High-Level Language Interface

Chapter 13
S. Dandamudi
 High-Level Language Interface

• Why program in mixed- • Calling C functions from

mode? assembly
∗ Focus on C and assembly • Inline assembly code
• Overview of compiling
mixed-mode programs
• Calling assembly
procedures from C
∗ Parameter passing
∗ Returning values
∗ Preserving registers
∗ Publics and externals
∗ Examples

2003  S. Dandamudi Chapter 13: Page 2

To be used with S. Dandamudi, “Fundamentals of Computer Organization and Design,” Springer, 2003.
 Why Program in Mixed-Mode?
• Pros and cons of assembly language programming
∗ Advantages:
» Access to hardware
» Time-efficiency
» Space-efficiency
∗ Problems:
» Low productivity
» High maintenance cost
» Lack of portability
• As a result, some programs are written in mixed-
modem (e.g., system software)
2003  S. Dandamudi Chapter 13: Page 3
To be used with S. Dandamudi, “Fundamentals of Computer Organization and Design,” Springer, 2003.
 Compiling Mixed-Mode Programs
• We use C and assembly
mixed-mode
programming
∗ Our emphasis is on the
principles
• Can be generalized to
any type of mixed-mode
programming

• To compile
bcc sample1.c sample.asm

2003  S. Dandamudi Chapter 13: Page 4

To be used with S. Dandamudi, “Fundamentals of Computer Organization and Design,” Springer, 2003.
 Calling Assembly Procedures from C
Parameter Passing
• Stack is used for parameter passing
• Two ways of pushing arguments onto the stack
∗ Left-to-right
» Most languages including Basic, Fortran, Pascal use this
method
» These languages are called left-pusher languages
∗ Right-to-left
» C uses this method
» These languages are called right-pusher languages

2003  S. Dandamudi Chapter 13: Page 5

To be used with S. Dandamudi, “Fundamentals of Computer Organization and Design,” Springer, 2003.
Calling Assembly Procedures from C (cont’d)
Example:
sum(a,b,c,d)

2003  S. Dandamudi Chapter 13: Page 6

To be used with S. Dandamudi, “Fundamentals of Computer Organization and Design,” Springer, 2003.
Calling Assembly Procedures from C (cont’d)
Returning Values
• Registers are used to return values
Return value type Register used
char, short, int AX
(signed/unsigned)
long DX:AX
(signed/unsigned)
near pointer AX
far pointer DX:AX

2003  S. Dandamudi Chapter 13: Page 7

To be used with S. Dandamudi, “Fundamentals of Computer Organization and Design,” Springer, 2003.
Calling Assembly Procedures from C (cont’d)
Preserving Registers
• The following registers must be preserved
BP, SP, CS, DS, SS
• In addition, if register variables are enabled,
SI and DI
should also be preserved.
• Since we never know whether register variables
are enabled or not, it is a good practice to preserve
BP, SP, CS, DS, SS, SI and DI
2003  S. Dandamudi Chapter 13: Page 8
To be used with S. Dandamudi, “Fundamentals of Computer Organization and Design,” Springer, 2003.
Calling Assembly Procedures from C (cont’d)
Publics and External
• Mixed-mode programming involves at least two
program modules
» One C module and one assembly module
• We have to declare those functions and procedures
that are not defined in the same module as external
» extern in c
» extrn in assembly
• Those procedures that are accessed by another
modules as public

2003  S. Dandamudi Chapter 13: Page 9

To be used with S. Dandamudi, “Fundamentals of Computer Organization and Design,” Springer, 2003.
Calling Assembly Procedures from C (cont’d)
Underscores
• In C, all external labels start with an underscore
» C and C++ compilers automatically append the required
underscore on all external functions and variables
• You must make sure that all assembly references
to C functions and variables begin with
underscores
∗ Also, you should begin all assembly functions and
variables that are made public and referenced by C code
with underscores

2003  S. Dandamudi Chapter 13: Page 10

To be used with S. Dandamudi, “Fundamentals of Computer Organization and Design,” Springer, 2003.
 Calling C Functions from Assembly
• Stack is used to pass parameters (as in our
previous discussion)
∗ Similar mechanism is used to pass parameters and to
return values
• C makes the calling procedure responsible for
clearing the stack of the parameters
∗ Make sure to clear the parameters after the call
instruction as in
add SP,4
on line 45 in the example program

2003  S. Dandamudi Chapter 13: Page 11

To be used with S. Dandamudi, “Fundamentals of Computer Organization and Design,” Springer, 2003.
 Inline Assembly Code
• Assembly language statements are embedded into
the C code
» Separate assembly module is not necessary
• Assembly statements are identified by placing the
keyword asm
asm xor AX,AX; mov AL,DH
• We can use braces to compound several assembly
statements
asm {
xor AX,AX
mov AL,DH
}
2003  S. Dandamudi Chapter 13: Page 12
To be used with S. Dandamudi, “Fundamentals of Computer Organization and Design,” Springer, 2003.
 Inline Assembly Code (cont’d)
Example
Get date interrupt service
∗ Uses interrupt 21H service
∗ Details:
Input:
AH = 2AH
Returns:
AL = day of the week (0=Sun, 1=Mon,…)
CX = year (1980 - 2099)
DH = month (1=Jan, 2=Feb, …)
DL = day of the month (1-31)

2003  S. Dandamudi Chapter 13: Page 13

To be used with S. Dandamudi, “Fundamentals of Computer Organization and Design,” Springer, 2003.
 Inline Assembly Code (cont’d)
Compiling inline Assembly Programs
∗ TASM method
» Convert C code into assembly language and then invoke TASM
to produce .OBJ file
» Can use -B compiler option to generate assembly file
» Alternatively, can include
#pragma inline
at the beginning of the C file to instruct the compiler to use the
-B option
∗ BASM method
» Uses the built-in assembler (BASM) to assemble asm
statements
» Restricted to 16-bit instructions (i.e., cannot use 486 or
Pentium instructions)

2003  S. Dandamudi Chapter 13: Page 14

To be used with S. Dandamudi, “Fundamentals of Computer Organization and Design,” Springer, 2003.
 Inline Assembly Code (cont’d)

Last slide

2003  S. Dandamudi Chapter 13: Page 15

To be used with S. Dandamudi, “Fundamentals of Computer Organization and Design,” Springer, 2003.