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From: news@ucf1vm.BITNET
Newsgroups: comp.lang.asm370
Subject: Re: why code in 370 Assembler
Message-ID: <9104281753.AA22841@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU>
Date: 27 Apr 91 19:58:38 GMT
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Reply-To: IBM 370 Assembly Programming Discussion List
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chip@osh3.OSHA.GOV (Chip Yamasaki) writes:

>course in school (and I didn't know then either), but does that MVC/MVCL
>instruction resolve to 1 machine code instruction?  If so, then I
>suppose you're right.  If not then you're back to square one.

MVC and MVCL are single machine code instructions.  However, the MVCL is
implemented in micro code in such a way as to allow the task to be interrupted
and restarted.  You also have to load 4 registers prior to executing an MVCL.

>Also the one programmer here who does write ALC always uses a huge
>library of ALC routines and macros.  Isn't that about the same as
>calling a function in C?

Not at all! A *well* coded assembler macro generates exactly the object code
needed and nothing else.  The conditional assembly language of the 360/370
world allows one to create quite powerfull macros ( of course the SYNTAX
of that stuff will drive you crazy ;-) ).

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