CS 301 Course Notes

Assembly Language Programming

M. Roth

• Assembly Language Concepts
  • Translation to Machine Language
  • MIPS RISC Language Abstractions
  • CPU Architecture
  • Instruction Cycle
• SAL & SPIM
  • Bits, Bytes, Words
  • Variable Declarations
  • SAL Directives
  • Arithmetic Instructions
  • Example: Average Integers
  • MIPS Memory Layout
  • Branch Instructions
  • Programming IFs
  • Programming Loops
  • Example: Base to Nth Power
  • SAL I/O
  • Example: Hello World
• Number Systems
  • Decimal (Base 10) Notation
  • Binary (Base 2) Notation
  • Octal (Base 8) Notation
  • Hexadecimal (Base 16) Notation
  • Number Table
  • Decimal to Binary Conversion
  • Fractions
  • Conversion of Fractions
  • Approximate Values
  • Scientific Notation
• Data Representation
  • Integers
    • Sign-Magnitude
    • One's Complement
    • Two's Complement
    • Biased Representation
    • Table of Integer Representations
    • Sign Extension
  • Characters
    • Example: Character to Numeric Conversion
  • Floating Point
    • Decimal to Floating Point Conversion
    • IEEE Floating Point Standard
• Arithmetic and Logical Operations
  • Logical Operations
  • Shift Operations
  • Addition and Subtraction
  • Multiplication
  • Division
• Floating Point Arithmetic
  • FLOPS
  • Addition and Subtraction
  • Multiplication
  • Division
  • Rounding Errors
• Data Structures
  • Types vs. Structures
  • Memory Array
  • Byte Arrays
  • Example: Get String
  • Integer and Float Arrays
  • Example: Bubble Sort
  • 2D Arrays
  • Stacks
• Registers and MAL
  • SAL vs. MAL
  • Registers
  • Load/Store Instructions
  • Address Modes
  • Arithmetic and Logical Instructions
  • Shift Instructions
  • Branch Instructions
  • MAL I/O
  • Floating Point Instructions
• Procedures
  • The Role of Procedures
  • Procedure Linkage
  • Parameter Passing
  • Nested Procedures
  • Example: Procedure to Print an Integer
  • Passing Parameters on the Stack
  • Functions
  • Saving Registers
  • Recursion
  • Stack Frame
  • Summary
• TAL
  • MAL vs. TAL
  • Arithmetic and Logical Instructions
  • Branch Instructions
  • Load/Store Instructions
  • I/O Instructions
  • Example: MAL/TAL Differences
  • Machine Code Format
  • Example: Sum of Squares
  • Program Relocation
• Ultrix Compilation and Assembly
  • C Compiler
  • Assembler
  • Debugger
    • dbx Help
    • Example: dbx
• Ultrix System Procedures
  • intro(2)
  • read(2)
  • write(2)
  • Example: C I/O
  • Example: MAL I/O
  • syscall Definitions
  • Example: syscall I/O
• Pipelining and Optimization
  • Pipeline Execution
  • Dependencies
  • Delayed Branch
  • Code Optimization
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