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From: jhallen@wpi.wpi.edu (Joseph H Allen)
Newsgroups: comp.arch
Subject: Intel Assembly Language (Yuk!)
Message-ID: <993@wpi.wpi.edu>
Date: 24 Feb 89 11:01:50 GMT
Sender: jhallen@wpi.wpi.edu
Reply-To: jhallen@wpi.wpi.edu (Joseph H Allen)
Organization: Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Worcester, Mass.
Lines: 53


Warning:  This is a (silly) flame

	OK, so who's the one responsible for the Intel/Microsoft instruction
set mnemonics and assembly language?  They're disgusting!

1 - Why the '0f8h' constant method instead of the much nicer '$f8' method?

2 - What's with this 'OFFSET label' junk?  It should be written '#label'
    (or #label-segment to get segment offset)

3 - Every Motorola programmer knows that the proper comment introducer is
    '*' not ';'

4 - Why 'mov' when 'ld' implies right to left?

5 - Why exactly is the assembly language structured/object oriented?  If
    I had written the assembler, this module:

IGROUP	group	_TEXT
	assume	cs:IGROUP
_TEXT	segment	byte public 'CODE'
PUBLIC	_getone

; function to return next key pressed or -1 if none

_getone	PROC	near
	mov	ah,6		; call no. 6
	mov	dl,0ffh		; indicate that this is a read
	int	21h		; call dos
	mov	ah,0		; zero upper half
	jnz	ex		; branch if got a key
	mov	ax,0ffffh	; load -1
ex:	ret
_getone	ENDP
_TEXT	ends
	end
- - - -

Would be written this way:

	segment	CODE
	public	_getone

* Function to return next key pressed or -1 if none

_getone ld	ah,#6		Call No. 6
	ld	dl,#$ff		indicate read, not write
	swi	$21		call dos
	ld	ah,#0		make ax clean return register
	bne	ex		branch if no key
	ld	ax,#$ffff	indicate no key
ex	rts