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Full Discussion: Understanding Assembly Code
Top Forums Programming Understanding Assembly Code Post 302931995 by Azrael on Sunday 18th of January 2015 01:04:54 AM
Old 01-18-2015
Understanding Assembly Code

As the title suggests, I want to better understand the following assembly code:

Code:
section .text
    global main          ; must be declared for linker (gcc)
main:                        ; tell linker entry point
    mov    edx, len     ; message length
    mov    ecx, msg    ; message to write
    mov    ebx, 1         ; file descriptor (stdout)
    mov    eax, 4         ; syscall for write (sys_write)
    int      0x80           ; call kernel

    mov    edx, 9        ; message length
    mov    ecx, s2       ; message to write
    mov    ebx, 1        ; file descriptor (stdout)
    mov    eax, 4        ; syscall number for write (sys_write)
    int      0x80          ; call kernel
    mov    eax, 1        ; system call (sys_exit)
    int      0x80          ; call kernel

section .data
msg db 'Displaying 9 stars', 0xa ; a message
len equ $ - msg            ; length of message
s2 times 9 db '*'

As you can see I already have descriptions in the comments from the tutorial I found here. Here are some of the things I don't understand:

1. - What is s2? Is this just a variable or a register I know nothing about?

2. When '1' is moved into ebx, is this a parameter to the sys_exit later called in eax? I found a listing of Linux syscalls here and it does seem sys_exit does take one parameter in ebx that's an integer. If this is the case why not exit cleanly with zero?

I just want to make sure I understand everything correctly in this. Thanks in advance!
 

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copt(1) 							z88 Development Kit							   copt(1)

NAME
copt - peephole optimizer SYSNOPIS
copt file ... DESCRIPTION
copt is a general-purpose peephole optimizer. It reads code from its standard input and writes an improved version to its standard output. copy reads the named files for its optimizations, which are encoded as follows: <pattern for input line 1> <pattern for input line 2> ... <pattern for input line n> = <pattern for output line 1> <pattern for output line 2> ... <pattern for output line m> <blank line> Pattern matching uses literal string comparison, with one exception: ``%%'' matches the ``%'' character, and ``%'' followed by a digit matches everything up to the next occurrence of the next pattern character, though all occurrences of %n must denote the same string. For example, the pattern ``%1=%1.'' matches exactly those strings that begin with a string X, followed by a ``='' (the first), followed by a second occurrence of X, followed by a period. In this way, the input/output pattern mov $%1,r%2 mov *r%2,r%2 = mov %1,r%2 commands copt to replace runs like mov $_a,r3 mov *r3,r3 with mov _a,r3 Note that a tab or newline can terminate a %n variable. copt compares each run of input patterns with the current input instruction and its predecessors. If no match is found, it advances to the next input instruction and tries again. Otherwise, it replaces the input instructions with the corresponding output patterns, pattern vari- ables instantiated,and resumes its search with the first instruction of the replacement. copt matches input patterns in reverse order to cascade optimizations without backing up. BUGS
Errors in optimization files are always possible. SEE ALSO
z88dk(1), z88dk-zcc(1), z88dk-z80asm(1), z88dk-appmake(1), z88dk-copt(1). AUTHOR
z88dk was written by Dominic Morris <dom@z88dk.org>, and others. 01 December 2009 copt(1)
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