Yeditepe University Department of Computer Engineering

CSE 232 Systems Programming Lecture Notes #2 ASSEMBLERS

! "ntrodu#tion There are two main classes of programming languages: high level (e.g., C, Pascal) and low level. Assembly Language is a low le el programming language. Programmers code s!m"olic instructions, each of which generates machine instructions. #n assembler is a program that accepts as input an assem"l! language program (source) and produces its machine language e$ui alent (o"%ect code) along with the information for the loader.

#ssem"l! language program #ssem"ler Lin&er '('

$igure . ')ecuta"le program generation from an assem"l! source code

#d antages of coding in assem"l! language are: Pro ides more control o er handling particular hardware components *a! generate smaller, more compact e)ecuta"le modules +ften results in faster e)ecution ,isad antages: Not porta"le *ore comple) -e$uires understanding of hardware details (interfaces)

Assem%&er' #n assem"ler does the following: .. /enerate machine instructions - e aluate the mnemonics to produce their machine code - e aluate the s!m"ols, literals, addresses to produce their e$ui alent machine addresses - con ert the data constants into their machine representations 2. Process pseudo operations

2! ()o Pass Assem%&er # two0pass assem"ler performs two se$uential scans o er the source code: Pass 1: s!m"ols and literals are defined Pass 2: o"%ect program is generated Parsing: mo ing in program lines to pull out op0codes and operands
Data Stru#tures'

Location counter (LC): points to the ne)t location where the code will "e placed Op-co e translation table: contains s!m"olic instructions, their lengths and their op0codes (or su"routine to use for translation) !ymbol table (!"): contains la"els and their alues !tring storage bu##er (!!$): contains #1C22 characters for the strings Con#iguration table: contains pointer to the string in 113 and offset where its alue will "e inserted in the o"%ect code

assem"l! language program

Pass. 1!m"ol ta"le Configuration ta"le 1tring storage "uffer Partiall! configured o"%ect file

Pass 2

machine language program

$igure 2. A simple two pass assembler.

E*amp&e ' ,ecrement num"er 4 "! . until it is e$ual to 5ero.

assem"l! language program 00000000000000000000000 1T#-T 6.667 L,# #4 L++P: 183 #. memor! address 6.66 6.6. 6.62 6.69 6.6: 6.64 6.6; 6.6= 6.6> 6.6< 6.6# 6.63 6.6C 6.6, 6.6' o"%ect code in memor! 6. 66 64 ., 66 6. 2< 66 66 9: 6. 69 :C 66 66

C+*P #6 ?/T -183 'N, L++P

place in Pass 1

-183 +p,#ode (a%&e Mnemonic L,# 183 C+*P L,( #,, T2( ?LT ?/T Addressing mode immediate immediate immediate immediate inde)ed direct direct direct Opcode 6. ., 2< 64 .> 2C 9> 9: Sym%o& (a%&e Symbol L++P

implied

:C

Value 6.69

E*amp&e 2' 1um ; elements of a list which starts at location 266.

assem"l! language program 00000000000000000000000 1T#-T 6.667 L,# #6 L,( L++P: #,, T2( ?LT -183 L21T: A+-, 266 #6 L21T, ( C+8NT L++P memor! address 6.66 6.6. 6.62 6.69 6.6: 6.64 6.6; 6.6= 6.6> 6.6< 6.6# 6.63 6.6C 6.6, 6.6' 6.6@ 6..6 6... 6..2 6..9 6..: 6..4 6..; 6..= o"%ect code in memor! 6. 66 66 64 66 66 .> 6. .2 2C 6. .4 9> 6. 6; :C 66 66 66 62 66 66 66 6;

place in Pass 2 place in Pass 2 place in Pass 1

C+8NT: A+-, ; 'N, Sym%o& (a%&e Symbol L++P L21T C+8NT Address 6.6; 6..2 6..4

Configuration (a%&e Offset 666= 666# SSB pointer for the symbol ,C66 ,C64 SSB :C7 :<7 497 4:7 4'7

,C66 ,C6. ,C62 ,C69 ,C6:

#1C22 for L,2,1,T

#1C22 for separation character :

,C64

Pass #ll s!m"ols are identified and put in 1T #ll op0codes are translated *issing s!m"ol alues are mar&ed

LC B origin -ead ne)t statement Parse the statement C Comment N D'N,E N N N La"el C N 'nter la"el in 1T 'nter la"el in 1T C 'nter la"el in 1T Call translator Place constant in machine code #d ance LC #d ance LC "! the num"er of "!tes specified in the pseudo0op C 'nter la"el in 1T La"el N La"el 'G8 A+-,H 3CT' -'1AH-'13 pseudo0op C what &indF C Pass 2

$igure 3. %irst pass o# a two-pass assembler&

(rans&ator Routine
@ind opcode and the num"er of "!tes in +p0code Ta"le Arite opcode in machine code

Arite the data or address that is &nown at this time in machine code more information will "e needed in Pass 2 F N

C 1et up an entr! in Configuration Ta"le

#d ance LC "! the num"er of "!tes in op0code ta"le return

$igure -& %lowchart o# a translator routine Pass 2 0 @ills addresses and data that was un&nown during Pass ..
Pass . *ore lines in Configuration Ta"le C /et the ne)t line -etrie e the name of the s!m"ol from 113 /et the alue of the s!m"ol from 1T Compute the location in memor! where this alue will "e placed (starting address I offset) Place the s!m"ol alue at this location N ,one

$igure .& !econ pass o# a two-pass assembler& Re&o#ata%&e Code Producing an o"%ect code, which can "e placed to an! specific area in memor!. 'irect A ress "able ('A"): contains offset locations of all direct addresses in the program (e.g., >6>6 instructions that specif! direct addresses are L,#, 1T#, all conditional %umps...). To relocate the program, the loader adds the loading point to all these locations. assem"l! language program machine language program and ,#T $igure /! Assembler output #or a relocatable co e& #ssem"ler

E*amp&e 3' @ollowing relocata"le o"%ect code and ,#T are generated for ')ample ..
assem"l! language program 00000000000000000000000 1T#-T L,# #6 L,( L++P: #,, T2( ?LT -183 L21T: A+-, 266 #6 L21T, ( C+8NT L++P memor! address 6666 666. 6662 6669 666: 6664 666; 666= 666> 666< 666# 6663 666C 666, 666' 666@ 66.6 66.. 66.2 66.9 66.: 66.4 66.; 66.= o"%ect code in memor! 6. 66 66 64 66 66 .> 66 .2 2C 66 .4 9> 66 6; :C 66 66 66 62 66 66 66 6;

C+8NT: A+-, ; 'N,

DA( 666= 666# 666, @orward and "ac&ward references in the machine code are generated relati e to address 6666. To relocate the code, the loader adds the new load0point to the references in the machine code which are pointed "! the ,#T.
=

+ne,Pass Assem%&ers Two methods can "e used: 0 (liminating #orwar re#erences 'ither all la"els used in forward references are defined in the source program "efore the! are referenced, or forward references to data items are prohi"ited. - )enerating the ob*ect co e in memory No o"%ect program is written out and no loader is needed. The program needs to "e re0assem"led e er! time. Mu&ti,Pass Assem%&ers *a&e as man! passes as needed to process the definitions of s!m"ols. E*amp&e 3' # 3 C 'G8 3 'G8 C ,1 . 9 passes are re$uired to find the address for #.

1uch references can also "e sol ed in two passes: entering s!m"ol definitions that in ol e forward references in the s!m"ol ta"le. 1!m"ol ta"le also indicates which s!m"ols are dependent on the alues of others. E*amp&e -' # 3 C , 'G8 'G8 'G8 ,1 3 , , .

At the en o# Pass1: 1!m"ol Ta"le # J. 3 3 J. , C J. , , 266 6 # 6 3 C 6 6

A#ter evaluating epen encies: 1!m"ol Ta"le # 266 3 266 C 266 6 6 6

>

266

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