Assembly Language

Programming
Course Code: 0052 Course Title: Computer Organization and
Architecture

Dept. of Computer Science

Faculty of Science and Technology

Lecturer No: 4 Week No: 4 Semester: Summer 24-25

Lecturer: Md. Faruk Abdullah Al Sohan; faruk.sohan@aiub.edu
 Content

 1. Creating, Assembling and executing assembly language

program.

 2. By the end of this lesson we will be able to write simple

but interesting assembly program.
 Overview
Four Steps
1. Learn Syntax

2. Variable declarations

3. Introduction of basic data movement

4. Program organization: Code, Data and stack

• Assembly language instructions are so basic. So, I/O is much harder

unlike high-level languages.

• We Use DOS functions for I/O as they are easy to invoke and faster

• A program is must be converted to machine language before execution

 Assembly Language Syntax

• Assembly language is not case sensitive, however, we use upper case to

differentiate code from rest of the text.

 Statements:

• Programs consist of statements (one per line)

• Each statement can be any of following types:

• Instruction that are translated into machine code

• Assembler directives that instruct the assemble to perform some

specific task:

 Allocating memory space for variables

 Creating procedure
 Fields
 Instructions and directives can have up to four fields:

Name Operation Operand(s) comment

START MOV CX,5 ; initialize counter

**[Fields must appear in this order]

MAIN PROC [ creates a Procedure]

 At least one blank or tab character must separate the fields

 Name Field
 Name: it is used for instruction levels, procedure names and variable names.

• The assembler translates names into variable names.

• Can be 1 to 31 characters long and consists of letter , digit and special

characters.

• Embedded blanks are not allowed.

• Names may not begin with number.

• UPPERCASE and lowercase in name are same.

• Examples: COUNTER1, $1000, Done?, .TEST

• Illegal names TWO WORD, 2AB, A45.28, ME &YOU

6
 Solve the Following
 Which of the following names are legal in IBM PC assembly language?

TWO_WORDS

TwoWOrDs

?1

.@?

$145

LET’S_GO

T=.
 Operation Field
• Operation field contains a symbolic operation code (opcode).

• The assembler translates a symbolic opcode into a machine language.

• Opcode symbols often describe the operations function (e.g. MOV, ADD, SUM
etc..).

• In assembler directive, the operation field contains pseudo operation code

(pseudo-ops).

• Pseudo-ops are NOT translated into machine code. they simply tell the
assembler to do something.

• e.g. PROC pseudo-op is used to create procedure.

Operand Field(cont’d…)
• Operand field species the data that are to be acted on by the operation.

• An instruction may have zero, one or two operands. e.g.

NOP No operands; does nothing

INC AX Adds one to the contents of AX

ADD WORD1,2 Add 2 to the contents of WORD1

• First operand is Destination (i.e. register or Memory location)

• some instruction do not store any result

• Second operand is Source and its not usually modified by instruction

 Comment Field
• Comment: put instruction into the context of program.

• Comment field of a statement is used to say something about what the

statement does?

• Semicolon ( ; ) marks in the beginning of this field

• Assembler ignores anything typed after “ ; “

** Comment is very important in assembly language and it is almost

impossible to understand assembly code without comment.

** Commenting is considered as good programming practice

 Program Data
• Processor operates only on binary data.

• So, the assembler MUST translate all data representation into binary numbers.

• In assembly program, we may express data as binary, decimal or hex numbers and even
characters.

 Numbers:

• Binary: a binary number is written as bit string followed by the letter B or b (e.g. 1010B)

• Decimal: A decimal number is a string of decimal digits. It ends with optional “D” or “d” (e.g.
1234).

• Hex: A hex number begins with a decimal digit and ends with the letter H or h (e.g. 12ABh).

 Characters:

Character strings must be enclosed with single or double quotes.

• e.g. ‘A’ or “hello” is translated into ASCII by assembler. So, there is no difference between
‘A’ or 41h or 65d.
SolveProgram
the Following
Data
 Which of the following are legal numbers? if they are legal tell whether
they are Binary, decimal or hex numbers?

246 FFFEh

246h 0Ah

1001 Bh

1,001 1110b

2A3h
 Variables
• We use a variable to store values temporarily.

• Each variable has a data type and is assigned a memory address by the program.

• We will mostly use DB (define byte) and DW(define word) variables.

 Byte Variables: In the following , the directive associates a memory byte to ALPHA and
initialize it to 4. A “?” mark can be used for uninitialized byte. The range of values in a
byte is 2^8 or 256

Name DB Initial_value

ALPHA DB 4

 Word Variables: Similar to byte variable and the range of initial values is 2^16 or 65536.

Name DW Initial_value

WRD DW -2
 Array
• Array is just a sequence of bytes or words.

• i.e. to define a three-byte array, we write

B_ARRAY DB 10h, 20h, 30h

Name B_ARRAY is associated with first byte, B_ARRAY+1 with second and
B_ARRAY+2 with third.

B_ARRAY 200 10h

B_ARRAY+1 201 20h
B_ARRAY+2 202 30h
 Array Exercise
 Create a word array (named MY_W_ARRAY) table of
which the starting address is 500 and values are
2000,323,4000 and 1000.
 Solution

MY_W_ARRAY DW 2000,323,4000,1000

MY_W_ARRAY 500 2000

MY_W_ARRAY+2 502 323
MY_W_ARRAY+4 504 4000
MY_W_ARRAY +6 506 1000
 Array (Cont.)
 High and Low bytes of Word: Sometimes we may need to refer to the high and
low bytes of a word variable. i.e. if we define,

WORD1 DW 1234H

the low byte of WORD1 contains 34h (symbolic address: WORD1) and High
byte contains 12h (symbolic address: WORD1+1).

 Character string: An array of ASCII codes.

• LETTER DB ‘ABC’

• LETTER DB 41h,42h,43h [ UPPERCASE]

• MSG DB `HELLO’, 0Ah, 0Dh, ’$’ [combination is also possible]

• MSG DB 48h,45h,4Ch,4Ch,4Fh,0Ah,0Dh,24h
 Named Constant

• Using a symbolic name for constant quantity make the

assembly code much easier.
 EQU (Equates): Assign a name to a constant
e.g. LF EQU 0Ah [LF= 0Ah]
( LF=0Ah is applicable to whole code after assigning)

**No memory is allocated for EQU names**

 Instructions: MOV
 MOV is used to transfer data between registers, register and memory-location
or move number directly into register or memory location.

 Syntax: MOV destination, source

MOV AX, WORD1 [reads Move WORD1 to AX]

Before After
0006 0008
AX AX
0008 0008
WORD1 WORD1
**Copy of WORD is sent to AX
Legal Combinations of Operands for
MOV

Source General Segment Memory

Constant
Operand Register Register location

General
Yes Yes Yes No
Register

Segment
Yes No Yes No
Register
No
Memory
Yes Yes illegal: MOV No
location W1,W2

Constant Yes No Yes No

 Solve the Following
 What is the value of BX and A after MOV BX,A ?[assume value of A is 24h]

 Using previous values, find the value of AX and BX from MOV AX, BX

 Tell us whether the following instructions are legal or illegal?

MOV DS,AX

MOV DS,1000h

MOV CS,ES

MOV W1,DS

MOV W1,B1
Instructions: XCHG
 MOV is used to exchange the contents between two registers or register
and memory-location.

 Syntax: XCHG destination, source

XCHG AH, BL

[reads exchange value of AH with BL]

Before After
1A 00 05 00
AH AL AH AL
00 05 00 1A
BH BL BH BL
Legal combinations of operands for
XCHG

Source Operand General Register Memory location

General Register Yes Yes

Memory location Yes No

illegal: XCHG W1,W2
Solve the following
 What is the value of BX and A after XCHG BX,A?[assume value of A is
15h].

 Also find, AX and A after MOV AX,A ?

 Using previous values, find the value of AX and BX from XCHG AX, BX?

 Tell us whether the following instructions are legal or illegal?

XCHG W1,W2

XCHG AX,W1
 Solution
• XCHG or MOV operation is not allowed between
memory locations. So, What could be the way out?

 Using Register,

MOV AX, W1
XCHG AX,W2
MOV W1, AX
 Instructions: ADD
 ADD is used to add content of two registers, register and memory-location or
add a number to register or memory location.

 Syntax: ADD destination, source

ADD WORD1,AX [reads Add AX to WORD1]

Before After
01BC 01BC
AX AX
0523 06DF
WORD1 WORD1

**Copy of WORD1 is added with content of AX and stored in WORD1

Legal Combinations of Operands for
ADD

Source Operand General Register Memory location

General Register Yes Yes

No
Memory location Yes illegal: ADD W1,W2

Constant Yes Yes

Solve the Following

 What is the value of BX and A after ADD BX,A ?[assume value of BX is 5h

and A is 9h]

 using previous values[AX=9h], find the value of AX and BX from ADD AX,
BX

 Tell us whether the following instructions are legal or illegal?

ADD B1,B2

ADD AL,56H
 Instructions: SUB
 SUB is used to subtract content of two registers, register and memory-
location or subtract a number from register or memory location.

 Syntax: SUB destination, source

SUB AX,DX [reads Subtract DX from AX]

Before After
0000 FFFF
AX AX
0001 0001
DX DX

**Subtracts the content of DX from AX and stored in AX.

Legal Combinations of Operands for
ADD

Source Operand General Register Memory location

General Register Yes Yes

No
Memory location Yes
illegal: SUB W1,W2

Constant Yes Yes

Solve the Following

 What is the value of BX and A after SUB BX,A ?[assume value of BX is F

and A is 9h]

 Using previous values[AX=9h], find the value of AX and BX from SUB AX,
BX

 Tell us whether the following instructions are legal or illegal?

SUB B1,B2

SUB AL,56H
 Instructions: INC
 INC is used to add 1 to the contents of a register or memory-location.

 Syntax: INC destination

INC WORD1 [reads Add 1 to WORD1]

Before After

0002 0003

WORD1 WORD1
** 1 is added to WORD1 and result is stored in WORD1
Solve the Following

• What is the value of BX and A?[assume BX=3h and

A=9h]
 INC BX
 INC A
 Instructions: DEC
 DEC is used to subtract 1 from the contents of a register or memory-
location.

 Syntax: DEC destination

DEC WORD1 [reads subtract 1 from WORD1]

Before After

FFFE FFFD

WORD1 WORD1
** 1 is subtracted from BYTE1 and result is stored in BYTE1
Solve the Following

• What is the value of BX and A?[assume BX=3h and

A=9h]
 DEC BX
 DEC A
 Instructions: NEG
 NEG is used to negate the contents of the destination

NEG does this by replacing the contents by its two’s complement.

 Syntax: NEG destination

NEG BX [reads negate the contents of BX]

Before After

0002 FFFE

BX BX
** The content of BX is replaced with its two’s complement
Solve the Following

• What is the value of BX and A? [assume BX=3h and

A=9h]
 NEG BX
 NEG A
Agreement of Operator

• The operand of the preceding two-operand instruction

MUST be same type. (i.e. both bytes or words). Thus,
• MOV AX,BYTE1 ; its illegal
• MOV AH,’A’ ; legal
• MOV AX,’A’ ; legal if source is a word
Translation of High-Level Language
to Assembly Language

Statement Translation
MOV AX,A
B=A MOV B,AX
** A direct memory move in illegal
MOV AX,5
SUB AX,A
MOV A,AX
A = 5-A or
NEG A
ADD A,5

MOV AX,B
SUB AX,A
A=B-2*A
SUB AX,A
MOV A,AX
 Program Structure
 A program Consist of

• Stack

• Data

• Code

 Each part occupies memory segments. Program segment is translated into

memory segment by assembler.

 The size of code and data of a program can be specified by memory model
using .MODEL directive

.MODEL Memory_model

.MODEL SMALL [Code in ONE segment and Data in one segment]

 Stack Segment
• Allocate a block of memory (stack area) to store the stack.

• The stack area should be big enough to contain the stack at its
maximum size.

• Declaration:

.STACK size

.STACK 100H

** Allocates 100 bytes for stack area reasonable size for most
applications

** If size is omitted 1KB is allocated for stack area.

 Data Segment
 Contains all the variable definitions and sometimes Constant
definitions (constant does not take any memory).

 To declare data segment .DATA directive is used followed by

variable and constant declaration.

.DATA

WORD1 DW 2

BYTE1 DB 1

MSG DB ‘THIS IS A MESSAGE’

MASK EQU 10010001B

 Code Segment
 Contains the program’s instructions

 Declaration:

 .CODE name [name is optional]

There is no need of name in SMALL program

 Inside a code segment, instructions are organized as procedures.

name PROC

; body of the procedure

name ENDP
 Program Structure
.MODEL SMALL

.STACK 100H

.DATA

; data definitions here

.CODE MAIN

MAIN PROC

;instructions go here

MAIN ENDP

;other procedures go here

END MAIN

The last line of the program should be the END directive, followed by the name of main procedure
Instruction: INT (Appendix C)
 INT: Interrupt option stops the continuous progress of an activity or process.

 Syntax:

INT interrupt_number

***A particular function is requested by placing a function number in the AH register and invoking INT 21h .

*** INT 21h functions expect input values to be in certain registers and return output values to other
registers

Function
Number Routine Input Output
AL = 0 if no input or
1 single-key input AH=1 ASCII of character
DL=ASCII of display char
2 single-character output AH=2
AL= ASCII of display char
9 character-string output AH=9
The First Program

 Task: Write a program to read a character from the

keyboard and display the same at the beginning of next
line.
 Lets start by displaying a question (“?”) mark for the
user input
 The Solution
MOV AH,2 ; display character
.MODEL SMALL function

MOV DL,0Dh ; carriage return

.STACK 100H
INT 21H ; execute carriage return
. CODE
MOV DL,0Ah ; line feed to display
MAIN PROC
INT 21h ; execute Line feed
; display prompt to the user
; display character
MOV AH,2 ; display character
MOV DL, BL ; retrieve character
function
INT 21h
MOV DL,’?’ ; character is ‘?’
;return to DOS
INT 21H ; display the DL char (?)
MOV AH,4Ch ; terminate the currant process and transfer
;input a character
control to invoking process
MOV AH,1 ; read character function INT 21h ; termination the execution of program
INT 21H ; character is in AL return control to DOS

MOV BL,AL ; save input to BL reg MAIN ENDP

;go to new line END MAIN

Programming Steps
Editor Create source program

.ASM file

Assembler Assemble source program

.OBJ file

Linker Link Object program

.EXE file
 Instruction: LEA

 LEA: Load Effective address

LEA destination, source
 LEA puts copy of the source offset address into the
destination.
i.e. LEA DX, MSG ; will load address of MSG to DX
Program Segment Prefix (PSP)

• PSP contains information about the program to facilitate the program

access in this area

• DOS places its segment number in both DS and ES before program

execution

• Usually, DS does not contain the segment number of the data segment.

• Thus, a program with data segment will start with these two instruction

MOV AX,@DATA [name of data segment define in .DATA]

MOV DS,AX
HW: Solve the Following

1. Write a program to print HELLO! on the screen

2. Write a program that can convert the user input
character in UPPERCASE like below
Example:
ENTER A LOWER-CASE LETTER: a
IN UPPERCASE IT IS: A
References

• Assembly Language Programming and Organization of the IBM PC, Ytha Yu

and Charles Marut, McGraw Hill, 1992. (ISBN: 0-07-072692-2).
• https://www.whoishostingthis.com/resources/assembly-language/
Books

• Assembly Language Programming and Organization of the IBM PC,

Ytha Yu and Charles Marut, McGraw Hill, 1992. (ISBN: 0-07-072692-
2).

• Essentials of Computer Organization and Architecture, (Third

Edition), Linda Null and Julia Lobur

• W. Stallings, “Computer Organization and Architecture: Designing for

performance”, 67h Edition, Prentice Hall of India, 2003, ISBN 81 –
203 – 2962 – 7

• Computer Organization and Architecture by John P. Haynes.