MASM 6.0 Programmer's Guide Errors and Omissions: Chapter 7

ID Number: Q73746

6.00 | 6.00

MS-DOS | OS/2

docerr

Summary:

The following is a list of documentation additions and corrections for

chapter 7 of the "Microsoft Macro Assembler Programmer's Guide"

version 6.0 manual. The section and page numbers are listed first,

followed by a description of the addition or correction.

Section 7.1, Page 167

---------------------

The first paragraph of this section should read:

Jumps are the most direct method for changing program control from

one location to another. At the processor level, jumps work by

changing the value of the IP (Instruction Pointer) for near jumps,

and by changing the values of the CS and IP registers for far

jumps. The IP register is loaded with the offset of the target

address and CS is loaded with the segment of the target address.

The many forms of the jump instruction handle jumps based on

conditions, flags, and bit settings.

Section 7.1.1.2, Page 169

-------------------------

The sample line

jmp ebx ; FAR32 jump

should read:

jmp ebx ; NEAR32 jump

In addition, replace FAR32 with NEAR32 in the sentence before the

above line.

Section 7.1.1.2, Page 170

-------------------------

The example shows the following TYPEDEF statement:

NPVOID TYPEDEF NEAR PTR VOID

Note that VOID is not a defined type. It acts as a placeholder and

improves program readability. In this case, the TYPEDEF is equivalent

to:

NPVOID TYPEDEF NEAR PTR

Section 7.1.2.2, Page 173

-------------------------

Table 7.1, on page 173, uses the same character for the number zero

and the letter "O." This may cause some confusion when reading the

table. The "OF" indicates the overflow flag and does not represent the

hexadecimal number 0F.

Section 7.1.2.6, Page 176

-------------------------

In the sample code, the line

.IF cx = 20

should be:

.IF cx == 20

Section 7.2, Page 177

---------------------

The description of the LOOPE, LOOPZ, LOOPNE, and LOOPNZ states:

Loops while equal (or not equal). Checks CX and a condition. The

loop ends when the condition is true. Set CX to a number out of

range if you don't want to control the loop.

It should read:

Loops while equal (or not equal). Checks CX and a condition

(indicated by the zero flag). The loop continues while the

condition is met and CX is not zero. Set CX to a number out of

range if you don't want the CX count to control the loop.

Section 7.3.2, Page 187

-----------------------

The sample program contains a line that states:

mov sp, bp

Because there are no local variables and the SP register is not

otherwise modified, this line is not needed.

Section 7.3.3.2, Page 191

-------------------------

This first paragraph states:

The parameters are separated from the reglist by a comma if there

is a list of registers.

According to the BNF grammar shown in Appendix B, the above statement

is incorrect. The comma is optional and is required only if the

parameters are placed on the next line.

For example,

myproc PROC FAR C PUBLIC USES di si, var1:word, arg1:VARARG

is equivalent to:

myproc PROC FAR C PUBLIC USES di si var1:word, arg1:VARARG

Note in the last case there is no comma following the SI register.

Section 7.3.3.3, Page 193

-------------------------

The sample program contains the line:

dec arg1

It should read:

dec argcount

Section 7.3.6, Page 199

-----------------------

Page 199 shows two sample lines for declaring prototypes. They are:

addup PROTO NEAR C argcount:WORD, arg2:WORD, arg3:WORD

myproc PROTO FAR C, argcount:WORD, arg2:VARARG

The last prototype has a comma following the C language specifier

while the first prototype does not. The documentation fails to mention

that the comma is optional; therefore, both statements are correct.

Section 7.3.7.5, Page 202 and 203

---------------------------------

In the first example, the code is missing a few steps. The following

is the corrected code:

.CODE

mov bx, pfunc ; pfunc is the Function Table

mov si, Num ; Num contains 0 or 2

INVOKE FUNCPTR PTR [bx+si], 1, 1 ; Selects proc1 or proc2

The first paragraph on page 203 states:

You can also use ASSUME to accomplish the same task. The ASSUME

statement associates the type PFUNC with the BX register.

It should read:

You can also use ASSUME to accomplish the same task. In the sample

below, the ASSUME statement associates the type FUNCPTR with the BX

register.

In the example that follows, add the following line after the ASSUME:

mov bx, pFunc

Change the INVOKE line to read:

INVOKE [bx+si], 1, 1

Section 7.3.8.2, Page 205

-------------------------

Page 205 shows the epilogue code when <LOADDS> is specified on a PROC

line. One line states:

mov sp,bp

It should read:

mov sp,bp ; if localbytes is not 0

Section 7.4.1, Page 209

-----------------------

The sample code demonstrates how to print a message on the display

using a DOS interrupt call. It shows the following code:

.DATA

msg BYTE "This writes to the screen",$

.CODE

mov dx,offset msg

mov ah,09h

int 21h

It should read:

.DATA

msg BYTE "This writes to the screen$"

.CODE

mov ax,SEG msg

mov ds,ax

mov dx,offset msg

mov ah,09h

int 21h

Section 7.4.2, Page 211

-----------------------

The last paragraph states:

To replace the address in the interrupt descriptor table with the

address of your procedure, AL needs to be loaded with 04h and AH

loaded with 35, the Get Interrupt Vector function. The Set

Interrupt Vector function requires 25 in AH.

The numbers 35 and 25 are presented in hexadecimal rather than

decimal. They should be written as 25h and 35h.

Section 7.4.2, Page 212

-----------------------

Change the line

.MODEL LARGE,C,DOS

to:

.MODEL LARGE,C,OS_DOS

Also, the last sentence on page 212 should read:

Before your program ends, you should restore the original address

by loading DS and DX with the original interrupt address and using

the DOS set vector function to store the original address at the

correct location.