Computer Organization and Assembly Language - Detailed Explanation
1. Objectives and Perspectives of Assembly Language
Objective: Understand low-level machine operations and how programs communicate directly with
hardware.
Perspective: Assembly bridges human-readable code and binary machine code, giving precise
control over CPU and memory.
2. Organization and Design of Basic Computer
This involves the architecture (hardware components) and micro-operations that define how a
simple computer executes instructions.
Topics include control unit design, memory, ALU (Arithmetic Logic Unit), registers, and buses.
3. Microprocessor Bus Structure: Address, Data and Control
Address Bus: Carries memory addresses from the CPU to other components.
Data Bus: Transfers actual data between CPU and memory/peripherals.
Control Bus: Sends control signals like READ/WRITE, clock, and interrupt signals.
4. Memory Organization and Structure (Segmented and Linear Models)
Segmented Memory: Divides memory into segments like code, data, and stack for efficient
management.
Linear Memory: Treats memory as a continuous address space, simpler but less flexible than
segmentation.
5. Addressing Modes
Ways to specify operands in assembly:
- Immediate: Operand is a constant.
- Register: Operand is in a register.
- Direct: Memory address is explicitly mentioned.
- Indirect: Memory address is in a register or memory.
- Indexed, Base + Displacement: Complex addressing using combinations of registers and
constants.
6. Programming with Assembly Language
Writing programs using assembly instructions for tasks like loops, conditions, data handling.
Includes instruction set, syntax, and directives used by assemblers.
7. Introduction to the Assembler and Debugger
Assembler: Converts assembly code into machine code.
Debugger: Helps step through code, check memory/registers, and find logical errors.
8. Introduction to Registers and Flags
Registers: Small, fast storage in CPU (e.g., AX, BX in Intel).
Flags: Special bits (like Zero, Carry, Sign) that indicate the result of operations and control flow.
9. Machine-Level Representation of Programs
How high-level constructs (like loops, variables) translate to binary instructions.
Involves opcode, operands, and binary formats of instructions.
10. Data Movement Operations
Instructions to move data:
MOV, PUSH, POP, LOAD, STORE, etc.
Can occur between registers, memory, or I/O.
11. Arithmetic and Logical Operations
Arithmetic: ADD, SUB, MUL, DIV.
Logical: AND, OR, XOR, NOT.
These affect flags used for branching and comparisons.
12. Procedures
Subroutines or functions in assembly.
Use of CALL and RET instructions.
Support modularity and code reuse.
13. Array Allocation and Access
Arrays are accessed using loops and pointer arithmetic.
Base + offset addressing is commonly used.
14. Subroutines, Stack and Its Operation
Stack: LIFO structure used for storing return addresses, local variables.
Subroutine Calls: Push return address to stack; RET pops it back.
Stack managed using PUSH, POP, CALL, RET.
15. Peripheral Control Interrupts
Interrupts: Hardware or software signals to CPU to pause current tasks.
Used for I/O devices.
Involves Interrupt Vector Table (IVT), ISR (Interrupt Service Routines).
16. Interfacing with High-Level Languages
Using inline assembly in C/C++.
Understanding how compilers generate machine code and interact with assembly.
17. Real-Time Applications
Assembly is used in embedded systems and real-time computing where speed and precision are
critical.
Includes sensors, timers, real-time interrupts.
18. Y86 Instruction Set Architecture
Y86: A simplified version of x86 used for teaching.
Mimics basic x86 instructions, focusing on learning CPU design and instruction execution in
simulators like Y86 processor simulators.
