Intel 253668-032US User Manual

Page of 806
1-8   Vol. 3
ABOUT THIS MANUAL
1.3.3 Instruction 
Operands
When instructions are represented symbolically, a subset of assembly language is 
used. In this subset, an instruction has the following format:
label: mnemonic argument1, argument2, argument3
where:
label is an identifier which is followed by a colon.
mnemonic is a reserved name for a class of instruction opcodes which have 
the same function.
The operands argument1, argument2, and argument3 are optional. There 
may be from zero to three operands, depending on the opcode. When present, 
they take the form of either literals or identifiers for data items. Operand 
identifiers are either reserved names of registers or are assumed to be assigned 
to data items declared in another part of the program (which may not be shown 
in the example).
When two operands are present in an arithmetic or logical instruction, the right 
operand is the source and the left operand is the destination. 
For example:
LOADREG: MOV EAX, SUBTOTAL
In this example LOADREG is a label, MOV is the mnemonic identifier of an opcode, 
EAX is the destination operand, and SUBTOTAL is the source operand. Some 
assembly languages put the source and destination in reverse order.
1.3.4 
Hexadecimal and Binary Numbers
Base 16 (hexadecimal) numbers are represented by a string of hexadecimal digits 
followed by the character H (for example, F82EH). A hexadecimal digit is a character 
from the following set: 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, A, B, C, D, E, and F.
Base 2 (binary) numbers are represented by a string of 1s and 0s, sometimes 
followed by the character B (for example, 1010B). The “B” designation is only used in 
situations where confusion as to the type of number might arise.
1.3.5 Segmented 
Addressing
The processor uses byte addressing. This means memory is organized and accessed 
as a sequence of bytes. Whether one or more bytes are being accessed, a byte 
address is used to locate the byte or bytes memory. The range of memory that can 
be addressed is called an address space.
The processor also supports segmented addressing. This is a form of addressing 
where a program may have many independent address spaces, called segments