Assembly Language Course And Certification

What is Assembly Language?

Assembly Language is a low-level computer programming language that is used for microprocessors and other programmable devices. Assembly is not just a single programming language, instead, it is a group of languages.

Assembly Language makes use of a symbolic representation of the machine code that is needed to program a particular CPU architecture. Assembly languages are also known as Assembly codes. The term is frequently used together with 2GL.

Assembly Language is the most fundamental programming language that is available for any computer processor. With Assembly Language, a programmer would work with only the operations that are directly implemented on the physical CPU. Assembly Languages basically lack high-level features such as variables, loops, and functions, and they are not transferable between the various families of computer processors. They have the same structures, features, and groups of commands as a machine language, but they allow a programmer to make use of names instead of just binary numbers. This language is still very useful for computer programmers when speed is a necessary factor or when they need to carry out a method that is not possible in high-level programming languages.

Assembly Language is developed to understand syntax instruction and convert it directly to machine language for further processing. Assembly language depends on the system's architecture, whether it is the operating system or computer system's architecture.

Assembly Language is mainly made up of mnemonic processor instructions or data that is for the processor, and other statements or instructions. It is developed with the help of compiling the high-level language source code like C, C++, Java, C#, etc. Assembly Language helps in fine-tuning the software program.

The study of Assembly Language is still very important for computer programmers. It helps in taking absolute control over the system and in the allocation of its resources. By learning assembly language, the programmer would be able to write the code to gain access registers and be able to retrieve the memory address of pointers and values. It mainly helps in speeding up the optimization process that increases the efficiency and performance of software systems.

Features of Assembly Language

There are many features of Assembly Language and some of them are:

1. Instruction Set: An instruction set architecture is an abstract model of a computer. It is also referred to as architecture or computer architecture.

2. Bundling: A bundle contains up to three instructions and an associated template. The template defines which type of execution unit processes each instruction in the bundle.

3. Instruction Groups: Instructions that are allowed to execute in parallel are organized in instruction groups. An instruction group is a set of consecutive instructions that should have no interdependencies. The instruction group is terminated by a stop (;;).

4. Data Allocation: IAS enables allocating and initializing space in memory. IAS supports these data types.

5. Assembly Language Directives: IAS supports all Itanium architecture assembly language directives except local label directives. The supported directives include the following operations or information: section control, symbol control, file inclusion,  bundle template selection, debug information, unwind information.

6. 64-bit Address Space: 64-bit describes a generation of computers in which 64-bit processors are the norm. 64 bits is a word size that defines certain classes of computer architecture, buses, memory, and CPUs and, by extension, the software that runs on them. IAS supports 64-bit address space.

7. Alignment: By default, IAS aligns bundles on 16-byte boundaries, and data elements according to their size. IAS aligns each section according to the largest alignment request in the section. Bundles, data elements, or a .align directive create alignment requests

8. Assignment Statements: Assignment statements enable the programmer to define a symbol by assigning it a value. This value may be a reference to another symbol, register name, or expression.

9. Aliasing: This is an effect that causes different signals to become indistinguishable (or aliases of one another) when sampled. IAS supports the aliasing of symbol names and section names.

10. Arithmetic Expression Handling: IAS supports the use of arithmetic expressions for constants and addresses, using standard arithmetic notation. Arithmetic expressions can include symbols, numeric constants, and operators.

Benefits of Assembly Language 

There are many benefits of Assembly Language and some of them are:

1. Assembly Language allows the programmer to carry out more complex jobs to run in a simpler way.

2. Assembly codes are memory-efficient since they require lesser memory space to operate.

3. Programs written in Assembly languages are faster in speed, as its time of execution is lesser.

4. Assembly Languages programs are mainly hardware-oriented i.e they are written with just the hardware in mind.

5. It requires less instruction to get the result.

6. It is used for critical jobs.

7. With Assembly Language, you are not required to keep track of memory locations.

8. It is a low-level embedded system, hence it can be used to program any embedded system.

Why Study Assembly Language?

1. Gain complete control over a system’s resources.

2. Understand processor and memory function.

3. Direct access to hardware.

4. Career opportunities and advancement.