This hands-on guide helps develop programming skills on the 8086-based microcomputers. Introduces readers to assembly language programming through a comprehensive set of input/output procedures and useful subroutines for the most popular 8086-based operating systems. Covering fundamental data types, segmentation, assembler operation and modular programming, these routines let users apply assembly language “shortcuts” and programming techniques to specific applications. Offers a brief outline of the design of the l6-bit microprocessor and the architecture of the 8086 including the 80286 family of chips, presents the essentials on binary and hexadecimal numbers and shows how to write and execute a program.
There are three main reasons for writing this book. While several assembly language books are on the market, almost all of them cover only the 8086 processor-a 16-bit processor Intel introduced in 1979. A modem computer organization or assembly language course requires treatment of a more recent processor like the Pentium, which is a 32-bit processor in the Intel family. This is one of the main motivations for writing this book. There are two other equally valid reasons. The book approaches assembly language programming from the high-level language viewpoint. As a result, it focuses on the assembly language features that are required to efficiently implement high-level language constructs. Performance is another reason why people program in assembly language. This is particularly true with real-time application programming. Our treatment of assembly language programming is oriented toward performance optimiza tion. Every chapter ends with a performance section that discusses the impact of specific sets of assembly language statements on the performance of the whole program. Put another way, this book focuses on performance-oriented assembly language programming. Intended Use This book is intended as an introduction to assembly language programming using the Intel 80X86 family of processors. We have selected the assembly language of the Intel 80X86 processors (including the Pentium processor) be cause of the widespread availability of PCs and assemblers. Both Microsoft and Borland provide assemblers for the PCs.
