CMU Computer Systems: Machine-Level Programming (Basic)

Basic

• History of Intel processors and architectures
• C, assembly, machine code
• Assembly Basics: Registers, operands, move
• Arithmetic & logical operations

Intel x86 Processors

• Dominate laptop/desktop/server market
• Evolutionary design
• Complex instruction set computer (CISC)

Definitions

• Architecture: The parts of a processor design that one needs to
  understand or write assembly/machine code
• Microarchitecture: Implementation of the architecture
• Code Forms: Machine Code, Assembly Code

Assembly/Machine Code View

Programmer-Visible State
 PC, Register file, Condition codes, Memory

Turning C into Object Code

 C program --Complier–> Asm program --Assembler–> Object program–Linker–> Executable program

Assembly Characteristics

• Data Types
  • Integer
  • Floating point data of 4, 8, or 10 bytes
  • Code: Byte sequences encoding series of instructions
  • No aggregate types such as arrays or structures
• Operations
  • Perform arithmetic function on register or memory data
  • Transfer data between memory and register
  • Transfer control

x86-64 Integer Registers

16 registers: hold integers and pointers
%r: 64 bit %e: 32bit
%rax %rcx %rdx %rbx %rsi %rdi %rsp %rbp
%r8-15

Moving Data

• Moving Data
  • movq Source, Dest;
• Operand Types
  • Immediate: Constant integer data
  • Register: One of 16 integer registers
  • Memory: 8 consecutive bytes of memory at address given by register

Simple Memory Addressing Modes

• Normal (R)

  • Register R specifies memory address
  • movq (%rcx), %rax

• Displacement

  • Register R specifies start of memory region
  • movq 8(%rbp), %rdx

Complete Memory Addressing Modes

• Most General Form
  • D(Rb, Ri, S)
• Special Cases
  • (Rb, Ri)
  • D(Rb, Ri)
  • (Rb, Ri, S)

Address Computation Instruction

• leaq Src, Dst
  • Src is address mode expression
  • Set Dst to address denoted by expression
• Uses
  • Computing addresses without a memory reference
  • Computing arithmetic expressions of the form x + k*y

Some Arithmetic Operations

• Two Operand Instructions
• One Operand Instructions