Yeditepe University
Department of Computer Engineering
CSE 232
Systems Programming
Lecture Notes #2
ASSEMBLERS
1. Introduction
There are two main classes of programming languages: high level (e.g., C, Pascal) and low
level. Assembly Language is a low level programming language. Programmers code symbolic
instructions, each of which generates machine instructions.
An assembler is a program that accepts as input an assembly language program (source) and
produces its machine language equivalent (object code) along with the information for the loader.
Assembly language program
Assembler Linker EXE
Figure 1. Executable program generation from an assembly source code
Advantages of coding in assembly language are:
Provides more control over handling particular hardware components
May generate smaller, more compact executable modules
Often results in faster execution
Disadvantages:
Not portable
More complex
Requires understanding of hardware details (interfaces)
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Assembler:
An assembler does the following:
1. Generate machine instructions
- evaluate the mnemonics to produce their machine code
- evaluate the symbols, literals, addresses to produce their equivalent machine addresses
- convert the data constants into their machine representations
2. Process pseudo operations
2. Two Pass Assembler
A two-pass assembler performs two sequential scans over the source code:
Pass 1: symbols and literals are defined
Pass 2: object program is generated
Parsing: moving in program lines to pull out op-codes and operands
Data Structures:
- Location counter (LC): points to the next location where the code will be placed
- Op-code translation table: contains symbolic instructions, their lengths and their op-codes (or
subroutine to use for translation)
- Symbol table (ST): contains labels and their values
- String storage buffer (SSB): contains ASCII characters for the strings
- Configuration table: contains pointer to the string in SSB and offset where its value will be inserted
in the object code
assembly machine
language Pass1 Pass 2 language
program Symbol table program
Configuration table
String storage buffer
Partially configured object file
Figure 2. A simple two pass assembler.
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Example 1: Decrement number 5 by 1 until it is equal to zero.
assembly language memory object code
program address in memory
-----------------------
START 0100H
LDA #5 0100 01
0101 00
0102 05
LOOP: SUB #1 0103 1D
0104 00
0105 01
COMP #0 0106 29
0107 00
0108 00
JGT LOOP 0109 34
010A 01 placed in Pass 1
010B 03
RSUB 010C 4C
010D 00
010E 00
END
RSUB implied 4C
Op-code Table
Mnemonic Addressing mode Opcode Symbol Table
LDA immediate 01
SUB immediate 1D Symbol Value
COMP immediate 29 LOOP 0103
LDX immediate 05
ADD indexed 18
TIX direct 2C
JLT direct 38
JGT direct 34
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Example 2: Sum 6 elements of a list which starts at location 200.
assembly language memory object code
program address in memory
-----------------------
START 0100H
LDA #0 0100 01
0101 00
0102 00
LDX #0 0103 05
0104 00
0105 00
LOOP: ADD LIST, X 0106 18
0107 01 placed in Pass 2
0108 12
TIX COUNT 0109 2C
010A 01 placed in Pass 2
010B 15
JLT LOOP 010C 38
010D 01 placed in Pass 1
010E 06
RSUB 010F 4C
0110 00
0111 00
LIST: WORD 200 0112 00
0113 02
0114 00
COUNT: WORD 6 0115 00
0116 00
0117 06
END
Symbol Table
Symbol Address
LOOP 0106
LIST 0112
COUNT 0115
Configuration Table
Offset SSB pointer
for the symbol
0007 DC00
000A DC05
SSB
DC00 4CH
DC01 49H ASCII for L,I,S,T
DC02 53H
DC03 54H
DC04 5EH ASCII for separation character
DC05
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Pass1
All symbols are identified and put in ST
All op-codes are translated
Missing symbol values are marked
LC = origin
Read next statement
Parse the statement
Y
Comment
“END” Y Pass 2
N pseudo-op Y what
kind?
N
Label EQU WORD/ RESW/RESB
BYTE
Y
N Label N Label
Enter label in ST Enter label in ST
Y Y
Enter label in ST Enter label in ST
Call translator
Place constant in
machine code
Advance LC by the
number of bytes specified
Advance LC in the pseudo-op
Figure 3. First pass of a two-pass assembler.
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Translator Routine
Find opcode and the number of bytes
in Op-code Table
Write opcode in machine code
Write the data or address that is known
at this time in machine code
more
information Y
will be needed Set up an entry in
in Pass 2 ? Configuration Table
N
Advance LC by the number of bytes
in op-code table
return
Figure 4. Flowchart of a translator routine
Pass 2
- Fills addresses and data that was unknown during Pass 1.
Pass 1
More lines in N
Configuration Done
Table
Get the next line
Retrieve the name of the symbol from SSB
Get the value of the symbol from ST
Compute the location in memory
where this value will be placed
(starting address + offset)
Place the symbol value at this location
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Figure 5. Second pass of a two-pass assembler.
Relocatable Code
Producing an object code, which can be placed to any specific area in memory.
Direct Address Table (DAT): contains offset locations of all direct addresses in the program (e.g., 8080
instructions that specify direct addresses are LDA, STA, all conditional jumps...). To relocate the
program, the loader adds the loading point to all these locations.
assembly language program Assembler machine language program
and DAT
Figure 6. Assembler output for a relocatable code.
Example 3: Following relocatable object code and DAT are generated for Example 1.
assembly language memory object code
program address in memory
-----------------------
START
LDA #0 0000 01
0001 00
0002 00
LDX #0 0003 05
0004 00
0005 00
LOOP: ADD LIST, X 0006 18
0007 00
0008 12
TIX COUNT 0009 2C
000A 00
000B 15
JLT LOOP 000C 38
000D 00
000E 06
RSUB 000F 4C
0010 00
0011 00
LIST: WORD 200 0012 00
0013 02
0014 00
COUNT: WORD 6 0015 00
0016 00
0017 06
END
DAT
0007
000A
000D
Forward and backward references in the machine code are generated relative to address 0000. To
relocate the code, the loader adds the new load-point to the references in the machine code which are
pointed by the DAT.
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One-Pass Assemblers
Two methods can be used:
- Eliminating forward references
Either all labels used in forward references are defined in the source program before they are
referenced, or forward references to data items are prohibited.
- Generating the object code in memory
No object program is written out and no loader is needed. The program needs to be re-assembled
every time.
Multi-Pass Assemblers
Make as many passes as needed to process the definitions of symbols.
Example 3:
A EQU B
B EQU C 3 passes are required to find the address for A.
C DS 1
Such references can also be solved in two passes: entering symbol definitions that involve forward
references in the symbol table. Symbol table also indicates which symbols are dependent on the values
of others.
Example 4:
A EQU B
B EQU D
C EQU D
D DS 1
At the end of Pass1:
Symbol Table
A &1 B 0
B &1 D A 0
C &1 D 0
D 200 B C 0
After evaluating dependencies:
Symbol Table
A 200 0
B 200 0
C 200 0
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D 200 0
