Chapter 2
Instructions: Language of the
Computer
Tutorial 4
Character Data
Byte / Halfword Operations
String Copy Example
Scanf and Printf Examples
Linking and Loading
Chapter 2 — Instructions: Language of the Computer — 2
§2.9 Communicating with People
Character Data
Byte-encoded character sets
ASCII: 128 characters
95 graphic, 33 control
Latin-1: 256 characters
ASCII, +96 more graphic characters
Chapter 2 — Instructions: Language of the Computer — 3
§2.9 Communicating with People
Character Data
Unicode: 32-bit character set
Used in Java, C++ wide characters, …
Most of the world’s alphabets, plus symbols
UTF-8, UTF-16: variable-length encodings
Chapter 2 — Instructions: Language of the Computer — 4
Byte/Halfword Operations
ARM byte load/store
Word is 4bytes.
When loading chars no need to load whole word(char is 1 byte)
String processing is a common case
LDRB r0, [sp,#0] ; Read byte from source
STRB r0, [r10,#0] ; Write byte to destination
Sign extend to 32 bits
LDRSB ; Sign extends to fill leftmost 24 bits
LDRB ; leftmost 24 bits filled by 0
Chapter 2 — Instructions: Language of the Computer — 5
Byte/Halfword Operations
ARM halfword load/store
LDRH r0, [sp,#0] ; Read halfword (16 bits) from source
STRH r0,[r12,#0] ; Write halfword (16 bits) to destination
Sign extend to 32 bits
LDRSH ; Sign extends to fill leftmost 16 bits
Chapter 2 — Instructions: Language of the Computer — 6
String Copy Example
C code (naïve):
Null-terminated string
void strcpy (char x[], char y[]){
int i;
i = 0;
while ((x[i]=y[i])!='\0')
i++;
}
Addresses of x, y in registers r0, r1
i in register r4
Chapter 2 — Instructions: Language of the Computer — 7
String Copy Example
ARM code:
If r4 - r11 registers are used inside a function , they should be preserved
strcpy:
SUB sp,sp, #4 ; adjust stack for 1 item
STR r4,[sp,#0] ; save r4 r1 contains base address of y
MOV r4,#0 ; i = 0 r0 contains base address of x
L1: ADD r2,r4,r1 ; addr of y[i] in r2
LDRB r3, [r2, #0] ; r3 = y[i]
ADD r12,r4,r0 ; ; Addr of x[i] in r12
STRB r3 [r12, #0] ; x[i] = y[i]
CMP r3,#0 Null terminated string stored in the memory as the 0
BEQ L2 ; exit loop if y[i] == 0
ADD r4,r4,#1 ; i = i + 1
B L1 ; next iteration of loop
L2: LDR r4, [sp,#0] ; restore saved r4
ADD sp,sp, #4 ; pop 1 item from stack
MOV pc,lr ; return
Chapter 2 — Instructions: Language of the Computer — 8
scanf and printf (example01.s)
Read a number from stdin and print to the stdout
sub sp, sp, #4 @allocate stack for input
ldr r0, =formats @scanf to get an integer
mov r1, sp r0 , r1 are the arguments of scanf , printf
bl scanf load input val to a reg @scanf("%d",sp) Scanned value store in stac
ldr r1, [sp,#0] @copy from stack to register
add sp, sp, #4 @release stack
ldr r0, =formatp @format for printf
bl printf @printf
.asciz is used to specify that ascii values are being used
formats , formatp are just labels .data @ data memory
formats: .asciz "%d“
formatp: .asciz "The number is %d\n“
.data section is used to store static data.
.text section is used to store the instructions.
.asciz are for string literals. Assembler inserts \0 after the string
Chapter 2 — Instructions: Language of the Computer — 9
Some Examples to try
Read two integers x and y, then Print x+y
Example02.s
Read two integers x and y, thenPrint x * 2 y
Example03.s
Write an ARM Assembly program to read
two numbers and print whether they are
equal or not
Example04.s
Chapter 2 — Instructions: Language of the Computer — 10
Some Examples
Write an ARM Assembly program to read a
number (N) and print numbers from 1 to N
Example05.s
Write a function to find string length and
call it from main
Example06.s
Chapter 2 — Instructions: Language of the Computer — 11
§2.12 Translating and Starting a Program
Translation and Startup
Many compilers produce
object modules directly
When using library functions
binary Compiled
Static linking
Stored in the hardware
Chapter 2 — Instructions: Language of the Computer — 12
Producing an Object Module
Assembler (or compiler) translates program into
machine instructions
Provides information for building a complete
program from the pieces
Header: described contents of object module
Text segment: translated instructions
Static data segment: data allocated for the life of the
program
Relocation info: for contents that depend on absolute
location of loaded program
Symbol table: global definitions and external refs
Debug info: for associating with source code
Chapter 2 — Instructions: Language of the Computer — 13
Linking Object Modules
Produces an executable image
1. Merges segments
2. Resolve labels (determine their addresses)
3. Patch location-dependent and external refs
Could leave location dependencies for
fixing by a relocating loader
But with virtual memory, no need to do this
Program can be loaded into absolute location
in virtual memory space
Chapter 2 — Instructions: Language of the Computer — 14
Loading a Program
Load from image file on disk into memory
1. Read header to determine segment sizes
2. Create virtual address space
3. Copy text and initialized data into memory
Or set page table entries so they can be faulted in
4. Set up arguments on stack
5. Initialize registers
6. Jump to startup routine
Copies arguments to r0, … and calls main
When main returns, startup terminates with exit
system call
Chapter 2 — Instructions: Language of the Computer — 15
Dynamic Linking
Only link/load library procedure when it is
called
Requires procedure code to be relocatable
Avoids image bloat caused by static linking of
all (transitively) referenced libraries
Automatically picks up new library versions
Chapter 2 — Instructions: Language of the Computer — 16
Lazy Linkage
Indirection table
Stub: Loads routine ID,
Jump to linker/loader
Linker/loader code
Dynamically
mapped code
Chapter 2 — Instructions: Language of the Computer — 17
