The Assembly Programming Master Book
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In this chapter, I describe two competing products, MASM and TASM, and their advantages, drawbacks, common features, and differences. In the late 1980s, when I first started to work on an IBM PC, the first question that I asked more experienced colleagues was about Assembly language. Before that time, I was involved in programming for different computers, which mainly had limited resources. Naturally, Assembly language was the mainlanguage for such computers. [i] I started to work with MASM version 2, as far as I recall. Surprisingly, I started to write database applications using it. My project was not accomplished, but I have grown to love Assembly language. Some time later, I encountered Turbo Assembler 1.0. It operated considerably faster than MASM.
Later, I had to use both assemblers alternately. As you probably guessed, the first love was stronger. Nevertheless, now I must seriously tell you, which of the two products is best suited for writing Windows applications.
Command-Line Options of ML.EXE and TASM32.EXE
I'll start with reference information about the command-line options of ML.EXE (Table 5.1) and TASM32.EXE (Table 5.2). First consider the ML.EXE translator.
| Parameter | Description |
|---|---|
| /? | Display help. |
| /AT | Create a COM file. Naturally, this option is not needed when programming for Windows. |
| /Bl<linker> | Use the alternative linker. The linker is supposed to start automatically. |
| /c | Compile without linking. |
| /CP | Preserve the case of user identifiers. This can be used for additional control. |
| /Cu | Toggle all user identifiers to uppercase. |
| /Cx | Preserve the case in all user identifiers declared as PUBLIC or EXTERNAL. |
| /coff | Generate object modules in the common object file format (COFF). This is a required option. |
| /D< name > = [string] | Define a text macro. This is useful for debugging with conditional compiling. |
| /EP | Output the preprocessed listing (program code with INCLUDE files) to stdout . |
| /F<hex> | Set the stack size (bytes). The default value is 1 MB. |
| /Fe<file> | Define a name for the resulting executable file name. This makes sense when used without the /c option. |
| /Fl<file> | Generate a listing file. |
| /Fm<file> | Generate a map file. This makes sense when used without the /c option. |
| /Fo<file> | Set the object file name. |
| /Fpi | Include the 80x87 coprocessor emulation code. This option became obsolete with the arrival of the i486 processor. |
| /Fr | Generate limited browser information. |
| /FR | Generate full browser information. |
| /G<c d / z> | Use a Pascal, C, or Stdcall calling convention. |
| /H<number> | Set the maximum length of external names . |
| /I<name> | Add the path for the INCLUDE files. Up to 10 /I options are allowed. |
| /link<opt> | Linker command-line options. This makes sense when used without the /c option. |
| /nologo | Do not display the compiler logo text. |
| /Sa | Maximize the listing format. |
| /Sc | Include timings in the listing. |
| /Sf | Generate a first-pass listing. |
| /Sl<number> | Set the listing line width. |
| /Sn | Suppress a symbol-table listing. |
| /Sp<number> | Set the listing page length. |
| /Ss<string> | Set listing subtitle text. |
| /St<string> | Set listing title text. |
| /Sx | Include fragments of conditional compiling in the listing. |
| /Ta<file> | Assemble files with a filename extension other than ASM. |
| /W<number> | Set the list of compile-time events that should be interpreted as warnings. |
| /Wx | Interpret warnings as errors. |
| /w | This is the same as /W0 or /WX. |
| /X | Ignore the path set by the INCLUDE environment variable. |
| /Zd | Debug information. This comprises only line numbers . |
| /Zf | Declare all names as PUBLIC . |
| /Zi | Include full debug information. |
| /Zm | Enable the compatibility mode with MASM 5.01. |
| /Zp<n> | Set structure alignment. |
| /Zs | Perform a syntax check only. |
| Parameter | Description |
|---|---|
| /? or /h | Display a help screen. |
| /a | Order segments in the object file alphabetically . |
| /s | Order segments in the object file sequentially. |
| /d<name>= [string] | Define a text macro. This is convenient for debugging using conditional compiling. |
| /e | Generate the 80x87 coprocessor emulation code. |
| /r | Resolve coprocessor instructions. |
| /i<string> | Set the path for INCLUDE files. The syntax is similar to that of the PATH command. |
| /j<dir> | Define the assembler startup directive. |
| /kh<number> | Specifies the maximum number of identifiers. The default value is 16,384. |
| /l | Generate a listing file. |
| /la | Generate a listing file and show high-level interface code inserted by the assembler. |
| /ml | Treat all identifiers as case sensitive. |
| /mx | Treat PUBLIC and EXTERNAL identifiers as case sensitive. |
| /mu | Interpret all characters in identifiers as uppercase. |
| /mv<number> | Set the maximum identifier length. |
| /m<number> | Set the number of translator passes . The default value is 1. |
| /n | Suppress the symbol table in the listing file. |
| /os, /o, /op, /oi | The object code type: Choose from standard, overlay, Pharlap, and IBM. |
| /p | Check for impure protected-mode code (e.g., the code with side effects). |
| /q | Remove all redundant information (e.g., all information not necessary for linking) from the object code. |
| /t | Suppress all messages on successful assembling. |
| /wo, /wl, /w2. | The level of message verbosity : Do not generate messages or generate messages. |
| /w+<xxx>/w-<xxx> | Generate (+) or do not generate ( ˆ ) messages of class xxx. |
| /x | Include false conditional assembling messages in the listing. |
| /z | Display the source line containing an error along with error messages. |
| /zi | Include debug information in the object code. |
| /zd | Include line numbers in the object code. |
| /zn | Do not include debug information in the object code. |
To start assembling using MASM32 or TASM32, it is possible to use a special batch file. This is a normal text file that lists all command-line options. For example, instead of the MASM32/ml/c mt. asm command line, it is possible to create a text file containing the following commands:
/c mt.asm
Name the file MT.CMD, and issue the following command:
ml @mt.cmd.
TASM32 works with batch files in a similar way.
[i] For example, at one time Yamaha PCs were widely used in education. Those PCs had only 64 KB (later 128 KB) of RAM. Naturally, writing programs in high-level programming languages such as Pascal for such a PC was an impermissible luxury.
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