Modular Programming, Stack Frames, and High-Level Language Interfacing

1. Modular Programming, Stack Frames, and High-Level Language Interfacing Chapter 8

2. Modular Programming • Large projects need to be broken into small modules with clean interfaces • The way to program a module should only depend on the interfaces provided by other modules – not their implementation • One possibility would be to place groups of related procedures into different files and then include them with the include directive • The include directive instructs the assembler to include the file (at assembly time) at the place of the directive • We must then insure that the code will be placed in the .code segment and the data will be placed in the .data segment

3. Modular Programming (cont.) • Hence, in each file, we should always put .code before the code and .dada before the data. Ex: File procA.asm .code procA proc putstr msg2 ret procA endp .data msg2 db "In procA",10,0 File my_prog.asm .386 .model flat include csi2121.inc .data msg1 db "In main",10,0 .code main: putstr msg1 call procA call procB ret include procA.asm include procB.asm end File procB.asm .code procB proc putstr msg3 ret procB endp .data msg3 db "In procB",10,0

4. Modular Programming (cont.) • Hence, by doing • Bcc32 my_prog.asm • The assembler will create a single object file my_prog.obj which will contain all the included code and data • The scope of each name used (in any included file) will be the object module in which they will be assembled. Here it is my_prog.obj • Hence an error will be detected by the assembler if two different included files use the same name • Hence this method of included files should be avoided for large projects • Instead, we should assemble each file separately to obtain a separate object module for each file and, thus, have a private namespace for each file • Make sure, however, to use the .386, .MODEL FLAT, and END directives in each file.

5. Separately Assembled Modules • However any module that wants to be used need to provide at least one name to be used by others • Use the directive PUBLIC to enable other modules to use names defined in the module where PUBLIC is. Ex: • public procA,varC,labelB • Note that the usage is the same for any kind of names (procedures, variables...) • Use the directive EXTRN to declare names that are defined in other modules • But now we need to provide the qualifiers: • PROC for procedure names • BYTE, WORD, DWORD... for variable names • Example: • extrn procA:proc, varA:dword, varB:word • Place the directives extrn and public just after .model flat

6. Example File procA.asm .386 .model flat public procA include iomacros.inc .code procA: putstr msg1 ret .data msg1 db "In procA",10,0 end File my_prog.asm .386 .model flat extrn procA:proc, procB: proc include csi2121.inc .data msg1 db "In main",10,0 .code main: putstr msg1 call procA call procB ret end File procB.asm .386 .model flat public procB include iomacros.inc .code procB: putstr msg1 ret .data msg1 db "In procB",10,0 end

7. Example (cont.) • To assemble each file separately and link them do: • bcc32 –c procA.asm • bcc32 –c procB.asm • bcc32 my_prog.asm procA.obj procB.obj • The –c is the “compile only” option: it only produces an object file • The last command will produce my_prog.obj and link all the .obj files to produce my_prog.exe • All .data segments will be concatenated into a single .data segment and all .code segments will be concatenated into a single .code segment • Each .asm file now provides a separate namespace since each file has been assembled separately • Note that all three files are using the same name msg1. These refer to different memory locations since the assembler and linker will produce a different memory address for each variable msg1.

8. The Program’s Entry Point • An executable program must have only one entry point (the address of the first instruction to execute). • This entry point must be called “_main” and made public when using bcc32 to assemble and link • This is why I have included the following directives in csi2121.inc (near to top of the file) • public _main • main equ <_main> • The second directive makes “main” equivalent to “_main” so that “main” can be used instead to label the entry point. • But since a program can have only one entry point, these two directives must be present only in one .asm file: the one containing the entry point • If the macros in csi2121.inc are needed in other modules, then include instead another file, called it iomacros.inc, which is identical to csi2121.inc but does not contain these two directives (see previous example again)

9. Using Global Variables • A variable made public in one object module will be accessible to every other object module that will be linked into the same .exe file • As long as the other object modules are declaring this variable to be extern • Such a variable, which is said to be global, can be used by procedures to pass a value across different modules. • This mechanism increases the complexity of the interfaces (since every module must be aware of all the global variables) • Hence the number of global variables should be minimal

10. Global Variable Example File mp.asm .386 .model flat public varA extrn procA:proc include csi2121.inc .data varA dd ? .code main: mov varA,333 call procA ret end File procA.asm .386 .model flat public procA extrn varA:dword include iomacros.inc .code procA: putint varA ret end To assemble and link, you can do: bcc32 mp.asm procA.asm

11. Parameter Passing • We currently have two ways to pass parameters to a procedure • By using registers • By using global variables • However these mechanisms to pass parameters are not suited if we want • To use a variable number of parameters • To permit a procedure to call itself (for using recursion) • In these circumstances we can pass parameters via the stack • This is the mechanism of parameter passing used by high level languages

12. Stack Parameters • Suppose that we have a procedure, called IMUL2, who’s task is to multiply two signed numbers, pushed onto the stack, and return the result into EAX. • Let us use IMUL2 like this: • push varA ;push a dword variable • push varB ;another dword variable • call IMUL2 ;result in eax, stack unchanged • add esp,8 ;restore ESP • We have assumed that IMUL2 did not changed the stack: • ESP just after returning from IMUL2 is pointing to the same place as it was just before calling IMUL2. • But, since 8 bytes of parameters were pushed on the stack, we need to increase ESP by 8 after returning from IMUL2 • Otherwise, ESP would be decreased by 8 at each IMUL2 usage and, consequently, the stack could overflow if the 3 first statements were inside a loop • We say that the stack has been restored by the caller • This is the method used by C/C++ compilers

13. Given that IMUL2 is called that way, we can write it like this: IMUL2: push ebp mov ebp,esp mov eax,[ebp+12] imul eax,[ebp+8] pop ebp ret We used EBP to access the stack parameters (not ESP) Compilers are using this method. But, more simply, we could have used ESP instead... These are called stack frames (or activation records) Stack Parameters (cont.) varA varB ret addr. ebp esp ebp orig. after mov ebp,esp varA varB esp after ret

14. The other method is to let the called procedure the responsibility of restoring the stack This is the method used by Pascal compilers The caller would simply do push varA push varB call IMUL2 ;do not increm. ESP But the procedure would now use ret n to return This performs a RET instruction and then increments ESP further by n The called procedure would now be: IMUL2: push ebp mov ebp,esp mov eax,[ebp+12] imul eax,[ebp+8] pop ebp ret 8 Since 8 bytes of parameters have been pushed onto the stack Stack Parameters (cont.)

15. Passing a Variable Number of Parameters • To pass a variable number of arguments by the stack just push, as the last parameter, the number of arguments • By popping this parameter, the procedure knows how much arguments were passed • The caller: • push 35 • push –63 • push 23 • push 3 ;# of args • call AddSome • add esp,16 • The called procedure: AddSome proc push ebp push ecx mov ebp,esp mov ecx,[ebp+12];arg count xor eax,eax ;hold sum add ebp,16 ;last arg L1: add eax,[ebp] add ebp,4 ;point to next loop L1 pop ecx pop ebp ret AddSome endp

16. Recursion • A recursive procedure is one that calls itself • Recursive procedures can easily be implemented in ASM when parameter passing is done via the stack • Ex: a C implementation of factorial: int factorial(int n) { if (n<=1) { return 1; } else { return n*factorial(n-1); } } • An ASM caller needs to push the argument into the stack: push 8 call factorial ;result in EAX add esp,4 ;restore the stack

17. A Recursive Procedure in ASM factorial: mov eax,[esp+4] ; get n cmp eax,1 ; n<=1? ja L1 ; no, continue mov eax,1 ; yes, return 1 jmp exit L1: dec eax push eax ; factorial n-1 call factorial; result in eax add esp,4 ; restore stack mov ebx,[esp+4]; get n mul ebx ; edx:eax = eax*ebx exit: ret ; eax = result Stack usage on Factorial 3: 3 ret.add. in main 2 ret.add. in fact. 1 ret.add. in fact.

18. Exercises • Ex1: Rewrite the factorial procedure when stack cleaning is done by the called procedure (ie: in the Pascal way) • Ex2: Write a procedure who’s task is to fill with value 0 the first k bytes of a byte array. All parameters must be passed by the stack and stack cleaning must be done by the caller. Give an example of how this procedure would be called. • Ex3: Rewrite the AddSome procedure when stack cleaning is done by the called procedure (ie: in the Pascal way)

19. Why Interfacing with High Level Languages? • Good ASM programs give faster machine code than high level language (HLL) programs • because ASM code is closer to machine code • But it takes too long to develop large-scale applications in assembly language • instead we first write the application in a HLL • then, to optimize speed, we rewrite in ASM the parts of code that are executed most often • we do not need to write too much ASM code since, typically, the CPU spends most of its time in less then 10% of the application’s code

20. Two Methods for Mixing ASM and HLL Codes • ASM code in a separate ASM module • 1) assemble the .asm file into a .obj module • 2) compile HLL files into .obj modules • 3) link together all .obj modules to obtain the .exe file • the most powerful method (and preserves modularity) • Inline ASM code (embedded with HLL code) • The easiest method (no linking issues involved). We just use a preprocessor directive like asm{...} to include asm instructions directly into the HLL code. • But this usually forces the compiler to generate sub optimal code outside the ASM region • We present here only the first method for the C language when using the C/C++ compiler from Borland: bcc32.exe

21. Writing Separate ASM modules • Such an ASM module can contain: • Variables and procedures that will be used by other HLL modules • ASM instructions that uses variables and procedures defined in other HLL modules • Hence, the ASM programmer must know: • The memory model used by the HLL compiler (this is the flat memory model for bcc32) • How external names are generated by the HLL compiler • The calling convention (of procedures) used by the HLL compiler

22. Generation of ASM code by the C compiler* • Is the only way to discover what the C compiler is really doing • To generate hello.asm from hello.c , just do: bcc32 -S hello.c • Immediate observations: • uses the following 32-bit segments named: • _TEXT : for code • _DATA : for data (and the stack) • _BSS : for un-initialized data • you can remove all references to the ?debug macro and labels that are not used • I have cleaned up the file hello.asm and removed unused directives to obtain the simpler (but equivalent) file helloClean.asm

23. The Naming Convention of C Compilers • These compilers insert a “_” in front of all names used in C source files • “main” has been change to “_main” • “printf” has been changed to “_printf” .... • Hence, all public names in a ASM file that are to be used from a C source file should start with a “_” • Ex: if a C file contains a call to the myProc() function, then this procedure in a ASM file should be named _myProc • Names recognized by C compilers are case sensitive • Fortunately case sensitiveness for user defined names is preserved when using the bcc32 command to assemble

24. Further Observations on helloClean.asm • Bcc32 assumes, by default, that the entry point is _main and requires _main to be public • This is why I have included these 2 directives in csi2121.inc • public _main • main equ <_main> • The value returned by _main is in EAX • The argument of _printf (address of a null terminating string) is pushed on stack and stack cleanup is done by the caller

25. How to write an ASM procedure that is called by a C program?* • To discover how to do this, let us first write a C program comp.c that uses a C function • Then use bcc32 to convert this C program into the ASM program comp.asm • We see that two bytes are allocated to a short int and 4 bytes to a int. In fact we have the following correspondence between C/C++ types and ASM types for bcc32 C Data Type Storage Bytes ASM Type char, unsigned char 1 byte short int 2 word int, long 4 dword pointer 4 dword float 4 dword double 8 qword

26. How to write an ASM procedure that is called by a C program? (cont.) • To call f1(), bcc32 has generated the following instructions • ; z = f1(a, b, c, d); • ; EAX = a, EDX = b, ECX = c, ESI = d • push esi • push ecx • push edx • push eax • call _f1 • add esp,16 • We see that arguments are pushed onto the stack by starting from the last one and that the stack is cleaned by the caller. This is known as the C calling convention. • Also: arguments passed to a function are pushed onto the stack as dwords (even when the corresponding types are only 2 bytes) • Notice that _f1 does not preserve the content of ECX and EDX (but it preserves EBX and EBP).

27. How to write an ASM procedure that is called by a C program? (cont.) • When a C function returns an integer value that is less or equal to 4 bytes, it is returned in EAX • But when a C function returns a float or a double, it is returned in ST(0) • Bcc32 assumes that the content of EBX, EBP, ESI, and EDI will be preserved by a procedure: make sure to preserve them (you do not need to preserve the other registers). • Therefore, we can write the f1() function in ASM and place it in the fff1.asm file • Notice that I have optimized f1() by removing one MOV and two MOVSX instructions and by using ESP to access the stack arguments. • The C caller is now fcomp.c and the fcomp.exe file is obtained by doing: • bcc32 fcomp.c fff1.asm

28. Exercises • Ex4:In C/C++, a function argument can be a pointer to a function. This enables us to construct functions that can use as an argument another function. An example would be a function who’s task is to find the maximum value of (another, arbitrarily chosen) function in some interval. How can you do this in ASM? Generate ASM code from a C compiler to find out  • Ex5:What is the difference between a C++ pointer and a C++ reference? What is the difference between passing a pointer and passing a reference to a function? Generate ASM code from a C compiler to find out 

29. Memory Allocation • The mem.c program allocates storage for variables and arrays in various ways • Inspection of mem.asm reveals how it is done: • Variables are first allocated to registers and then to the stack • “Normal” arrays are allocated to the stack: EBP is used to access the array elements • Dynamic allocation with calloc() returns an offset address into EAX: array elements are stored starting at that address. The allocated memory block is located in the heap.

30. Memory Allocationmem.c* Register Usage EBX = a ESI = b EDI = c ECX = m EAX = count EDX = y Stack Setup

31. Memory Allocation (cont.) • A static variable (in C) is defined with the keyword “static” • its value is preserved through successive invocations of the function inside which it is defined • A automatic variable (in C) is defined without the keyword “static” • its value is not preserved through successive invocations of the function inside which it is defined • Ex: static.asm is obtained from static.c • automatic variables are allocated on the stack • The stack frame thus contains all the “environment” of a procedure • static variables are permanently allocated on the data segment and given a name

32. Win32 Assembly • The bcc32.exe automatically links with the import32.lib library • This enable us to call directly most of the Win32 API procedures • msgbox.asm is a minimal Win32 assembly program that calls the Windows MessageBoxA procedure to display a message box • Note that: • Stack cleaning is done by the Win32 procedure • Win32 procedure names do not start with “_” • Practical Win32 apps are much more complex than this one...