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In computer programming, assembly language (alternatively assembler language [1] or symbolic machine code), [2] [3] [4] often referred to simply as assembly and commonly abbreviated as ASM or asm, is any low-level programming language with a very strong correspondence between the instructions in the language and the architecture's machine code instructions. [5]
Translation of assembly language into machine language. A much more human-friendly rendition of machine language, named assembly language, uses mnemonic codes to refer to machine code instructions, rather than using the instructions' numeric values directly, and uses symbolic names to refer to storage locations and sometimes registers. [3]
existing instructions extended to a 64 bit operand size (remaining instructions) Most instructions with a 64 bit operand size encode this using a REX.W prefix; in the absence of the REX.W prefix, the corresponding instruction with 32 bit operand size is encoded. This mechanism also applies to most other instructions with 32 bit operand size.
x86 assembly language includes instructions for a stack-based floating-point unit (FPU). The FPU was an optional separate coprocessor for the 8086 through the 80386, it was an on-chip option for the 80486 series, and it is a standard feature in every Intel x86 CPU since the 80486, starting with the Pentium.
Self-modifying code is quite straightforward to implement when using assembly language.Instructions can be dynamically created in memory (or else overlaid over existing code in non-protected program storage), [1] in a sequence equivalent to the ones that a standard compiler may generate as the object code.
INT is an assembly language instruction for x86 processors that generates a software interrupt. It takes the interrupt number formatted as a byte value. [1] When written in assembly language, the instruction is written like this: INT X. where X is the software interrupt that should be generated (0-255).
In early 1960s computers, main memory was expensive and very limited, even on mainframes. Minimizing the size of a program to make sure it would fit in the limited memory was often central. Thus the size of the instructions needed to perform a particular task, the code density, was an important characteristic of any instruction set. It remained ...
The four basic arithmetic operations have assembly instructions like ADD, SUB, MUL, and DIV. [46] Computers also have instructions like DW (Define Word) to reserve memory cells. Then the MOV instruction can copy integers between registers and memory. The basic structure of an assembly language statement is a label, operation, operand, and ...