Assemblers & Role of Assembler

Source Object
Assembler
Program Code

1
 Introduction to Assemblers

Fundamental functions of SIC Assembler
 Convert mnemonic operation codes to their
machine language equivalents
ex: STL to 14
 Convert symbolic operands to their equivalent
machine addresses
ex: RETADR to 1033
 Build the machine instructions in the proper
format.
 Write the object program.

2
 Assembler Directives

Pseudo-Instructions
 Not translated into machine equivalents
 Providing information to the assembler


Basic assembler directives
 START : Specify starting address for the program.
 END : Indicate the end of the source program and specify the
first executable instruction in the program.
 BYTE : Reserve BYTE of memory.
 WORD :Reserve one-word integer constant.
 RESB : Reserve the indicated number of bytes for a data
area.
 RESW : Reserve the indicated number of words for a data
area.
3
 Difficulties: Forward Reference

Forward reference: reference to a label that is
defined later in the program.

Loc Label Operator Operand

1000 FIRST STL RETADR

1003 CLOOP JSUB RDREC
… … … … …
1012 J CLOOP
… … … … …
1033 RETADR RESW 1

4
 Two Pass Assembler

Pass 1
 Assign addresses to all statements in the program
 Save the addresses assigned to all symbolic operands(labels) for
use in Pass 2
 Build the SYMTAB(Symbol Table)
 validates the mnemonic operation codes


Pass 2
 Assemble instructions
 Translating operation codes and symbols
 Actual translation will be done in pass-2
 Write the object program and the assembly listing

5
 Two Pass Assembler
Working procedure of Two pass assembler

Source
program

Intermediate Object
Pass 1 Pass 2
file codes

OPTAB SYMTAB OPTAB SYMTAB

6
 Data Structures: OPTAB (operation code
table)

Content
 Mnemonic operation code, machine equivalent number

Characteristic
 static table

Implementation
 array or hash table, easy for search

Mnemonic machine
operation code equivalent
number
STL 14
JSUB 48
.
.
.
7
 SYMTAB (symbol table)

Content
 symbol(label) name, value(address).

Characteristic
 dynamic table COPY 1000
FIRST 1000

Implementation CLOOP 1003
 hash table ENDFIL 1015
EOF 1024
THREE 102D
ZERO 1030
RETADR 1033
LENGTH 1036
BUFFER 1039
RDREC 2039

8
 Object Program

Header
Col. 1 H
Col. 2-7 Program name
Col. 8-13 Starting address
Col.14-19 Length of object program in bytes

Text
Col. 1 T
Col. 2-7 Starting address in this record
Col. 8-9 Length of object code in this record in bytes
Col.10-69 Object code

End
Col. 1 E
Col. 2-7 Address of first executable instruction

9
 Object program format :
H COPY 001000 00107A
T 001000 1E 141033 482039 001036 281030 301015 482061 ...
T 00101E 15 0C1036 482061 081044 4C0000 454F46 000003 000000
T 002039 1E 041030 001030 E0205D 30203F D8205D 281030 …
T 002057 1C 101036 4C0000 F1 001000 041030 E02079 302064 …
T 002073 07 382064 4C0000 05
E 001000

10
 Assembler Design

Machine Dependent Assembler Features
 instruction formats and addressing modes
 program relocation

Machine Independent Assembler Features
 literals
 symbol-defining statements(EQU)
 expressions
 program blocks
 control sections and program linking

11
 Instruction Format and Addressing Mode

SIC/XE(General formats for addressing modes)
 PC-relative or Base-relative addressing: opcode m
 Indirect addressing: opcode @m
 Immediate addressing: opcode
#m
 Extended format: +opcode m
 Index addressing: opcode m , x
 register-to-register instructions opcode r1,r2

m is operand
x is index register
r1,r2 are two registers
12
 Translation

Register translation
 register name (A, X, L, B, S, T, F, PC, SW) and their
values (0,1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9)
 preloaded in SYMTAB

Address translation
 Most instructions use program counter relative or base
relative addressing
 Format 3: 12-bit address field
 Format 4: 20-bit address field

13
 PC-Relative Addressing Modes


PC-relative
 10 0000 FIRST STL RETADR 17202D

op(6) n I xbp e disp(12)

(14)16 110010 (02D) 16
 displacement= RETADR - PC = 30-3 = 2D
 40 0017 J CLOOP 3F2FEC

op(6) n I xbp e disp(12)

(3C)16 110010 (FEC) 16
 displacement= CLOOP-PC= 6 - 1A= -14= FEC

14
 Base-Relative Addressing Modes

Base-relative
 base register is under the control of the programmer
 12 LDB #LENGTH
 13 BASE LENGTH
 160 104E STCH BUFFER, X 57C003

( 54 )op(6)
16 1 1 1n 1I 0x0b p (e003 ) 16 disp(12)
(54) 111010 0036-1051= -101B16
 displacement= BUFFER - B = 0036 - 0033 = 3
 NOBASE is used to inform the assembler that the contents of the
base register no longer be relied upon for addressing

15
 Immediate Address Translation


Immediate addressing
 55 0020 LDA #3 010003
op(6) n I xbp e disp(12)
( 00 )16 0 1 0 0 0 0 ( 003 ) 16

 133 103C +LDT #4096 75101000

op(6) n I xbp e disp(20)
( 74 )16 010001 ( 01000 ) 16

16
 Immediate Address Translation (Cont.)


Immediate addressing
 12 0003 LDB #LENGTH 69202D
op(6) n I xbp e disp(12)
( 68)16 010010 ( 02D ) 16
( 68)16 010000 ( 033)16 690033
 the immediate operand is the symbol LENGTH
 the address of this symbol LENGTH is loaded into register
B
 LENGTH=0033=PC+displacement=0006+02D
 if immediate mode is specified, the target address
becomes the operand

17
 Indirect Address Translation

Indirect addressing
 target addressing is computed as usual (PC-
relative or BASE-relative)
 only the n bit is set to 1
 70 002A J @RETADR 3E2003

op(6) n I xbp e disp(12)

( 3C )16 100010 ( 003 ) 16

 TA=RETADR=0030
 TA=(PC)+disp=002D+0003

18
 Program Relocation

19
 Example

20
 Relocatable Program


Modification record
 Col 1 M
 Col 2-7 Starting location of the address field to be
modified
 Col 8-9 length of the address field to be modified, in half-
bytes

21
 Object Code

22
Machine-Independent Assembler
Features
Literals
Symbol Defining Statement
Expressions
Program Blocks
Control Sections and Program
Linking

23
 Literals

Design idea
 Let programmers to be able to write the value
of a constant operand as a part of the
instruction that uses it.
 This avoids having to define the constant
elsewhere in the program and make up a label
for it.

Example

 001A ENDFILLDA =C’EOF’ 032010

 LTORG

24
 Literals vs. Immediate Operands

Immediate Operands
 The operand value is assembled as part of the
machine instruction
 e.g. 55 0020 LDA #3 010003

Literals
 The assembler generates the specified value
as a constant at some other memory location
 e.g. 45 001A ENDFILLDA =C’EOF’ 032010

Compare (Fig. 2.6)
 e.g. 45 001A ENDFIL LDA EOF 032010
 80 002D EOF BYTE C’EOF’454F46
25
 Literal - Implementation (1/3)

Literal pools
 In some cases, it is desirable to place literals
into a pool at some other location in the object
program
 assembler directive LTORG
 reason: keep the literal operand close to the
instruction

26
 Literal - Implementation (2/3)

Duplicate literals
 e.g. 215 1062 WLOOP TD =X’05’
 e.g. 230 106B WD =X’05’
 The assemblers should recognize duplicate
literals and store only one copy of the specified
data value
 Comparison of the defining expression
• Same literal name with different value, e.g.
LOCCTR=*
 Comparison of the generated data value
• The benefits of using generate data value are usually
not great enough to justify the additional complexity in
the assembler

27
 Data structures : LITTAB & Two Pass

LITTAB
 literal name, the operand value

Pass 1
 build LITTAB with literal name, operand value
 when LTORG statement is encountered, assign an address to
each literal not yet assigned an address

Pass 2
 search LITTAB for each literal operand encountered
 generate data values using BYTE or WORD statements
 generate modification record for literals that represent an
address in the program

28
 Symbol-Defining Statements

Labels on instructions or data areas
 the value of such a label is the address
assigned to the statement

Defining symbols
 symbol EQU value
 value can be:  constant,  other symbol, 
expression
 making the source program easier to
understand
 no forward reference

29
 Symbol-Defining Statements

Example 1
 MAXLEN EQU 4096
 +LDT #MAXLEN +LDT
#4096

Example 2
 BASE EQU R1
 COUNT EQU R2
 INDEX EQU R3

Example 3
 MAXLEN EQU BUFEND-BUFFER

30
 ORG (origin)

Indirectly assign values to symbols

Reset the location counter to the specified value
 ORG value

Value can be:  constant,  other symbol, 
expression

No forward reference

Example
 SYMBOL: 6bytes
 VALUE: 1word SYMBOL VALUE FLAGS
STAB
 FLAGS: 2bytes (100 entries)
 LDA VALUE, X
. . .
. . .
. . .
31
 ORG Example

Using EQU statements
 STAB RESB 1100
 SYMBOL EQU STAB
 VALUE EQU STAB+6
 FLAG EQU STAB+9

Using ORG statements
 STAB RESB 1100
 ORG STAB
 SYMBOL RESB 6
 VALUE RESW 1
 FLAGS RESB 2
 ORG STAB+1100

32
 Expressions

Expressions can be classified as absolute
expressions or relative expressions
 MAXLEN EQU BUFEND-BUFFER
 BUFEND and BUFFER both are relative terms,
representing addresses within the program
 However the expression BUFEND-BUFFER represents
an absolute value

When relative terms are paired with opposite
signs, the dependency on the program starting
address is canceled out; the result is an absolute
value

33
 SYMTAB

None of the relative terms may enter into a
multiplication or division operation

Errors:
 BUFEND+BUFFER
 100-BUFFER
 3*BUFFER

The type of an expression
 keep track of the types of all symbols defined in
the program Symbol Type Value
RETADR R 30
BUFFER R 36
BUFEND R 1036
MAXLEN A 1000
34
 Example 2.9
Name Value
SYMTAB COPY 0 LITTAB
FIRST 0 C'EOF' 454F46 3 002D
CLOOP 6 X'05' 05 1 1076
ENDFIL 1A
RETADR 30
LENGTH 33
BUFFER 36
BUFEND 1036
MAXLEN 1000
RDREC 1036
RLOOP 1040
EXIT 1056
INPUT 105C
WREC 105D
WLOOP 1062
35
 Program Blocks

Program blocks
 refer to segments of code that are rearranged
within a single object program unit
 USE [block name]
 At the beginning, statements are assumed to
be part of the unnamed (default) block
 If no USE statements are included, the entire
program belongs to this single block
 Each program block may actually contain
several separate segments of the source
program

36
 Program Blocks - Implementation

Pass 1
 each program block has a separate location counter
 each label is assigned an address that is relative to the
start of the block that contains it
 at the end of Pass 1, the latest value of the location
counter for each block indicates the length of that block
 the assembler can then assign to each block a starting
address in the object program

Pass 2
 The address of each symbol can be computed by
adding the assigned block starting address and the
relative address of the symbol to that block

37
 
Block Table

Block name Block number Address Length

(default) 0 0000 0066
CDATA 1 0066 000B
CBLKS 2 0071 1000


Example
 20 0006 0 LDA LENGTH 032060

LENGTH=(Block 1)+0003= 0066+0003= 0069

38
 Control Sections and Program Linking

 Format : Name_of_control_section CSECT

 Control sections are most often used for subroutines or other
logical subdivisions of a program.
 Control section is a part of the program that maintains its
identity after assembly.
 the programmer can assemble, load, and manipulate each of
these control sections separately.
 instruction in one control section may need to refer to
instructions or data located in another section.
 because of this, there should be some means for linking
control sections together.
 Control sections differ from program blocks in that they are
handled separately by the assembler.
 After assembly, individual object program will be generated
for individual control section.
39
 External Definition and References


External definition
 EXTDEF names symbols that are defined in this
control section and may be used by other sections

External reference
 EXTREF names symbols that are used in this
control section and are defined elsewhere

40
 
Define record
 Col. 1 D
 Col. 2-7 Name of external symbol defined in this control
section
 Col. 8-13 Relative address
 Col.14-73 Repeat information in Col. 2-13 for other external symbols

Refer record
 Col. 1 R
 Col. 2-7 Name of external symbol referred to in this control
section
 Col. 8-73 Name of other external reference symbols

41
 Modification Record

Modification record(Revised)
 Col. 1 M
 Col. 2-7 Starting address of the field to be modified
 Col. 8-9 Length of the field to be modified, in half-bytes
 Col. 10 Modification flag ( + )
 Col.11-16 External symbol whose value is to be added to the
indicated field


Example

 M00000405+RDREC
 M00000705+COPY

42
 One-Pass Assemblers
Source Program

One Pass Object

codes

OPTAB SYMTAB


one-pass also avoids the over head of an additional pass over the source
program.

When external working-storage devices are not available or too slow ,that time
one pass assembler is useful because it does not requires intermediate file.

Two types of one-pass assembler
 load-and-go
 produces object code directly in memory for immediate execution

 the other
 produces usual kind of object code for later execution

43
 Load-and-go Assembler

Characteristics
 Useful for program development and testing
 Avoids the overhead of writing the object
program out and reading it back
 No object program is written out.
 No loader is needed.
 No intermediate file is needed.

44
 Algorithm : One-pass Assembler

For any symbol that has not yet been
defined
1. omit the address translation
2. insert the symbol into SYMTAB, and mark this
symbol undefined
3. the address that refers to the undefined
symbol is added to a list of forward references
associated with the symbol table entry
4. when the definition for a symbol is
encountered, the proper address for the
symbol is then inserted into any instructions
previous generated according to the forward
reference list

45