Assembly Language for Intel-Based Computers 5/e, 2007. Web site Examples 5
 Explicit Access to Stack Parameters

• A procedure can explicitly access stack parameters

using constant offsets from EBP1.
• Example: [ebp + 8]
• EBP is often called the base pointer or frame pointer
because it holds the base address of the stack frame.
• EBP does not change value during the procedure.
• EBP must be restored to its original value when a
procedure returns.

1
BP in Real-address mode
Irvine, Kip R. Assembly Language for Intel-Based Computers 5/e, 2007. Web site Examples 6
 RET Instruction

• Return from subroutine

• Pops stack into the instruction pointer (EIP or IP).
Control transfers to the target address.
• Syntax:
• RET
• RET n
• Optional operand n causes n bytes to be added to
the stack pointer after EIP (or IP) is assigned a value.

Irvine, Kip R. Assembly Language for Intel-Based Computers 5/e, 2007. Web site Examples 7
 Stack Frame Example (1 of 2)

.data
sum DWORD ?
.code
push 6 ; second argument
push 5 ; first argument
call AddTwo ; EAX = sum
mov sum,eax ; save the sum

AddTwo PROC
push ebp
mov ebp,esp
.
.

Irvine, Kip R. Assembly Language for Intel-Based Computers 5/e, 2007. Web site Examples 8
 AddTwo Procedure (1 of 2)

• Recall the AddTwo Procedure

AddTwo PROC,
val1:DWORD, val2:DWORD

mov eax,val1
add eax,val2

ret
AddTwo ENDP

Irvine, Kip R. Assembly Language for Intel-Based Computers 5/e, 2007. Web site Examples 9
 AddTwo Procedure (2 of 2)

• MASM generates the following code when we assemble

AddTwo (from the previous panel):

AddTwo PROC, The LEAVE instruction is

val1:DWORD, val2:DWORD shorthand for:
push ebp
mov ebp, esp mov esp,ebp
pop ebp
mov eax,val1
add eax,val2

leave
ret 8
AddTwo ENDP

Irvine, Kip R. Assembly Language for Intel-Based Computers 5/e, 2007. Web site Examples 10
 Passing Arguments by Reference (1 of 2)

• The ArrayFill procedure fills an array with 16-bit

random integers
• The calling program passes the address of the array,
along with a count of the number of array elements:

.data
count = 100
array WORD count DUP(?)
.code
push OFFSET array
push COUNT
call ArrayFill

Irvine, Kip R. Assembly Language for Intel-Based Computers 5/e, 2007. Web site Examples 11
 Passing Arguments by Reference (2 of 2)

ArrayFill can reference an array without knowing the array's

name:

ArrayFill PROC
push ebp
mov ebp,esp
pushad
mov esi,[ebp+12]
mov ecx,[ebp+8]
.
.

ESI points to the beginning of the array, so it's easy to use a

loop to access each array element. View the complete program.

Irvine, Kip R. Assembly Language for Intel-Based Computers 5/e, 2007. Web site Examples 12
 Local Variables
• To explicitly create local variables, subtract their total
size from ESP.
• The following example creates and initializes two 32-
bit local variables (we'll call them locA and locB):

MySub PROC
push ebp
mov ebp,esp
sub esp,8
mov [ebp-4],123456h ; locA
mov [ebp-8],0 ; locB
.
.

Irvine, Kip R. Assembly Language for Intel-Based Computers 5/e, 2007. Web site Examples 13
 LEA Instruction
• The LEA instruction returns offsets of both direct and
indirect operands.
• OFFSET operator can only return constant offsets.
• LEA is required when obtaining the offset of a stack
parameter or local variable. For example:

CopyString PROC,
count:DWORD
LOCAL temp[20]:BYTE

mov edi,OFFSET count ; invalid operand

mov esi,OFFSET temp ; invalid operand
lea edi,count ; ok
lea esi,temp ; ok

Irvine, Kip R. Assembly Language for Intel-Based Computers 5/e, 2007. Web site Examples 14
 Your turn . . .
• Create a procedure named Difference that subtracts
the first argument from the second one. Following is a
sample call:
push 14 ; first argument
push 30 ; second
argument
call Difference ; EAX = 16

Difference PROC
push ebp
mov ebp,esp
mov eax,[ebp + 8] ; second argument
sub eax,[ebp + 12] ; first argument
pop ebp
ret 8
Difference ENDP

Irvine, Kip R. Assembly Language for Intel-Based Computers 5/e, 2007. Web site Examples 15
 Parameter Classifications
• An input parameter is data passed by a calling program to a
procedure.
• The called procedure is not expected to modify the
corresponding parameter variable, and even if it does, the
modification is confined to the procedure itself.
• An output parameter is created by passing a pointer to a variable
when a procedure is called.
• The procedure does not use any existing data from the variable,
but it fills in a new value before it returns.

• An input-output parameter is a pointer to a variable containing input

that will be both used and modified by the procedure.
• The variable passed by the calling program is modified.

Irvine, Kip R. Assembly Language for Intel-Based Computers 5/e, 2007. Web site Examples 16
 Example: Exchanging Two Integers
The Swap procedure exchanges the values of two 32-bit
integers. pValX and pValY do not change values, but the
integers they point to are modified.

Swap PROC USES eax esi edi,

pValX:PTR DWORD, ; pointer to first
integer
pValY:PTR DWORD ; pointer to second
integer

mov esi,pValX ; get pointers

mov edi,pValY
mov eax,[esi] ; get first integer
xchg eax,[edi] ; exchange with second
mov [esi],eax ; replace first integer
ret
Swap ENDP

Irvine, Kip R. Assembly Language for Intel-Based Computers 5/e, 2007. Web site Examples 17
 ENTER and LEAVE
• ENTER instruction creates stack frame for a called
procedure
• pushes EBP on the stack
• sets EBP to the base of the stack frame
• reserves space for local variables
• Example:
MySub PROC
enter 8,0
• Equivalent to:
MySub PROC
push ebp
mov ebp,esp
sub esp,8

Irvine, Kip R. Assembly Language for Intel-Based Computers 5/e, 2007. Web site Examples 18
 LOCAL Directive

• A local variable is created, used, and destroyed

within a single procedure
• The LOCAL directive declares a list of local
variables
• immediately follows the PROC directive
• each variable is assigned a type
• Syntax:
LOCAL varlist
Example:
MySub PROC
LOCAL var1:BYTE, var2:WORD, var3:SDWORD

Irvine, Kip R. Assembly Language for Intel-Based Computers 5/e, 2007. Web site Examples 19
 Using LOCAL
Examples:

LOCAL flagVals[20]:BYTE ; array of bytes

LOCAL pArray:PTR WORD ; pointer to an array

myProc PROC, ; procedure

LOCAL t1:BYTE, ; local variables

Irvine, Kip R. Assembly Language for Intel-Based Computers 5/e, 2007. Web site Examples 20
 LOCAL Example (1 of 2)

BubbleSort PROC
LOCAL temp:DWORD, SwapFlag:BYTE
. . .
ret
BubbleSort ENDP

MASM generates the following code:

BubbleSort PROC
push ebp
mov ebp,esp
add esp,0FFFFFFF8h ; add -8 to ESP
. . .
mov esp,ebp
pop ebp
ret
BubbleSort ENDP

Irvine, Kip R. Assembly Language for Intel-Based Computers 5/e, 2007. Web site Examples 21
 LOCAL Example (2 of 2)

Diagram of the stack frame for the BubbleSort

procedure:

Irvine, Kip R. Assembly Language for Intel-Based Computers 5/e, 2007. Web site Examples 22
 Non-Doubleword Local Variables

• Local variables can be different sizes

• How created in the stack by LOCAL directive:
• 8-bit: assigned to next available byte
• 16-bit: assigned to next even (word) boundary
• 32-bit: assigned to next doubleword boundary

Irvine, Kip R. Assembly Language for Intel-Based Computers 5/e, 2007. Web site Examples 23
 Local Byte Variable

Example1 PROC
LOCAL var1:BYTE
mov al,var1 ; [EBP - 1]
ret
Example1 ENDP

Irvine, Kip R. Assembly Language for Intel-Based Computers 5/e, 2007. Web site Examples 24
 WriteStackFrame Procedure
• Displays contents of current stack frame
• Prototype:
WriteStackFrame PROTO,
numParam:DWORD, ; number of passed
parameters
numLocalVal: DWORD, ; number of DWordLocal
variables
numSavedReg: DWORD ; number of saved
registers

Irvine, Kip R. Assembly Language for Intel-Based Computers 5/e, 2007. Web site Examples 25
 WriteStackFrame Example
main PROC
mov eax, 0EAEAEAEAh
mov ebx, 0EBEBEBEBh
INVOKE aProc, 1111h, 2222h
exit
main ENDP

aProc PROC USES eax ebx,

x: DWORD, y: DWORD
LOCAL a:DWORD, b:DWORD
PARAMS = 2
LOCALS = 2
SAVED_REGS = 2
mov a,0AAAAh
mov b,0BBBBh
INVOKE WriteStackFrame, PARAMS, LOCALS, SAVED_REGS

Irvine, Kip R. Assembly Language for Intel-Based Computers 5/e, 2007. Web site Examples 26
 Review
1. (True/False): A subroutine’s stack frame always contains the
caller’s return address and the subroutine’s local variables.
2. (True/False): Arrays are passed by reference to avoid copying
them onto the stack.
3. (True/False): A procedure’s prologue code always pushes EBP
on the stack.
4. (True/False): Local variables are created by adding an integer
to the stack pointer.
5. (True/False): In 32-bit protected mode, the last argument to be
pushed on the stack in a procedure call is stored at location
ebp+8.
6. (True/False): Passing by reference requires popping a
parameter’s offset from the stack inside the called procedure.
7. What are two common types of stack parameters?

Irvine, Kip R. Assembly Language for Intel-Based Computers 5/e, 2007. Web site Examples 27
 What's Next

• Stack Frames
• Recursion
• .MODEL Directive
• INVOKE, ADDR, PROC, and PROTO
• Creating Multimodule Programs

Irvine, Kip R. Assembly Language for Intel-Based Computers 5/e, 2007. Web site Examples 28
 Recursion

• What is recursion?
• Recursively Calculating a Sum
• Calculating a Factorial

Irvine, Kip R. Assembly Language for Intel-Based Computers 5/e, 2007. Web site Examples 29
 What is Recursion?

• The process created when . . .

• A procedure calls itself
• Procedure A calls procedure B, which in turn calls
procedure A
• Using a graph in which each node is a procedure
and each edge is a procedure call, recursion forms
a cycle:

Irvine, Kip R. Assembly Language for Intel-Based Computers 5/e, 2007. Web site Examples 30
 Recursively Calculating a Sum
The CalcSum procedure recursively calculates the sum of an
array of integers. Receives: ECX = count. Returns: EAX = sum
CalcSum PROC
cmp ecx,0 ; check counter value
jz L2 ; quit if zero
add
sum eax,ecx ; otherwise, add to
dec ecx ; decrement counter
call CalcSum ; recursive call
L2: ret
CalcSum ENDP

View the
Stack frame: complete program

Irvine, Kip R. Assembly Language for Intel-Based Computers 5/e, 2007. Web site Examples 31
 Calculating a Factorial (1 of 3)

This function calculates the factorial of integer n. A new value

of n is saved in each stack frame:
recursive calls backing up
int function factorial(int n)
{ 5! = 5 * 4! 5 * 24 = 120
if(n == 0)
return 1; 4! = 4 * 3! 4 * 6 = 24
else
return n * factorial(n-1); 3! = 3 * 2! 3*2=6
}
2! = 2 * 1! 2*1=2

As each call instance returns, the 1! = 1 * 0! 1*1=1

product it returns is multiplied by the
previous value of n. 0! = 1 1=1
(base case)

Irvine, Kip R. Assembly Language for Intel-Based Computers 5/e, 2007. Web site Examples 32
 Calculating a Factorial (2 of 3)

Factorial PROC
push ebp
mov ebp,esp
mov eax,[ebp+8] ; get n
cmp eax,0 ; n < 0?
ja L1 ; yes: continue
mov eax,1 ; no: return 1
jmp L2
L1: dec eax
push eax ; Factorial(n-1)
call Factorial
; Instructions from this point on execute when each
; recursive call returns.
ReturnFact:
mov ebx,[ebp+8] ; get n
mul ebx ; eax = eax * ebx
L2: pop ebp ; return EAX
ret 4 ; clean up stack
Factorial ENDP

See the program listing

Irvine, Kip R. Assembly Language for Intel-Based Computers 5/e, 2007. Web site Examples 33
 Calculating a Factorial (3 of 3)

Suppose we want to
calculate 12!
This diagram shows the
first few stack frames
created by recursive calls
to Factorial
Each recursive call uses
12 bytes of stack space.

Irvine, Kip R. Assembly Language for Intel-Based Computers 5/e, 2007. Web site Examples 34
 Review
1. (True/False): Given the same task to accomplish, a recursive
subroutine usually uses less memory than a nonrecursive one.
2. In the Factorial function, what condition terminates the
recursion?
3. Which instructions in the assembly language Factorial
procedure execute after each recursive call has finished?
4. What will happen to the Factorial program’s output when trying
to calculate 13 factorial?
5. Challenge: In the Factorial program, how many bytes of stack
space are used by the Factorial procedure when calculating 12
factorial?
6. Challenge: Write the pseudocode for a recursive algorithm that
generates the first 20 integers of the Fibonacci series (1, 1, 2,
3, 5, 8, 13, 21, . . .).

Irvine, Kip R. Assembly Language for Intel-Based Computers 5/e, 2007. Web site Examples 35
 What's Next

• Stack Frames
• Recursion
• .MODEL Directive
• INVOKE, ADDR, PROC, and PROTO
• Creating Multimodule Programs

Irvine, Kip R. Assembly Language for Intel-Based Computers 5/e, 2007. Web site Examples 36
 .MODEL Directive

• .MODEL directive specifies a program's memory

model and model options (language-specifier).
• Syntax:
.MODEL memorymodel [,modeloptions]
• memorymodel can be one of the following:
• tiny, small, medium, compact, large, huge, or flat
• modeloptions includes the language specifier:
• procedure naming scheme
• parameter passing conventions

Irvine, Kip R. Assembly Language for Intel-Based Computers 5/e, 2007. Web site Examples 37
 Memory Models
• A program's memory model determines the number
and sizes of code and data segments.
• Real-address mode supports tiny, small, medium,
compact, large, and huge models.
• Protected mode supports only the flat model.

Small model: code < 64 KB, data (including stack) < 64 KB.
All offsets are 16 bits.

Flat model: single segment for code and data, up to 4 GB.

All offsets are 32 bits.

Irvine, Kip R. Assembly Language for Intel-Based Computers 5/e, 2007. Web site Examples 38
 Language Specifiers

• C:
• procedure arguments pushed on stack in reverse order
(right to left)
• calling program cleans up the stack
• STDCALL
• procedure arguments pushed on stack in reverse order
(right to left)
• called procedure cleans up the stack

Irvine, Kip R. Assembly Language for Intel-Based Computers 5/e, 2007. Web site Examples 39
 Review Questions
1. Describe the small memory model.
2. Describe the flat memory model.
3. How is the C language option (of the .MODEL
directive) different from that of STDCALL in regard to
removing arguments from the stack?

Irvine, Kip R. Assembly Language for Intel-Based Computers 5/e, 2007. Web site Examples 40
 What's Next

• Stack Frames
• Recursion
• .MODEL Directive
• INVOKE, ADDR, PROC, and PROTO
• Creating Multimodule Programs

Irvine, Kip R. Assembly Language for Intel-Based Computers 5/e, 2007. Web site Examples 41
 INVOKE, ADDR, PROC, and PROTO

• INVOKE Directive
• ADDR Operator
• PROC Directive
• PROTO Directive
• Parameter Classifications
• Example: Exchaning Two Integers
• Debugging Tips

Irvine, Kip R. Assembly Language for Intel-Based Computers 5/e, 2007. Web site Examples 42
 INVOKE Directive

• The INVOKE directive is a powerful replacement for

Intel’s CALL instruction that lets you pass multiple
arguments
• Syntax:
INVOKE procedureName [, argumentList]
• ArgumentList is an optional comma-delimited list of
procedure arguments
• Arguments can be:
• immediate values and integer expressions
• variable names
• address and ADDR expressions
• register names

Irvine, Kip R. Assembly Language for Intel-Based Computers 5/e, 2007. Web site Examples 43
 INVOKE Examples

.data
byteVal BYTE 10
wordVal WORD 1000h
.code
; direct operands:
INVOKE Sub1,byteVal,wordVal

; address of variable:
INVOKE Sub2,ADDR byteVal

; register name, integer expression:

INVOKE Sub3,eax,(10 * 20)

; address expression (indirect operand):

INVOKE Sub4,[ebx]

Irvine, Kip R. Assembly Language for Intel-Based Computers 5/e, 2007. Web site Examples 44
 ADDR Operator
• Returns a near or far pointer to a variable, depending on
which memory model your program uses:
• Small model: returns 16-bit offset
• Large model: returns 32-bit segment/offset
• Flat model: returns 32-bit offset
• Simple example:

.data
myWord WORD ?
.code
INVOKE mySub,ADDR myWord

Irvine, Kip R. Assembly Language for Intel-Based Computers 5/e, 2007. Web site Examples 45
 PROC Directive (1 of 2)

• The PROC directive declares a procedure with an

optional list of named parameters.
• Syntax:
label PROC paramList
• paramList is a list of parameters separated by
commas. Each parameter has the following syntax:
paramName : type

type must either be one of the standard ASM types

(BYTE, SBYTE, WORD, etc.), or it can be a pointer to
one of these types.

Irvine, Kip R. Assembly Language for Intel-Based Computers 5/e, 2007. Web site Examples 46
 PROC Directive (2 of 2)

• Alternate format permits parameter list to be on one or

more separate lines:
comma required
label PROC,
paramList
• The parameters can be on the same line . . .
param-1:type-1, param-2:type-2, . . ., param-n:type-n
• Or they can be on separate lines:
param-1:type-1,
param-2:type-2,
. . .,
param-n:type-n

Irvine, Kip R. Assembly Language for Intel-Based Computers 5/e, 2007. Web site Examples 47
 AddTwo Procedure (1 of 2)

• The AddTwo procedure receives two integers and returns

their sum in EAX.

AddTwo PROC,
val1:DWORD, val2:DWORD

mov eax,val1
add eax,val2

ret
AddTwo ENDP

Irvine, Kip R. Assembly Language for Intel-Based Computers 5/e, 2007. Web site Examples 48
 PROC Examples (2 of 3)

FillArray receives a pointer to an array of bytes, a single byte fill

value that will be copied to each element of the array, and the
size of the array.

FillArray PROC,
pArray:PTR BYTE, fillVal:BYTE
arraySize:DWORD

mov ecx,arraySize
mov esi,pArray
mov al,fillVal
L1: mov [esi],al
inc esi
loop L1
ret
FillArray ENDP

Irvine, Kip R. Assembly Language for Intel-Based Computers 5/e, 2007. Web site Examples 49
 PROC Examples (3 of 3)

Swap PROC,
pValX:PTR DWORD,
pValY:PTR DWORD
. . .
Swap ENDP

ReadFile PROC,
pBuffer:PTR BYTE
LOCAL fileHandle:DWORD
. . .
ReadFile ENDP

Irvine, Kip R. Assembly Language for Intel-Based Computers 5/e, 2007. Web site Examples 50
 PROTO Directive

• Creates a procedure prototype

• Syntax:
• label PROTO paramList
• Every procedure called by the INVOKE directive must
have a prototype
• A complete procedure definition can also serve as its
own prototype

Irvine, Kip R. Assembly Language for Intel-Based Computers 5/e, 2007. Web site Examples 51
 PROTO Directive
• Standard configuration: PROTO appears at top of the program
listing, INVOKE appears in the code segment, and the procedure
implementation occurs later in the program:

MySub PROTO ; procedure prototype

.code
INVOKE MySub ; procedure call

MySub PROC ; procedure implementation

.
.
MySub ENDP

Irvine, Kip R. Assembly Language for Intel-Based Computers 5/e, 2007. Web site Examples 52
 PROTO Example
• Prototype for the ArraySum procedure, showing its
parameter list:

ArraySum PROTO,
ptrArray:PTR DWORD, ; points to the array
szArray:DWORD ; array size

Irvine, Kip R. Assembly Language for Intel-Based Computers 5/e, 2007. Web site Examples 53
 Trouble-Shooting Tips

• Save and restore registers when they are modified by a

procedure.
• Except a register that returns a function result

• When using INVOKE, be careful to pass a pointer to the correct

data type.
• For example, MASM cannot distinguish between a DWORD
argument and a PTR BYTE argument.

• Do not pass an immediate value to a procedure that expects a

reference parameter.
• Dereferencing its address will likely cause a general-
protection fault.

Irvine, Kip R. Assembly Language for Intel-Based Computers 5/e, 2007. Web site Examples 54
 Review
1. (True/False): The CALL instruction cannot include procedure arguments.
2. (True/False): The INVOKE directive can include up to a maximum of three
arguments.
3. (True/False): The INVOKE directive can only pass memory operands, but
not register values.
4. (True/False):The PROC directive can contain a USES operator, but the
PROTO directive cannot.
5. (True/False): When using the PROC directive, all parameters must be
listed on the same line.
6. (True/False): If you pass a variable containing the offset of an array of
bytes to a procedure that expects a pointer to an array of words, the
assembler will not catch your error.
7. (True/False): If you pass an immediate value to a procedure that expects a
reference parameter, you can generate a general-protection fault (in
protected mode).
8. Declare a procedure named MultArray that receives two pointers to arrays
of doublewords, and a third parameter indicating the number of array
elements.

Irvine, Kip R. Assembly Language for Intel-Based Computers 5/e, 2007. Web site Examples 55
 What's Next

• Stack Frames
• Recursion
• .MODEL Directive
• INVOKE, ADDR, PROC, and PROTO
• Creating Multimodule Programs

Irvine, Kip R. Assembly Language for Intel-Based Computers 5/e, 2007. Web site Examples 56
 Multimodule Programs

• A multimodule program is a program whose source

code has been divided up into separate ASM files.
• Each ASM file (module) is assembled into a separate
OBJ file.
• All OBJ files belonging to the same program are
linked using the link utility into a single EXE file.
• This process is called static linking

Irvine, Kip R. Assembly Language for Intel-Based Computers 5/e, 2007. Web site Examples 57
 Advantages
• Large programs are easier to write, maintain, and
debug when divided into separate source code
modules.
• When changing a line of code, only its enclosing module
needs to be assembled again. Linking assembled
modules requires little time.

• A module can be a container for logically related

code and data (think object-oriented here...)
• encapsulation: procedures and variables are
automatically hidden in a module unless you declare
them public

Irvine, Kip R. Assembly Language for Intel-Based Computers 5/e, 2007. Web site Examples 58
 Creating a Multimodule Program

• Here are some basic steps to follow when

creating a multimodule program:
• Create the main module
• Create a separate source code module for each
procedure or set of related procedures
• Create an include file that contains procedure
prototypes for external procedures (ones that are
called between modules)
• Use the INCLUDE directive to make your
procedure prototypes available to each module

Irvine, Kip R. Assembly Language for Intel-Based Computers 5/e, 2007. Web site Examples 59
 Example: ArraySum Program
• Let's review the ArraySum program from Chapter 5.

Each of the four white rectangles will become a module.

Irvine, Kip R. Assembly Language for Intel-Based Computers 5/e, 2007. Web site Examples 60
 Sample Program output

Enter a signed integer: -25

Enter a signed integer: 36

Enter a signed integer: 42

The sum of the integers is: +53

Irvine, Kip R. Assembly Language for Intel-Based Computers 5/e, 2007. Web site Examples 61
 INCLUDE File
The sum.inc file contains prototypes for external functions that
are not in the Irvine32 library:
INCLUDE Irvine32.inc

PromptForIntegers PROTO,
ptrPrompt:PTR BYTE, ; prompt string
ptrArray:PTR DWORD, ; points to the array
arraySize:DWORD ; size of the array

ArraySum PROTO,
ptrArray:PTR DWORD, ; points to the array
count:DWORD ; size of the array

DisplaySum PROTO,
ptrPrompt:PTR BYTE, ; prompt string
theSum:DWORD ; sum of the array

Irvine, Kip R. Assembly Language for Intel-Based Computers 5/e, 2007. Web site Examples 62
 Inspect Individual Modules

• Main
• PromptForIntegers
• ArraySum
• DisplaySum

Custom batch file for assembling and linking.

Irvine, Kip R. Assembly Language for Intel-Based Computers 5/e, 2007. Web site Examples 63
 Review Questions
1. (True/False): Linking OBJ modules is much faster
than assembling ASM source files.
2. (True/False): Separating a large program into short
modules makes a program more difficult to maintain.
3. (True/False): In a multimodule program, an END
statement with a label occurs only once, in the
startup module.
4. (True/False): PROTO directives use up memory, so
you must be careful not to include a PROTO
directive for a procedure unless the procedure is
actually called.

Irvine, Kip R. Assembly Language for Intel-Based Computers 5/e, 2007. Web site Examples 64
 Summary
• Stack parameters
• more convenient than register parameters
• passed by value or reference
• ENTER and LEAVE instructions
• Local variables
• created on the stack below stack pointer
• LOCAL directive
• Recursive procedure calls itself
• Calling conventions (C, stdcall)
• MASM procedure-related directives
• INVOKE, PROC, PROTO

Irvine, Kip R. Assembly Language for Intel-Based Computers 5/e, 2007. Web site Examples 65
 The End

Irvine, Kip R. Assembly Language for Intel-Based Computers 5/e, 2007. Web site Examples 66