digitalmars.com                        
Last update Sun Mar 4 11:58:06 2018

Inline Assembler

The compiler includes a powerful inline assembler. With it, assembly language instructions can be used directly in C and C++ source programs without requiring a separate assembler program. Assembly language enables optimizing critical functions, interfacing to the BIOS, operating system and special hardware, and access capabilities of the processor that are not available from C++.

It supports both 16-bit and 32-bit code generation in all memory models.

What's in This Chapter

Advantages of writing inline assembly language functions

Use assembly language functions to:

The asm Statement

The asm statement invokes the assembler. Use this statement wherever a C or C++ statement is legal. You can use asm in any of three ways.

The first example shows asm followed simply by an assembly instruction:

asm mov AH,2
asm mov DL,7
asm int 21H

The second example shows asm followed by a set of assembly instructions enclosed by braces. An empty set of braces may follow the directive.

asm {
  mov AH,2
  mov DL,7
  int 21H
}

Because the asm statement is a statement separator, assembly instructions can appear on the same line:

asm mov AH,2 asm mov DL,7 asm int 21H

The three previous examples generate identical code. But enclosing assembly language in braces, as in the second example, has the advantage of setting the assembly language off from the surrounding C++ code and avoids repeating the asm statement.

No assembler instruction can continue onto a second line. Use the form of the last example primarily for writing macros, which must be one line long after expansion.

Note

The Digital Mars C++ asm statement emulates the Borland asm statement. The _asm and __asm statements emulate the Microsoft _asm and __asm statements.

The ASM Block

A series of assembler instructions enclosed by braces following the asm keyword are called an "ASM block." Unlike C++ blocks, ASM blocks do not affect the scope of variables.

Restrictions on using C and C++ in an ASM block

An ASM block can use the following C and C++ language elements:

Note

Microsoft and Borland inline assemblers do not support type casts.

Inline assembly instructions within C or C++ statements can refer to C or C++ variables by name.

MASM-Style hexadecimal constants

Support for MASM-style hexadecimal constants provides easy conversion of MASM-style source code. The constants take the form:
digit {hex_digit} ('H'| 'h')

You cannot use hexadecimal constants if the -A (for ANSI compatibility) option is used.

C and C++ operators in an ASM block

An ASM block cannot use operators specific to C and C++, such as the left-shift (<<) operator.

You can use operators common to C, C++, and MASM within an ASM block but interpret them as assembly language operators. C and C++ interpret brackets ([]) as enclosing array subscripts and scale them to the size of an array element. But within an asm statement, C and C++ interpret brackets as the MASM index operator, which adds an unscaled byte offset to any adjacent operand.

In Microsoft-compatible mode, the semicolon delimits comments, as in MASM.

Assembly language in an asm statement

In common with other assemblers, the inline assembler accepts any instruction that is legal in MASM. The following are some of the assembly language features of the asm statement:

Other restrictions on C and C++ symbols

An asm statement can reference any C or C++ variable name, function, or label in scope, provided those names are not symbolic constants. However, you cannot call a C++ member function from within an asm statement.

Prototype the functions referenced in an asm statement before using them in programs. This lets the compiler distinguish them from names and labels.

Each assembly language instruction can contain a single C or C++ symbol.

C or C++ symbols within an ASM block must not have the same spelling as an asm reserved word.

The inline assembler allows structure or union tags in asm statements, but only as qualifiers of references to members of the structure or union.

Accessing C or C++ data in an asm statement

In general, instructions in an asm statement can reference any symbol in scope where the statement appears. The following statement loads the AX register with the value of var, a C variable in scope:
asm mov AX,var

An asm statement can reference a uniquely named member of a class, structure, or union without specifying the variable name or type before the period operator. But if the member name is not unique, you must specify a variable or type name before the period operator. If two structure types have a member name in common, as in this example:

struct first_type {
  char *mold;
  int common_name;
};

struct second__type {
  char *mildew;
  long common_name;
  int unique_name;
};

then qualify the reference to common_name with the tag name:

asm mov [bx]first_type.common_name,10

You need not qualify a reference to a unique member name. In the following example, unique_name is an anonymous structure member because it is a member of first_type.

asm mov [bx].unique_name,10

This statement generates the same instruction whether or not a qualifying name or type is present. For more information, see the section "Making anonymous references to structure members" later in this chapter.

Functions in inline assembly language

Because ASM blocks do not require separate source file assembly steps, writing a function using ASM blocks is easier than using a separate assembler. In addition, the compiler generates function prolog and epilog code.

The expon2 function is an example of a function written in inline assembly language:

int expon2(int num, int power)
{
  asm
  { mov AX,num   // get first argument
    mov CX,power // get second argument
    shl AX,CL    // AX = AX * (2 to the power of CL)
  }
}

An inline function refers to its arguments by name and may appear in the same source file as the callers of the function.

Refer to Using Assembly Language Functions for a description of the register stacks used by inline assembly instructions.

Making anonymous references to structure members

You can make anonymous references to members of a given structure, as in the following:
struct x {
  int i;
  int j;
  int k;
} foo;

You can refer to these members i, j, and k anonymously, for example, with the assembly instruction:

asm
{ mov BX,4
  mov AX,foo[BX]; Refers to member j of foo
}

Using register variables

Digital Mars C++ supports register variables. Register variables are useful with inline assembly. If asm statements place results in registers, you can use register variables to access those values.

For more information see "Using Register Variables" in Using Assembly Language Functions.

Using the __LOCAL_SIZE symbol

When using the inline assembler, the special symbol __LOCAL_SIZE expands to the number of bytes used by all local symbols. __LOCAL_SIZE is useful in combination with __declspec(naked), as __LOCAL_SIZE is the amount of space to reserve on the stack.

For example:

__declspec(naked) int test()
{
  int x, y, z;

  _asm
  { push BP
    mov BP,SP
    sub SP,__LOCAL_SIZE
    mov BX,__LOCAL_SIZE[BP]
    mov BX,__LOCAL_SIZE+2[BP]
    mov AX,__LOCAL_SIZE
    mov AX,__LOCAL_SIZE+2
  }
  _AX = x + y + z;
  _asm
  {
    mov SP,BP
    pop BP
    ret
  }
}

Using ASM Registers

The asm statement alters the registers outside the programmer's explicit assembly language instructions. Registers contain whatever values the normal control flow leaves in them at the point of the asm statement.

For 16-bit memory models

You do not need to preserve the following registers when writing inline assembly language: AX, BX, CX, DX, SI, DI, ES, and flags (other than DF).

C and C++ do not expect these registers to be maintained between statements, but they do preserve the following registers: CS, DS, SS, SP and BP.

Note

The compiler does not use registers to hold register variables for functions containing inline assembly code.

For 32-bit memory models

Functions can change the values in the EAX, ECX, EDX, ESI, EDI registers.

Functions must preserve the values in the EBX, ESI, EDI, EBP, ESP, SS, CS, DS registers (plus ES and GS for the NT memory model).

Always set the direction flag to forward.

To maximize speed on 32-bit buses, make sure data aligns along 32-Function return values

Function return values

Interfacing to a member function

The easiest way to interface an assembly language routine to a class member function is to provide a C wrapper function that can be called from the assembly language routine.

An alternative is to write the member function in C++ and compile it with normal out-of-line member functions.

Calling C Functions from an ASM Block

C functions, including C library functions, can be called from within the asm block, as in the following example:
#include <stdio.h>
char format [] = "% s %s %s \n";
char alas[] = "Alas,";
char poor[] = "poor";
char Yorick[] = "Yorick!";

void main(void)
{
  asm
  { mov   AX, offset Yorick
    push  AX
    mov   AX, offset poor
    push  AX
    mov   AX, offset Alas
    push  AX
    mov   AX, offset format
    push  AX
    call  printf
  }
}

Simply push the needed arguments from right to left before calling the function, since function arguments are passed on the stack. To print the message, the example pushes pointers to the three strings, formats them, and then calls printf.

Calling C++ functions

An ASM block can call only global C++ functions that are not overloaded because the types of the arguments are unknown. The compiler issues an error if an ASM block calls an overloaded global C++ function or a C member function.

You can also call a function declared with extern "C" linkage from an asm statement within a C++ program, because all the standard header files declare the library functions to have extern "C" linkage.

Defining ASM blocks as C macros

A C++ macro is a convenient way to insert assembly language into source code. But, because a macro expands into a single, logical line, take care when writing them.

If the macro expands into multiple instructions, enclose the instructions in an ASM block. The asm statement must precede each instruction. Also separate comments from code with /**/ characters rather than //. Unless you take these precautions, the compiler can be confused by C or C++ statements to the left or right of the assembly code or interpret instructions as comments when the macro becomes a single line. Without the closing brace, the compiler cannot tell where the assembly language ends.

Warning: Do not use double-slash (//) characters within a macro. The compiler terminates the macro when it sees a double-slash.

An ASM block written as a macro can accept arguments but, unlike a C macro, it cannot return values. But some MASM macros can be written as macros for C. The following MASM macro sets a video page to the value specified in the argument page:

findpage MACRO page
  mov AH, 5
  MOV AL,page
  int 10h
  ENDM

The following C macro does the same thing:

#define findpage(page) asm \
{ \
  asm mov AH,5 \
  asm mov AL,page \
  asm int 10h \
}

Registers

The following registers are supported. Register names are in upper or lower case.
AL, AH, AX, EAX
BL, BH, BX, EBX
CL, CH, CX, ECX
DL, DH, DX, EDX
BP, EBP
SP, ESP
DI, EDI
SI, ESI
ES, CS, SS, DS, GS, FS
CR0, CR2, CR3, CR4
DR0, DR1, DR2, DR3, DR6, DR7
TR3, TR4, TR5, TR6, TR7
ST
ST(0), ST(1), ST(2), ST(3), ST(4), ST(5), ST(6), ST(7)
MM0, MM1, MM2, MM3, MM4, MM5, MM6, MM7
XMM0, XMM1, XMM2, XMM3, XMM4, XMM5, XMM6, XMM7

Opcodes

The following instructions are supported. Opcode names are in upper or lower case.
aaa aad aam aas adc
add addpd addps addsd addss
and andnpd andnps andpd andps
arpl bound bsf bsr bswap
bt btc btr bts call
cbw cdq clc cld clflush
cli clts cmc cmova cmovae
cmovb cmovbe cmovc cmove cmovg
cmovge cmovl cmovle cmovna cmovnae
cmovnb cmovnbe cmovnc cmovne cmovng
cmovnge cmovnl cmovnle cmovno cmovnp
cmovns cmovnz cmovo cmovp cmovpe
cmovpo cmovs cmovz cmp cmppd
cmpps cmps cmpsb cmpsd cmpss
cmpsw cmpxch8b cmpxchg comisd comiss
cpuid cvtdq2pd cvtdq2ps cvtpd2dq cvtpd2pi
cvtpd2ps cvtpi2pd cvtpi2ps cvtps2dq cvtps2pd
cvtps2pi cvtsd2si cvtsd2ss cvtsi2sd cvtsi2ss
cvtss2sd cvtss2si cvttpd2dq cvttpd2pi cvttps2dq
cvttps2pi cvttsd2si cvttss2si cwd cwde
da daa das db dd
de dec df di div
divpd divps divsd divss dl
dq ds dt dw emms
enter f2xm1 fabs fadd faddp
fbld fbstp fchs fclex fcmovb
fcmovbe fcmove fcmovnb fcmovnbe fcmovne
fcmovnu fcmovu fcom fcomi fcomip
fcomp fcompp fcos fdecstp fdisi
fdiv fdivp fdivr fdivrp feni
ffree fiadd ficom ficomp fidiv
fidivr fild fimul fincstp finit
fist fistp fisub fisubr fld
fld1 fldcw fldenv fldl2e fldl2t
fldlg2 fldln2 fldpi fldz fmul
fmulp fnclex fndisi fneni fninit
fnop fnsave fnstcw fnstenv fnstsw
fpatan fprem fprem1 fptan frndint
frstor fsave fscale fsetpm fsin
fsincos fsqrt fst fstcw fstenv
fstp fstsw fsub fsubp fsubr
fsubrp ftst fucom fucomi fucomip
fucomp fucompp fwait fxam fxch
fxrstor fxsave fxtract fyl2x fyl2xp1
hlt idiv imul in inc
ins insb insd insw int
into invd invlpg iret iretd
ja jae jb jbe jc
jcxz je jecxz jg jge
jl jle jmp jna jnae
jnb jnbe jnc jne jng
jnge jnl jnle jno jnp
jns jnz jo jp jpe
jpo js jz lahf lar
ldmxcsr lds lea leave les
lfence lfs lgdt lgs lidt
lldt lmsw lock lods lodsb
lodsd lodsw loop loope loopne
loopnz loopz lsl lss ltr
maskmovdqu maskmovq maxpd maxps maxsd
maxss mfence minpd minps minsd
minss mov movapd movaps movd
movdq2q movdqa movdqu movhlps movhpd
movhps movlhps movlpd movlps movmskpd
movmskps movntdq movnti movntpd movntps
movntq movq movq2dq movs movsb
movsd movss movsw movsx movupd
movups movzx mul mulpd mulps
mulsd mulss neg nop not
or orpd orps out outs
outsb outsd outsw packssdw packsswb
packuswb paddb paddd paddq paddsb
paddsw paddusb paddusw paddw pand
pandn pavgb pavgw pcmpeqb pcmpeqd
pcmpeqw pcmpgtb pcmpgtd pcmpgtw pextrw
pinsrw pmaddwd pmaxsw pmaxub pminsw
pminub pmovmskb pmulhuw pmulhw pmullw
pmuludq pop popa popad popf
popfd por prefetchnta prefetcht0 prefetcht1
prefetcht2 psadbw pshufd pshufhw pshuflw
pshufw pslld pslldq psllq psllw
psrad psraw psrld psrldq psrlq
psrlw psubb psubd psubq psubsb
psubsw psubusb psubusw psubw punpckhbw
punpckhdq punpckhqdq punpckhwd punpcklbw punpckldq
punpcklqdq punpcklwd push pusha pushad
pushf pushfd pxor rcl rcpps
rcpss rcr rdmsr rdpmc rdtsc
rep repe repne repnz repz
ret retf rol ror rsm
rsqrtps rsqrtss sahf sal sar
sbb scas scasb scasd scasw
seta setae setb setbe setc
sete setg setge setl setle
setna setnae setnb setnbe setnc
setne setng setnge setnl setnle
setno setnp setns setnz seto
setp setpe setpo sets setz
sfence sgdt shl shld shr
shrd shufpd shufps sidt sldt
smsw sqrtpd sqrtps sqrtsd sqrtss
stc std sti stmxcsr stos
stosb stosd stosw str sub
subpd subps subsd subss sysenter
sysexit test ucomisd ucomiss ud2
unpckhpd unpckhps unpcklpd unpcklps verr
verw wait wbinvd wrmsr xadd
xchg xlat xlatb xor xorpd
xorps

Pentium 4 (Prescott) Opcodes Supported

addsubpd addsubps fisttp haddpd haddps
hsubpd hsubps lddqu monitor movddup
movshdup movsldup mwait

AMD Opcodes

pavgusb pf2id pfacc pfadd pfcmpeq
pfcmpge pfcmpgt pfmax pfmin pfmul
pfnacc pfpnacc pfrcp pfrcpit1 pfrcpit2
pfrsqit1 pfrsqrt pfsub pfsubr pi2fd
pmulhrw pswapd
Home | Runtime Library | IDDE Reference | STL | Search | Download | Forums