Assembly Language Programming

Introduction

Assembly language is a low level programming language. An Assembly Language program consists of a
series of lines that are assembly language instructions. These instructions consist of a mnemonic, which
is a command, and an operand, which is the data to be manipulated. The programs usually include
comments which are written at the end of a line or in a separate line beginning with a ‘;’ and are ignored
by the assembler. Assembly Language uses two, three or 4 letter mnemonics to represent each
instruction type.

Low level Assembly Language is

designed for a specific family of
Processors: the symbolic instruction
directly relate to Machine Language
instructions one for one and are
assembled into machine language

To make programming easier than

machine language, many
programmers write programs in
assembly language

They then translate Assembly

Language program to machine
language so that it can be loaded into
memory and run.

Advantages of Assembly Language

o Assembly Language Program requires less Memory and execution time compared to High Level
Language. Assembly Language is useful for implementing system software.

o Assembly Language gives a programmer the ability to program small embedded system
applications. Firmware (that resides in memory while other programs execute) and Interrupt
Service Routine (that handles input and output) are developed in Assembly Language.

o It helps to understand sources of program inefficiency and helps in tuning program performance
by providing more control over handling particular hardware requirements.

o Helps to write smaller and compact executable codes.

Types of assembler

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Assembler can be categorized according to passes.

One Pass Assembler:

A one pass assembler passes over the source file exactly once, in the same pass collecting the labels,
resolving future references and doing the actual assembly. The difficult part is to resolve future label
references and assemble code in one pass. If each statement of an assembly language program is
expressed only in terms of symbols previously defined in the program then the assembler can be
implemented in one pass.

One pass assembler can be categorized as load‐and‐go type which produces executable modules and
the other one which can produce load, or even objects that could be linked.

All the labels of the instructions are symbols and symbol tables has entry for symbol name, address
value .Symbols that are defined in the later part of the program are called forward referencing. The
main problem of one pass assembler is forward referencing.

Two pass assembler

A two pass assembler does two passes over the source file (the second pass can be over a file generated
in the first pass). In the first pass all it does is looks for label definitions and introduces them in the
symbol table. In the second pass, after the symbol table is complete, it does the actual assembly by
translating the operations and similar operations.

A two‐pass assembler performs two sequential scans over the source code:
First Pass: symbols and literals are defined
Second Pass: object program is generated

First Pass
On the first pass, the assembler performs the following tasks:
•Checks to see if the instructions are legal in the current assembly mode.
•Allocates space for instructions and storage areas you request.
•Fills in the values of constants, where possible.
•Builds a symbol table, also called a cross‐reference table, and makes an entry in this table for every
symbol it encounters in the label field of a statement

Second Pass
On the second pass, the assembler:
•Examines the operands for symbolic references to storage locations and resolves these symbolic
references using information in the symbol table.
•Ensures that no instructions contain an invalid instruction form.

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•Translates source statements into machine code and constants, thus filling the allocated space with
object code.
•Produces a file containing error messages, if any have occurred.
Typical format of an assembly language instruction
Assembly language instructions have the format:
[label:] mnemonic or opcode field [operands field ] [;comment]
START : MOV AX, BX ;COPIES CONTENTS OF BX TO AX
Field inside [ ] is an optional field.
Assembly language statements are usually written in a standard form that has 4 fields. A Label is a
symbolic name for an address. If an instruction is started with a label, then it can be addressed by this
label in the program. We use a label to allow for branching, and naming memory location. They are
followed by colon.
The opcode field contains reserved symbols that correspond to instructions which contain the
mnemonics for the instruction to be performed. The instruction mnemonics are sometimes called as
operation codes. Opcodes tell the CPU the following information:
 The operation
 Number of operands
 Data type upon which it will operate
Operands are either in memory or in registers. Programmers must specify the ways in which the
instruction will find them. The different ways in specifying the location of the operands are called
addressing modes. The operand field of the statement contains the data, the memory address, the port
address or the name of the register on which the instruction is to be performed.
Comments start with semicolon. They are very important they, explain the program's purpose like when
it was written, revised, and by whom, explain data used in the program, explain instruction sequences
and algorithms used and application‐specific explanations

Assembly Language Program Development Tools

1. EDITOR:
An Editor is a Program which allows user to create (write), modify and store a group of instructions or
text under a filename containing the Assembly Language statements for your Program. The saved file
must be in ASCII format for assembler to recognize. The file is called source file. It allows user to
inputting or modifying text that is stored in mass storage device. Example: Notepad, MS DOS Edit.
2. ASSEMBLER
It translates a program written in assembly language into machine language or object code. An
Assembler Program is used to translate the assembly language mnemonics for instruction to the
corresponding binary codes.
3. LINKER
A linker is a program that combines object files to create an single “executable” file. Linking is the
process of resolving symbols between independent object files of different modules. It resolves all

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references (ie. Program contains all parts needed to run). It is used to join several files into one large
.obj file. It produces .exe file so that the program becomes executable.
4. LOCATOR
A Locator is a program used to assign the specific address of where the segment of object code is to be
loaded into memory. It usually converts .exe file to .bin file which has physical address. A Locator
program called EXE2BIN converts .exe files to .bin file.

5. DEBUGGER
A Debugger is a program which allows you to load your .obj code program into system memory, execute
program and troubleshoot or debug it. Loader is the part of debugger that loads executable files into
memory, and may initialize some registers (e.g. IP) and starts it going. Debugger loads but controls the
execution of the program to start or stop execution, to view and modify state variables. It allows us to
look at the content of registers and memory locations after we run program. It allows to set the
breakpoint.

6. EMULATOR
An Emulator is a mixture of hardware and software. It is used to test and debug the hardware and
software of an external system such as the prototype of a Microprocessor based instrument. It also
allows us to look at the content of registers and memory locations after we run program and take
snapshots. We can either use emulator or debugger to develop the program.

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Instruction Sets

The instructions of 8086 are classified into SIX groups. They are:

1. DATA TRANSFER INSTRUCTIONS

2. ARITHMETIC INSTRUCTIONS
3. BIT MANIPULATION INSTRUCTIONS
4. STRING INSTRUCTIONS
5. PROGRAM EXECUTION TRANSFER INSTRUCTIONS
6. PROCESS CONTROL INSTRUCTIONS

1.DATA TRANSFER INSTRUCTIONS

The DATA TRANSFER INSTRUCTIONS are those, which transfers the DATA from any one source to
any one destination.The datas may be of any type. They are again classified into four groups.They are:

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 GENERAL – PURPOSE BYTE OR SIMPLE INPUT AND OUTPUT SPECIAL ADDRESS FLAG TRANSFER
WORD TRANSFER INSTRUCTIONS PORT TRANSFER INSTRUCTION TRANSFER INSTRUCTION INSTRUCTIONS
MOV LEA LAHF
PUSH LDS SAHF
POP IN LES PUSHF
XCHG OUT POPF
XLAT

2.ARITHMETIC INSTRUCTIONS

These instructions are those which are useful to perform Arithmetic calculations, such as addition,
subtraction, multiplication and division.They are again classified into four groups.They are:

ADDITION INSTRUCTIONS SUBTRACTION MULTIPLICATION DIVISION INSTRUCTIONS

INSTRUCTIONS INSTRUCTIONS
ADD SUB MUL DIV
ADC SBB IMUL IDIV
INC DEC AAM AAD
AAA NEG CBW
DAA CMP CWD
AAS
DAS

3.BIT MANIPULATION INSTRUCTIONS

These instructions are used to perform Bit wise operations.

LOGICAL INSTRUCTIONS SHIFT INSTRUCTIONS ROTATE INSTRUCTIONS

NOT SHL / SAL ROL
AND SHR ROR
OR SAR RCL
XOR RCR
TEST

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 4. STRING INSTRUCTIONS

The string instructions function easily on blocks of memory.They are user friendly instructions, which help
for easy program writing and execution. They can speed up the manipulating code.They are useful in
array handling, tables and records.

STRING INSTRUCTIONS
REP
REPE / REPZ
REPNE / REPNZ
MOVS / MOVSB / MOVSW
COMPS / COMPSB / COMPSW
SCAS / SCASB / SCASW
LODS / LODSB / LODSW
STOS / STOSB / STOSW

5.PROGRAM EXECUTION TRANSFER INSTRUCTIONS

These instructions transfer the program control from one address to other address. ( Not in a sequence).
They are again classified into four groups.They are:

UNCONDITIONAL TRANSFER CONDITIONAL TRANSFER ITERATION CONTROL INTERRUPT

INSTRUCTIONS INSTRUCTIONS INSTRUCTIONS INSTRUCTIONS
CALL JA / JNBE JLE / JNG LOOP INT
RET JAE / JNB JNC LOOPE / LOOPZ INTO
JMP JB / JNAE JNE / JNZ LOOPNE / LOOPNZ IRET
JBE / JNA JNO JCXZ
JC JNP / JPO
JE / JZ JNS
JG / JNLE JO
JGE / JNL
JL / JNGE JP / JPE
JS

6.PROCESS CONTROL INSTRUCTIONS

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These instructions are used to change the process of the Microprocessor. They change the process with
the stored information. They are again classified into Two groups.They are:

FLAG SET / CLEAR INSTRUCTIONS EXTERNAL HARDWARE

SYNCHRONIZATION INSTRUCTIONS
STC HLT
CLC WAIT
CMC ESC
STD LOCK
CLD NOP
STI
CLI
1. DATA TRANSFER INSTRUCTIONS

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2. ARITHMETIC INSTRUCTIONS

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3. BIT MANIPULATION INSTRUCTIONS

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4. PROGRAM EXECUTION TRANSFER INSTRUCTIONS

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5 PROCESSOR CONTROL INSTRUCTIONS

Assembly Language Program Features

RESERVED WORDS :
A reserved word has a special meaning fixed by the language. You can use it only under certain
conditions. Reserved words in MASM include:

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Instructions, which correspond to operations the processor can execute. Ex . MOV, ADD
Directives, which give commands to the assembler. Ex . END,SEGMENT , .CODE
Attributes, which provide a value for a field, such as segment alignment. Ex. A LOD R1,54’ assigns to
label A the size of the LOD instruction (in words)
Operators, which are used in expressions. Ex. FAR,OFFSET
Predefined symbols, which return information to your program. Ex. @CODE

IDENTIFIERS
An identifier is a name that you invent and attach to a definition. Identifiers can be symbols representing
variables, constants, procedure names, code labels, segment names, and user‐defined data types such
as structures, unions, records, and types defined with TYPEDEF. Identifiers longer than 247 characters
generate an error. Certain restrictions limit the names you can use for identifiers. Follow these rules to
define a name for an identifier:
The first character of the identifier can be an alphabetic character (A‐Z) or any of these four characters:
@ _ $ ? The other characters in the identifier can be any of the characters listed above or a decimal digit
(0‐9). Avoid starting an identifier with the at sign (@)

An Identifier (or symbol) can also be defined as name that you apply to an item in your program that you
expect to reference. The two types of identifiers are NAME and LABEL.
NAME: Refers to the Address of a data item COUNTER DB 0
LABEL: Refer to the Address of an instruction, procedure, or segment.
Example: Start PROC
Next2: MOV AL, BL

PREDEFINED SYMBOLS
The assembler includes a number of predefined symbols (also called predefined equates). You can use
these symbol names at any point in your code to represent the equate value. For example, the
predefined equate @Data expands to data segment by pointing the start of the segment .The
predefined symbols for segment information include:

@code Returns the name of the current code segment. Text value
@data Returns the name of the current data segment. Text value
@FarData? Returns the name of the current far data segment. Text value
Returns two if this is a 16 bit segment, four if this is a 32 bit Numeric value
@Word-Size
segment.
@Code-Size Returns zero for Tiny, Small, Compact, and Flat models. Returns Numeric value
one for Medium, Large, and Huge models.

@DataSize Returns zero for Tiny, Small, Medium, and Flat memory models. Numeric value
Returns one for Compact and Large models. Returns two for Huge
model pro-grams.

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@Model Returns one for Tiny model, two for Small model, three for Compact Numeric value
model, four for Medium model, five for Large model, six for Huge
model, and seven for Flag model.

@CurSeg Returns the name of the current code segment. Text value
@stack The name of the current stack segment. Text value

INTEGER CONSTANTS AND CONSTANT EXPRESSIONS

An integer constant is a series of one or more numerals followed by an optional radix specifier.
For example, in these statements
mov ax, 45
mov bx, 0D3h
the numbers 45 and 0D3h are integer constants. The h appended to 0B3 is a radix specifier.
The specifiers are:
b for binary
o or q for octal
d for decimal
h for hexadecimal
Radix specifiers can be either uppercase or lowercase letters. Hexadecimal numbers must
always start with a decimal digit (0-9). For example, MASM interprets ABCh as an identifier.

Constant expressions contain integer constants and (optionally) operators such as shift, logical,
and arithmetic operators. The assembler evaluates constant expressions at assembly time. (In
addition to constants, expressions can contain labels, types, registers, and their attributes.)
Constant expressions do not change value during program execution.

STATEMENTS

An Assembly Program consists of a set of statements. Statements are the line-by-line

components of source files. The two types of statements are:

1.INSTRUCTION Instructions such as MOV & ADD which the Assembler translates to Object
Code.

2.DIRECTIVES
Directives tell the Assembler to perform a specific action, such as define a data item etc.

DIRECTIVES
The directives are commands to the assembler, directing it to perform operations other than
assembling instructions. The directives are thus executed by the assembler, not assembled by
it. They may affect all the operations of the assembler. Assembly Language supports a number
of statements that enable to control the way in which a source program assembles and lists.
These Statements are called Directives. They act only during the assembly of a program and

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generate no machine executable code. The most common Directives are PAGE, TITLE, PROC,
and END.

We will describe the following directives only .

PAGE DIRECTIVE
The PAGE Directive helps to control the format of a listing of an assembled program. It is
optional Directive. At the start of program, the PAGE Directive designates the maximum number
of lines to list on a page and the maximum number of characters on a line.
Its format is
PAGE [LENGTH], [WIDTH]
Omission of a PAGE Directive causes the assembler to set the default value to PAGE 50,80

TITLE DIRECTIVE
The TITLE Directive is used to define the title of a program to print on line 2 of each page of the
program listing. It is also optional Directive.
Its format is TITLE [TEXT]
TITLE "PROGRAM TO PRINT FACTORIAL NO"

SEGMENT DIRECTIVE
The SEGMENT Directive defines the start of a segment. A Stack Segment defines stack
storage, a data segment defines data items and a code segment provides executable code.
MASM provides simplified Segment Directive. The format (including the leading dot) for the
directives that defines the stack, data and code segment are
.STACK [SIZE]
.DATA
………………. ; Initialize Data Variables
.CODE

The Default Stack size is 1024 bytes. To use them as above, Memory Model initialization should
be carried out.

MEMORY MODEL DEFINTION

The different models tell the assembler how to use segments to provide space and ensure
optimum execution speed.
The format of Memory Model Definition is
.MODEL [MODEL NAME]
The Memory Model may be TINY, SMALL, MEDIUM, COMPACT, LARGE and HUGE

TINY :All DATA, CODE & STACK Segment must fit in one Segment of Size <=64K.
SMALL : One Code Segment of Size <=64K. One Data Segment of Size <=64 K.
MEDIUM: One Data Segment of Size <=64K. Any Number of Code Segments.
COMPACT: One Code Segment of Size < =64K. Any Number of Data Segments.
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LARGE: Any Number of Code and Data Segments.
HUGE: Any Number of Code and Data Segments.

THE PROC DIRECTIVE

The Code Segment contains the executable code for a program, which consists of one or more
procedures, defined initially with the PROC Directive and ended with the ENDP Directive. Its
Format is given as:
PROCEDURE NAME PROC
………………..
……………….
PROCEDURE NAME ENDP

ENDP DIRECTIVE
The ENDP Directive indicates the end of a procedure. It is used to” bracket a procedure”.

END DIRECTIVE
An END Directive ends the entire Program and appears as the last statement. The assembler
will ignore any statements after END . Its Format is
END [PROCEDURE NAME]

PROCESSOR DIRECTIVE
MASM supports a set of directives for selecting processors and coprocessors. Once you select
a processor, you must use only the instruction set for that processor. The default is the 8086
processor. If you always want your code to run on this processor, you do not need to add any
processor directives.To enable a different processor mode and the additional instructions
available on that processor, use the directives .186, .286, .386, and .486.Most Assemblers
assume that the source program is to run on a basic 8086 level. As a result, when you use
instructions or features introduced by later processors, you have to notify the assemblers be
means of a processor directive as .286,.386,.486 or.586 This directive may appear before the
Code Segment.

THE EQU DIRECTIVE

It is used for redefining symbolic names
EXAMPLE
NUM DB 25
DATA EQU NUM

THE .STARTUP AND .EXIT DIRECTIVE

MASM 6.0 introduced the .STARTUP and .EXIT Directive to simplify program initialization and
Termination. .STARTUP generates the instruction to initialize the Segment Registers. If you do
not use .STARTUP, you must give the starting address as an argument to the END directive.
.EXIT generates the INT 21H function 4ch instruction for exiting the Program. .EXIT generates
executable code, while END does not.
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DEFINING TYPES OF DATA
The Format of Data Definition is given as
[NAME] DV [EXPRESSION] ; DV represents various data types.

EXAMPLES

STRING DB 'kathmandu$'
NO1 DB 5
NO2 DB 78

DEFINITION DIRECTIVE
DB Used to declare BYTE type variable
DW Used to declare WORD type variable
DD Used to declare DOUBLE WORD type variable
DF Used to declare FAR WORD type variable
DQ Used to declare QUAD WORD type variable
DT Used to declare TEN BYTES type variable

Duplication of Constants in a Statement is also possible and is given by

[NAME] DV [REPEATCOUNT[ DUP (EXPRESSION)]

EXAMPLES
NUM DB 5 DUP(11) ; 5 Bytes containing hex 0b0b0b0b0b
VAL DW 10 DUP(?) ; 10 Words Uninitialized ‘?’ represents uninitialized space
VALUE DB 3 DUP(5 DUP(4)) ; 44444 44444 44444

1. CHARACTER STRINGS
Character Strings are used for descriptive data which mainly contains ASCII characters.
Consequently DB is the conventional format for defining character data of any length
Example
DB 'Management'
DB "Information"
DB "Star"

2. NUMERIC CONSTANTS

BINARY : NUM DB 10111010B

DECIMAL : DATA DB 478
HEXADECIMAL : VAL1 DB 78H

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ASSEMBLY LANGUAGE PROGRAMMING USING MASM

GENERAL PATTERN FOR WRITING ALP IN MASM

[Page Directive ]
[Title Directive ]
[Memory Model Definition]
[Segment Directive]
[Proc Directive]
……………; codes
……………;
[End Directive]

Example Format
PAGE 60,80
TITLE "Program Name"
.MODEL [MODEL NAME]
.STACK
.DATA ……………………… ; INITIALIZE DATA VARIALBLES
.CODE
MAIN PROC
……………………………
; INSTRUCTION SETS
…………………………..
MAIN ENDP
END MAIN

Sample Program

EXAMPLE 1
;Program to Print Hello World in ALP
.MODEL SMALL
.STACK
.DATA
STRING DB 'HELLO WORLD $'
.CODE
;-------------------------------------------------------------
START PROC
MOV AX,@DATA
MOV DS,AX ; Initialize the DATA Segment
MOV DX,OFFSET STRING ; Load the Offset Address into DX
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MOV AH,09H ; AH=09H For String Display until $
INT 21H ; DOS Interrupt Function
MOV AX,4C00H ; End Request with AH=4CH or AX=4C00H
INT 21H
START ENDP ; End Procedure
END MAIN ; End Program
;-------------------------------------------------------------

The first three lines of the program are comments to give the name of the file containing the
program, explain its purpose, give the name of the author and the date the program was written.
The first two directives, .model and .stack are concerned with how your program will be stored
in memory and how large a stack it requires. The third directive, .code, indicates where the
program instructions (i.e. the program code) begin. For the moment, suffice it to say that you
need to start all assembly languages programs in a particular format (not necessarily that given
above. Your program must also finish in a particular format; the end directive indicates where
your program finishes. In the middle comes the code that you write yourself. You must also
specify where your program starts, i.e. which is the first instruction to be executed. This is the
purpose of the label, start.(Note: We could use any label, e.g. begin or main in place of start).
This same label is also used by the end directive. When a program has finished, we return to
the operating system. Like carrying out an I/O operation, this is also accomplished by using the
int instruction. This time MS-DOS subprogram number 4c00h is used.It is the subprogram to
terminate a program and return to MSDOS.Hence, the instructions:
mov ax, 4c00h ; Code for return to MS-DOS
int 21H ; Terminates program
terminate a program and return you to MS-DOS.

First of all we will explanation some of Instruction Sets

AAA Instruction - AAA converts the result of the addition of two valid unpacked BCD digits to a
valid 2-digit BCD number and takes the AL register as its implicit operand.Two operands of the
addition must have its lower 4 bits contain a number in the range from 0-9.The AAA instruction
then adjust AL so that it contains a correct BCD digit. If the addition produce carry (AF=1), the
AH register is incremented and the carry CF and auxiliary carry AF flags are set to 1. If the
addition did not produce a decimal carry, CF and AF are cleared to 0 and AH is not altered. In
both cases the higher 4 bits of AL are cleared to 0.

AAA will adjust the result of the two ASCII characters that were in the range from 30h (“0”) to
39h(“9”).This is because the lower 4 bits of those character fall in the range of 0-9.The result of
addition is not a ASCII character but it is a BCD digit.
Example:
MOV AH,0 ; Clear AH for MSD
MOV AL,6 ; BCD 6 in AL
ADD AL,5 ; Add BCD 5 to digit in AL
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AAA ; AH=1, AL=1 representing BCD 11.

AAD Instruction - ADD converts unpacked BCD digits in the AH and AL register into a single
binary number in the AX register in preparation for a division operation.
Before executing AAD, place the Most significant BCD digit in the AH register and Last
significant in the AL register. When AAD is executed, the two BCD digits are combined into a
single binary number by setting AL=(AH*10)+AL and clearing AH to 0.

Example:
MOV AX,0205h ; The unpacked BCD number 25
AAD ; After AAD , AH=0 and;AL=19h (25)
After the division AL will then contain the unpacked BCD quotient and AH will contain the
unpacked BCD remainder.

Example:
;AX=0607 unpacked BCD for 67 decimal ;CH=09H
AAD ;Adjust to binary before division ;AX=0043 = 43H =67 decimal
DIV CH ;Divide AX by unpacked BCD in CH ;AL = quotient = 07 unpacked BCD ;AH =
remainder = 04 unpacked BCD

AAM Instruction - AAM converts the result of the multiplication of two valid unpacked BCD digits
into a valid 2-digit unpacked BCD number and takes AX as an implicit operand.
To give a valid result the digits that have been multiplied must be in the range of 0 – 9 and the
result should have been placed in the AX register. Because both operands of multiply are
required to be 9 or less, the result must be less than 81 and thus is completely contained in AL.
AAM unpacks the result by dividing AX by 10, placing the quotient (MSD) in AH and the
remainder (LSD) in AL.
Example:
MOV AL, 5
MOV BL, 7
MUL BL ; Multiply AL by BL , result in AX
AAM ; After AAM, AX =0305h (BCD 35)

AAS Instruction - AAS converts the result of the subtraction of two valid unpacked BCD digits to
a single valid BCD number and takes the AL register as an implicit operand. The two operands
of the subtraction must have its lower 4 bit contain number in the range from 0 to 9 .The AAS
instruction then adjust AL so that it contain a correct BCD digit.
MOV AX,0901H ; BCD 91
SUB AL, 9 ; Minus 9
AAS ; Give AX =0802 h (BCD 82)

(a)
; AL =0011 1001 =ASCII 9 ;BL=0011 0101 =ASCII 5
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SUB AL, BL ; (9 - 5) Result AL = 00000100 = BCD 04,CF = 0
AAS ;Result AL=00000100 =BCD 04 CF = 0 NO Borrow required

(b)
;AL = 0011 0101 =ASCII 5 BL = 0011 1001 = ASCII 9
SUB AL, BL ;( 5 - 9 ) Result AL = 1111 1100 = - 4 in 2’s complement
CF = 1
AAS ;Results AL = 0000 0100 =BCD 04 CF = 1 borrow needed .

Example 2

;Program to Print the Sum of Two 8 Bit Numbers

.MODEL SMALL
.STACK
.DATA
VAL1 DB 89
VAL2 DB 10
MSG DB 'SUM OF 2 NUMBERS: $'
.CODE
;-------------------------------------------------------------
MAIN PROC
MOV AX,@DATA
MOV DS, AX
MOV AX, 0
MOV AL, VAL1
ADD AL, VAL2
AAM; AAM Converts Binary Value to Unpacked BCD.
ADD AX, 3030H ;Ax is Added with 3030H to Obtain ASCII Value
PUSH AX
;;;;;;;;;;;;;DISPLAY MESSAGE
LEA DX, MSG
MOV AH, 09H
INT 21H ;;;;;;;;;;;;;END DISPLAY MESSAGE
POP AX
MOV DL, AH
MOV DH, AL
MOV AH, 02H
INT 21H
MOV DL, DH
MOV AH, 02H
INT 21H
MOV AX, 4C00H
INT 21H
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MAIN ENDP
END MAIN
;-------------------------------------------------------------
Example 3
Program to display from 0 to 9
.MODEL SMALL
.STACK
.DATA
VAL DB ‘0’
.CODE
;-------------------------------------------------------------
MAIN PROC
MOV AX,@DATA
MOV DS, AX
MOV CX,10
MOV DL,VAL
TOP:
MOV AH,02H
INT 21H ; CALL DOS INTERRUPT FOR DISPLAY
INC DL ; INCREASE DL BY 1
PUSH DX ;PUSH DX TO STACK
; ; SPACE
MOV DL,’ ‘
MOV AH,02H
INT 21H
;;;CODE FOR SPACE ENDS

POP DX ; POP CONTENT OF DX FROM STACK

DEC CX ; DECREASE CX BY 1
JZ LAST ;JUMP TO LABEL LAST IF CX=0
JMP TOP ;JUMP TO LABEL TOP

LAST:
MOV AH,4CH ; EXIT DOS INTERRUPT
INT 21H
MAIN ENDP
END MAIN

Learning any imperative programming language involves mastering a number of common

concepts:

Variables: declaration/definition
Assignment: assigning values to variables
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Input/Output: Displaying messages
Displaying variable values
Control flow: if-then
Loops
Subprograms: Definition and Usage
Programming in assembly language involves mastering the same concepts and a few other
issues.
Variables
For the moment we will skip details of variable declaration and simply use the 8086 registers as
the variables in our programs. Registers have predefined names and do not need to be
declared. We have seen that the 8086 has 14 registers. Initially, we will use four of them – the
so called the general purpose registers:
ax, bx, cx, dx
These four 16-bit registers can also be treated as eight 8-bit registers: ah, al, bh, bl, ch, cl, dh,
dl

Assignment
In C, assignment takes the form:
x = 42 ;
y = 24;
z = x + y;
In assembly language we carry out the same operaion but we use an instruction to denote the
assignment operator (“=” in C).
mov x, 42
mov y, 24
add z, x
add z, y

The mov instruction carries out assignment in 8086 assembly language.It which allows us place
a number in a register or in a memory location (a variable) i.e. it assigns a value to a register or
variable.

Example: Store the ASCII code for the letter A in register bx.
A has ASCII code 65D (01000001B, 41H)
The following mov instruction carries out the task:
mov bx, 65d
We could also write it as:
mov bx, 41h
or mov bx, 01000001b
or mov bx, ‘A’

All of the above are equivalent. They each carry out exactly the same task, namely the binary
number representing the ASCII code of A is copied into the bx register.
26 8086 Microprocessor Compiled By :Er. M Dhungana
Control Flow: Jump Instructions
Unconditional Jump Instruction
The 8086 unconditional jmp instruction causes control flow (i.e. which instruction is next
executed) to transfer to the point indicated by the label given in the jmp instruction.
Example: This example illustrates the use of the jmp instruction to implement an endless loop –
not something you would noramlly wish to do!
again:
Mov dx,06h ; read a character
Add bx,09h ; display character
jmp again ; jump to again

This is an example of a backward jump as control is transferred to an earlier place in the

program. The code fragment causes the instructions between the label again and the jmp
instruction to be repeated endlessly.

Conditional Jump Instructions

The 8086 provides a number of conditional jump instructions (e.g. je, jne, ja). These instructions
will only cause a transfer of control if some condition is satisfied. For example, when an
arithmetic operation such as add or subtract is carried out, the CPU sets or clears a flag (Z-flag)
in the status register to record if the result of the operation was zero, or another flag if the result
was negative and so on.

If the Z-flag has value 1, it means that the result of the last instruction which affected the Z-flag
was 0. If the Z-flag has value 0, it means that the result of the last instruction which affected the
Z-flag was not 0.

By testing these flags, either individually or a combination of them, the conditional jump
instructions can handle the various conditions (==, !=, <, >, <=, >=) that arise when comparing
values. In addition, there are conditional jump instructions to test for conditions such as the
occurrence of overflow or a change of sign. The conditional jump instructions are sometimes
called jump-on-condition instructions. They test the values of the flags in the status register.
(The value of the cx register is used by some of them).

One conditional jump is the jz instruction which jumps to another location in a program just like
the jmp instruction except that it only causes a jump if the Z-flag is set to 1, i.e. if the result of
the last instruction was 0. (The jz instruction may be understood as standing for ‘jump on
condition zero’ or ‘jump on zero’).
Example : Using the jz instruction.

mov ax, 2 ; ax = 2
sub ax, bx ; ax = 2 - bx
jz nextl ; jump if (ax-bx) == 0
27 8086 Microprocessor Compiled By :Er. M Dhungana
inc ax ; ax = ax + 1
nextl:
inc bx

The above is equivalent to:

ax = 2;
if ( ax != bx )
{
ax = ax + 1 ;
}
bx = bx + 1 ;

Example 4
Program to display from A to Z
.MODEL SMALL
.STACK
.DATA
VAL DB ‘A’
.CODE
;-------------------------------------------------------------
MAIN PROC
MOV AX,@DATA
MOV DS, AX
MOV CX,26
MOV DL,VAL
TOP:
MOV AH,02H
INT 21H ; CALL DOS INTERRUPT FOR DISPLAY
INC DL ; INCREASE DL BY 1
PUSH DX ;PUSH DX TO STACK
; ; SPACE
MOV DL,’ ‘
MOV AH,02H
INT 21H
;;;CODE FOR SPACE ENDS

POP DX ; POP CONTENT OF DX FROM STACK

DEC CX ; DECREASE CX BY 1
JZ LAST ;JUMP TO LABEL LAST IF CX=0
JMP TOP ;JUMP TO LABEL TOP

LAST:
MOV AH,4CH ; EXIT DOS INTERRUPT
28 8086 Microprocessor Compiled By :Er. M Dhungana
INT 21H
MAIN ENDP
END MAIN

Example 5
Program to display sum of Natural numbers (1+2+…….+10)
.MODEL SMALL
.STACK
.DATA
VAL DB 1
.CODE
;-------------------------------------------------------------
MAIN PROC
MOV AX,@DATA
MOV DS, AX
MOV CX,10
MOV DL,0

UP:
ADD DL,AL ; DL=DL+AL
INC AL ;INCREASE AL CONTENT
DEC CX ;DECREASE CX CONTENT
JZ DOWN ; JUMP TO DOWN IF CX =0
JMP UP ; UNCONDITIONAL JUMP TO UP.

DOWN:
MOV AL,DL ;FINAL SUM IS PASSED TO AL SINCE AAM WORKS WITH AX REGISTER
AAM
;;;Display the content
ADD AX,3030H
MOV DL,AH
MOV DH,AL
MOV AH,02H
INT 21H
MOV DL,DH
MOV AH,02H
INT 21H
;;;;END DISPLAY
MOV AH,4CH ; EXIT DOS INTERRUPT
INT 21H
MAIN ENDP
END MAIN
29 8086 Microprocessor Compiled By :Er. M Dhungana
Looping
There are several ways to loop, but we will discuss the easiest way to do it. You can easily loop
with LOOP instruction. This instruction uses one operand, the memory location to loop to. It also
uses the CX register as a counter. Loop simply decreases CX and checks if CX!= 0 (NOT
EQUALS TO), if so, a Jump to the specified memory location is issued. Example:

MOV CX,100
UP:
INC AX
LOOP UP

This will increase AX 100 times. There are two other types of Loops: LOOPZ / LOOPNZ
Sometimes these instruction are also called: LOOPE / LOOPNE

LOOPZ works like LOOP except that it only loops when the zero flag is set, LOOPNZ only loops
when the zero flag is NOT set. Now before I can give an example you need to know how to
compare. The CMP instruction is used for this. It compares the two operands given and
sets/clears the appropriate flags. After a CMP conditional instructions can be used to act on the
result of the compare. For example jump to a special routine when two registers have the same
value.
Example:

MOV CX,10
UP:
DEC AX
CMP AX,3
LOOPNE UP

This code might look like you'll never use it, but in some programs it can be very useful. It
decreases AX ten times, but when AX == 3 it stops. Note I used LOOPNE, but LOOPNZ is the
same. Now let's look at the CMP a little closer. In fact it does SUB AX,3 but doesn't store the
result in AX, just alters the flags. So if AX == 3 the result of the SUB will be 0 and the Zero flag
will be set. For the CPU equal is the same as zero (with conditionals) and it will always set the
zero flag when the result of a mathematical operation is zero. So if we wanted to stop when AX
== 0, there's no need to do a CMP. Just DEC AX and LOOPNZ.

30 8086 Microprocessor Compiled By :Er. M Dhungana

(Note: Don't use LOOP(N)Z, nor LOOP. These instructions are slow, and decrease
performance. Instead of LOOP you better use the combination: DEC CX / JNZ UP when
necessary )

EXAMPLE 6
Write an 8086 ALP to exchange the contents of the memory location 10400h and 10500h.
Assume the word count is stored in count register.

.MODEL SMALL
.STACK
.DATA
VAL DB 1
.CODE
;-------------------------------------------------------------
MAIN PROC
MOV AX,@DATA
MOV DS, AX
XOR AX,AX
MOV AX,1000H
XCHG DS,AX
MOV CX,100
MOV SI,0400H
MOV DI,0500H
UP: MOV AX,[SI]
XCHG [DI],AX
MOV [SI],AX
INC SI
INC SI
INC DI
INC DI
LOOP UP
END

Example 7
Program to print all ASCII character.
.MODEL SMALL
.STACK 100H
.DATA
PROMPT DB 'The 256 ASCII Characters are : $'
.CODE
MAIN PROC
MOV AX, @DATA ; initialize DS
MOV DS, AX
31 8086 Microprocessor Compiled By :Er. M Dhungana
 LEA DX, PROMPT ; load and print PROMPT
MOV AH, 9
INT 21H
MOV CX, 256 ; initialize CX
MOV AH, 2 ; set output function
MOV DL, 0 ; initialize DL with 0
REDO: ; loop label
INT 21H ; print ASCII character
INC DL ; increment DL to next ASCII character
LOOP REDO ; loop's condition

MOV AH, 4CH ; return control to DOS

INT 21H
MAIN ENDP
END MAIN

EXAMPLE 8

PROGRAM THAT TAKES INPUT STRING FROM KEYBOARD & PRINT IT in Assembly
Language

.MODEL SMALL
.STACK
.DATA
MSG DB 80
DB 0
DB 80 DUP('$')
.CODE
;-------------------------------------------------------------
MAIN PROC
MOV AX,@DATA
MOV DS, AX

MOV AH,0AH
MOV AX,OFFSET MSG
INT 21H

MOV AH,09H
MOV DX,OFFSET MSG+2
INT 21H
MOV AH,4CH
INT 21H
MAIN ENDP
32 8086 Microprocessor Compiled By :Er. M Dhungana
END MAIN

SOME COMMON DOS FUNCTIONS

Software interrupts are used by programs to request system services. A software interrupt
occurs when a program calls an interrupt routine using the INT instruction.The format of the INT
instruction is
INT interrupt_number

The 8086 treats this interrupt number in the same way as the interrupt number generated by a
hardware device. We have already seen a number of examples of this using INT 21h and INT
10h
We will first describe dos interrupt .( INT 21 H)

Function 01- Character input with echo

Action: Reads a character from the standard input device and echoes it to the standard
output device.
If no character is ready it waits until one is available.
I/O can be re-directed, but prevents detection of OEF.
On entry: AH = 01h
Returns: AL = 8 bit data input

Function 02 - Character output

Action: Outputs a character to the standard output device. I/O can be re-directed, but
prevents detection of 'disc full'.
On entry: AH = 02h
DL = 8 bit data (usually ASCII character)
Returns: Nothing

Function 09- Output character string

Action: Writes a string to the display.
On entry: AH = 09h
DS:DX = segment:offset of string
Returns: Nothing
Notes: The string must be terminated by the $ character (24h), which is not transmitted. Any
ASCII codes can be embedded within the string.

Function 0Ah - Buffered input

Action: Reads a string from the current input device up to and including an ASCII
carriage return (0Dh), placing the received data in a user-defined buffer Input can be re
directed, but this prevents detection of EOF
On entry: AH = 0Ah
DS:DX = segment:offset of string buffer
33 8086 Microprocessor Compiled By :Er. M Dhungana
Returns: Nothing
Notes: The first byte of the buffer specifies the maximum number of characters it can
hold (1 to 255). This value must be supplied by the user. The second byte of the buffer is set by
DOS to the number of characters actually read, excluding the terminating RETURN. If the buffer
fills to one less than its maximum size the bell is sounded and subsequent input is ignored.

Function 4Ch - Terminate program with return code

Action: Terminates execution of a program with return to COMMAND.COM or a calling
routine, passing back a return code. Allocated memory is freed, vectors for interrupts 22h to 24h
are restored from the PSP and all file buffers are flushed to media. All files are closed and
directories are updated.
On entry: AH = 4Ch
AL = Return code (Error level)
Returns: Nothing
Notes: This is the approved method of terminating program execution. It is the only way that
does not rely on the contents of any segment register and is thus the simplest exit, particularly
for EXE files.

BIOS Interrupt ( INT 10h)

This corresponds to the BIOS interrupt call for video services. Such services include setting the
video mode, character and string output, and graphics primitives (reading and writing pixels in
graphics mode). To use this call, load AH with the subfunction you want to use, load other
parameters in the other registers, and make the call. INT 10h is fairly slow, so many programs
bypass this BIOS routine and access the display hardware directly. Setting the video mode,
which is done infrequently, can be accomplished by using the BIOS, while drawing graphics on
the screen in a game needs to be done quickly, so direct access to video RAM is more
appropriate than making a BIOS call for every pixel.

BIOS Video Functions (Partial List)

Input Output
AH Description
Parameters Parameters
0 al=mode Sets the video display mode.
ch- Starting
Sets the shape of the cursor. Line values are in the range
line.
1 0..15. You can make the cursor disappear by loading ch
with 20h.
cl- ending line

34 8086 Microprocessor Compiled By :Er. M Dhungana

 bh- page
Position cursor to location (x,y) on the screen. Generally
2 dh- y coordinate you would specify page zero. BIOS maintains a separate
cursor for each page.
dl- x coordinate
ch- starting
line

cl- ending
line
3 bh- page Get cursor position and shape.
dl- x
coordinate

dh- y
coordinate
4 Obsolete (Get Light Pen Position).
Set display page. Switches the text display page to the
al- display
5 specified page number. Page zero is the standard text page.
page
Most color adapters support up to eight text pages (0..7).
al- Number of
lines to scroll.

bh- Screen
attribute for
cleared area.
Clear or scroll up. If al contains zero, this function clears
cl- x coordinate the rectangular portion of the screen specified by cl/ch (the
UL upper left hand corner) and dl/dh (the lower right hand
6
corner). If al contains any other value, this service will
ch- y coordinate scroll that rectangular window up the number of lines
UL specified in al.

dl- x coordinate
LR

dh- y coordinate
LR
al- Number of Clear or scroll down. If al contains zero, this function
lines to scroll. clears the rectangular portion of the screen specified by
7
cl/ch (the upper left hand corner) and dl/dh (the lower
bh- Screen right hand corner). If al contains any other value, this

35 8086 Microprocessor Compiled By :Er. M Dhungana

 attribute for service will scroll that rectangular window down the
cleared area. number of lines specified in al.

cl- x coordinate
UL

ch- y coordinate
UL

dl- x coordinate
LR

dh- y coordinate
LR
al- char
read
bh- display Read character's ASCII code and attribute byte from current
8
page screen position.
ah- char
attribute
al- character

bh- page
This call writes cx copies of the character and attribute in
9 bl- attribute al/bl starting at the current cursor position on the screen. It
does not change the cursor's position.
cx- # of times
to replicate
character
al- character
Writes character in al to the current screen position using
0Ah
the existing attribute. Does not change cursor position.
bh- page
bh- 0
0Bh Sets the border color for the text display.
bl- color
al- character
Write a character to the screen. Uses existing attribute and
0Eh
repositions cursor after write.
bh- page
ah- #
columns
0Fh Get video mode
al- display
mode

36 8086 Microprocessor Compiled By :Er. M Dhungana

 bh- page

37 8086 Microprocessor Compiled By :Er. M Dhungana