Lab 08: Defining and Using Procedures

OBJECTIVE
To learn how to make procedures and perform procedure calls.
Procedures also known as subroutines or functions is a named block of
statements that ends in a ‘return’ statement. ‘Procedures’ allow large problems
to be divided into smaller parts that can be called more than once. This will
make the program more manageable. A procedure in Assembly is equivalent
to a Java or C++ function. CPU uses the runtime stack to track the location of
procedures. Main proc is the main procedure that ends with main endp.
Defining a Procedure using PROC directive:
A ‘Procedure’ is declared using the PROC and ENDP directives. A procedure
must be assigned a name (a valid identifier). When you create a procedure, end
it with a RET (return) instruction. RET forces the CPU to return to the location
from where the procedure was called. Following is the example of a procedure
named ‘Sample’.

Labels in Procedures:
By default, labels for JMP and LOOP instructions are visible only within the
procedure in which they are declared. For example the label named destination
must be located in the same procedure as the JMP instruction: JMP destination
Because procedures have an automated way of returning and adjusting the
1
runtime stack. So it is not a good idea to jump or loop outside the current
procedure. Otherwise the runtime stack can easily become corrupted.
What do Procedures take and return?
Each procedure has a list of input parameters e.g. from registers or memory.
Each procedure returns a value stored in a register specified by the procedure.
A procedure may have a list of any special requirements called pre-conditions,
that must be satisfied before the procedure is called e.g. passing values.
Example: Sum of three integers procedure.
Comments: The procedure named SumOf calculates the sum of three 16-bit
integers. We will assume that relevant integers are assigned to AX, BX and
CX before the procedure is called. The procedure returns the sum in AX:
SumOf PROC
Add ax, bx
Add ax,cx
Ret
SumOf ENDP
CALL and RET Instructions:
The CALL instruction calls a procedure and does the following:
• It pushes offset of next instruction (return address) on the stack.
• Copies the address of the called procedure into IP (instruction pointer).
The RET instruction returns from a procedure and:
• Pops top of the stack (return address) into IP.
Passing Register Arguments to Procedures:
A good procedure might be useful in many different programs. But it could
only be used only once if it refers to specific variable names.

2
Passing arguments (input parameters) can make a procedure flexible, because
parameter values can change at runtime.
Place all ‘parameters’ in a main accessible storage area, then call the procedure
Two common methods of ‘parameter passing’ are:
• General Purpose Registers (AX, BX, CX, DX).
• Stack (memory) method.
Code-01: Calling the SumOf three integers procedure.
.model small
.stack 100h
.data
theSum dw ?
.code
Main Proc
Mov ax,1000h ; argument
Mov bx,2000h ; argument
Mov cx,3000h ; argument
Call SumOf ; AX = AX + BX + CX
Mov theSum,ax
Main endp
SumOf PROC
Add ax, bx
Add ax,cx
Ret
SumOf ENDP
Code-02: A procedure to generate a new line.
.model small
.stack 100h
.data

3
 .code
Main proc
Mov ah,2
Mov dl,’A’
Int 21h
Call NewLine
Mov ah,2
Mov dl,’B’
Int 21h
Mov ah,4ch ; terminate program
Int 21h
Main endp
NewLine proc
Mov ah,2
Mov dl,0dh
Int 21h
Mov dl,0ah
Int 21h
Ret
NewLine endp
Code-03: A procedure to display the two-digit product of two integers.
.model small
.stack 100h
.data
.code
Main proc
Mov al,8
Mov bl,2
Mul bl ; AX = AL * BL = 8 * 2 = 16
Call Display

4
 Mov ah,4ch
Int 21h
Main endp
Display proc
Mov cl,10
Div cl
Mov ch,ah ; remainder moved to CH to avoid loss of contents
Mov ah,2
Mov dl,al ; display quotient first
Add dl,30h
Int 21h
Mov ah,2
Mov dl,ch ; display remainder second
Add dl,30h
Int 21h
Ret
Display endp

Activities:

• Write an assembly language program for 8086 microprocessor that calls multiple
procedures, defined outside the main procedure.

< The End >