Assembly Language for Intel-Based

Computers, 4th Edition

Kip R. Irvine

Chapter 5: Procedures
Lecture 18 Linking to External Library
The Book’s Link Library
Stack Operations

Slides prepared by Kip R. Irvine

Revision date: 08/22/2002
Modified by Dr. Nikolay Metodiev Sirakov

•October
Chapter 25, 2009 (Web)
corrections Assembly language sources (Web)

(c) Pearson Education, 2002. All rights reserved. You may modify and copy this slide show for your personal use, or
for use in the classroom, as long as this copyright statement, the author's name, and the title are not changed.
 The Book's Link Library

• Link Library Overview

• Calling a Library Procedure
• Linking to a Library
• Library Procedures – Overview
• Six Examples

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Web site Examples 2
 Link Library Overview
• A file containing procedures that have been compiled
into machine code
• constructed from one or more OBJ files
• To build a library, . . .
• start with one or more ASM source files
• assemble each into an OBJ file
• create an empty library file (extension .LIB)
• add the OBJ file(s) to the library file, using the
Microsoft LIB utility

Take a quick look at Irvine32.asm by clicking on Examples at the bottom

of this screen.

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Web site Examples 3
 Calling a Library Procedure
• Call a library procedure using the CALL instruction. Some
procedures require input arguments. The INCLUDE directive
copies in the procedure prototypes (declarations).
• The following example displays "1234" on the console:

INCLUDE Irvine32.inc
.code
mov eax,1234h ; input argument
call WriteHex ; show hex number
call Crlf ; end of line

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Web site Examples 4
 Linking to a Library
• Your programs link to Irvine32.lib using the linker command
inside a batch file named make32.bat.
• Notice the two LIB files: Irvine32.lib, and kernel32.lib
• the latter is part of the Microsoft Win32 Software
Devlopment Kit

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Web site Examples 5
 Library Procedures - Overview (1 of 3)
Clrscr - Clears the console and locates the cursor at the upper left
corner.
Crlf - Writes an end of line sequence to standard output.
Delay - Pauses the program execution for a specified n
millisecond interval.
DumpMem - Writes a block of memory to standard output in
hexadecimal.
DumpRegs - Displays the EAX, EBX, ECX, EDX, ESI, EDI, EBP,
ESP, EFLAGS, and EIP registers in hexadecimal. Also displays
the Carry, Sign, Zero, and Overflow flags.
GetCommandtail - Copies the program’s command-line
arguments (called the command tail) into an array of bytes.
GetMseconds - Returns the number of milliseconds that have
elapsed since midnight.

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 Library Procedures - Overview (2 of 3)
Gotoxy - Locates cursor at row and column on the console.
Random32 - Generates a 32-bit pseudorandom integer in the
range 0 to FFFFFFFFh.
Randomize - Seeds the random number generator.
RandomRange - Generates a pseudorandom integer within a
specified range.
ReadChar - Reads a single character from standard input.
ReadHex - Reads a 32-bit hexadecimal integer from standard
input, terminated by the Enter key.
ReadInt - Reads a 32-bit signed decimal integer from standard
input, terminated by the Enter key.
ReadString - Reads a string from standard input, terminated by
the Enter key.

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 Library Procedures - Overview (3 of 3)
SetTextColor - Sets the foreground and background colors of all
subsequent text output to the console.
WaitMsg - Displays message, waits for Enter key to be pressed.
WriteBin - Writes an unsigned 32-bit integer to standard output in
ASCII binary format.
WriteChar - Writes a single character to standard output.
WriteDec - Writes an unsigned 32-bit integer to standard output in
decimal format.
WriteHex - Writes an unsigned 32-bit integer to standard output in
hexadecimal format.
WriteInt - Writes a signed 32-bit integer to standard output in
decimal format.
WriteString - Writes a null-terminated string to standard output.

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Web site Examples 8
 Example 1
Clear the screen, delay the program for 500 milliseconds, and
dump the registers and flags.

.code
call Clrscr
mov eax,500
call Delay
call DumpRegs

Sample output:
EAX=00000613 EBX=00000000 ECX=000000FF EDX=00000000
ESI=00000000 EDI=00000100 EBP=0000091E ESP=000000F6
EIP=00401026 EFL=00000286 CF=0 SF=1 ZF=0 OF=0

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Web site Examples 9
 Example 2
Display a null-terminated string and move the cursor to the
beginning of the next screen line.

.data
str1 BYTE "Assembly language is easy!",0

.code
mov edx,OFFSET str1
call WriteString
call Crlf

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Web site Examples 10
 Example 3
Display the same unsigned integer in binary, decimal, and
hexadecimal. Each number is displayed on a separate line.

IntVal = 35 ; constant
.code
mov eax,IntVal
call WriteBin ; display binary
call Crlf
call WriteDec ; display decimal
call Crlf
call WriteHex ; display hexadecimal
call Crlf

Sample output:
0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0010 0011
35
23

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Web site Examples 11
 Example 4
Input a string from the user. EDX points to the memory area
where the string will be stored and ECX specifies the maximum
number of characters the user is permitted to enter +1.

.data
fileName BYTE 80 DUP(0)

.code
mov edx,OFFSET fileName
mov ecx,SIZEOF fileName
call ReadString

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Web site Examples 12
 Example 5
Generate and display ten pseudorandom signed integers in the
range 0 – 99. Each integer is passed to WriteInt in EAX and
displayed on a separate line.

.code
mov ecx,10 ; loop counter

L1: mov eax,100 ; ceiling value

call RandomRange ; generate random int
call WriteInt ; display signed int
call Crlf ; goto next display line
loop L1 ; repeat loop

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Web site Examples 13
 Example 6
Display a null-terminated string with yellow characters on a blue
background.

.data
str1 BYTE "Color output is easy!",0

.code
mov eax,yellow + (blue * 16)
call SetTextColor
mov edx,OFFSET str1
call WriteString
call Crlf

The background color must be multiplied by 16 before you add it to

the foreground color.

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Web site Examples 14
 Stack Operations

• Runtime Stack
• PUSH Operation
• POP Operation
• PUSH and POP Instructions
• Using PUSH and POP
• Example: Reversing a String
• Related Instructions

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 Runtime Stack
• Managed by the CPU, using two registers
• SS (stack segment)
• ESP (stack pointer) *

* SP in Real-address mode
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Web site Examples 16
 PUSH Operation (1 of 2)
• A 32-bit push operation decrements the stack pointer
by 4 and copies a value into the location pointed to
by the stack pointer.

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 PUSH Operation (2 of 2)
• This is the same stack, after pushing two more integers:

The stack grows downward. The area below ESP is always

available (unless the stack has overflowed).

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Web site Examples 18
 POP Operation
• Copies value at stack[ESP] into a register or variable.
• Adds n to ESP, where n is either 2 or 4.
• depends on the attribute of the operand receiving the
data

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Web site Examples 19
 PUSH and POP Instructions

• PUSH syntax:
• PUSH r/m16
• PUSH r/m32
• PUSH imm32
• POP syntax:
• POP r/m16
• POP r/m32

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Web site Examples 20
 Using PUSH and POP
Save and restore registers when they contain important values.
Note that the PUSH and POP instructions are in the opposite
order:

push esi ; push registers

push ecx
push ebx

mov esi,OFFSET dwordVal ; starting OFFSET

mov ecx,LENGTHOF dwordVal ; number of units
mov ebx,TYPE dwordVal ; size of a doubleword
call DumpMem ; display memory

pop ebx ; opposite order

pop ecx
pop esi

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Web site Examples 21
 Example: Nested Loop
Remember the nested loop we created on page 129? It's easy
to push the outer loop counter before entering the inner loop:

mov ecx,100 ; set outer loop count

L1: ; begin the outer loop
push ecx ; save outer loop count

mov ecx,20 ; set inner loop count

L2: ; begin the inner loop
;
;
loop L2 ; repeat the inner loop

pop ecx ; restore outer loop count

loop L1 ; repeat the outer loop

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Web site Examples 22
 Example: Reversing a String

• Use a loop with indexed addressing

• Push each character on the stack
• Start at the beginning of the string, pop the stack in reverse order,
insert each character into the string
• Source code

• Q: Why must each character be put in EAX before it is pushed?

Because only word (16-bit) or doubleword (32-bit) values

can be pushed on the stack.

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Web site Examples 23
 Your turn . . .

• Using the String Reverse program as a starting

point,
• #1: Modify the program so the user can input a string of up to
50 characters.
• #2: Modify the program so it inputs a list of 32-bit integers
from the user, and then displays the integers in reverse
order.

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Web site Examples 24
 Related Instructions

• PUSHFD and POPFD

• push and pop the EFLAGS register
• PUSHAD pushes the 32-bit general-purpose
registers on the stack
• order: EAX, ECX, EDX, EBX, ESP, EBP, ESI, EDI
• POPAD pops the same registers off the stack in
reverse order
• PUSHA and POPA do the same for 16-bit registers

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Web site Examples 25
 Your Turn . . .

• Write a program that does the following:

• Assigns integer values to EAX, EBX, ECX, EDX, ESI,
and EDI
• Uses PUSHAD to push the general-purpose registers
on the stack
• Using a loop, the program pops each integer from the
stack and displays it on the screen

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Web site Examples 26