Day 3

Pointers

	Pointers in ASM are really just memory addresses.

Memory layout for 16bit DOS COM
	Memory in 16bit DOS is segmented into 65,536 65,536 byte segments accessed like so:

		0001:0800h  ; segment:offset (in bytes) , usually hex even if you don't see an 'h'.

A program (the way we're doing it) is limited to the space inside of one segment, much later, perhaps
we will assemble to an object file and link to an unlimited, multisegment EXE file.

A pointer is usually accessed with a segment register holding the segment and either an explicit number
or BX or DX holding the offset.

"Variables"
	Variables in ASM are just labels for memory addresses. You also want to jump over variable
declarations, but we'll learn jumps later.

	Here's some code:

		var1 dw 0   ; var1 labels the currect 16bits location in memory.

	Note that if you do:

		mov dx,30  ; just something to make my point
		k db 90h   ; (db is define byte), 90h is machine code for a do nothing instructin (NOP).
		mov ax,4   ; The 90h will be run by the CPU as an instruction before the MOV happens.

That's to show you that these are just labels for memory and not special things like in High Level Languages. 

Making a Pointer
	Here's the code:

		var1 dw 0
		mov bx,offset var1 (the offset operator gives the offset part of the address)

	now with that, we could just use [bx] to access what is at the address in BX, because everything that
we're using should be in our single segment.

	Other times that's not so good, sometimes we need to get the segment also. The segment of the currently
running code is always in CS. DON'T EVER CHANGE CS!!, but you can read CS like so:

		mov ds,cs   ; put CS's value into DS.

Accessing the Pointer
	Here's code:

		var dw 0
		mov bx,offset var  ; give BX var's address
		mov [bx],6   ; put 6 into the address in BX

	Note that only Bx and DX can be used as offset pointers. If you had a segment also you needed to use then
it would go like this: (assuming the segment was in ES)

		mov [es:bx],6 ; put 6 into address at segment ES with offset BX.

A better way for variables
	If you have just a simple number to put into/or read from a variable, then there's an easier way to accomplish
it. Just:

	var dw 0
	mov ax,7
	mov var,ax ; I think you have to use a variable, you can't just put a number in. not sure...
			; that will put AX's value into var.
	mov dx,var  ; will take var's value into DX.

Easy, right?

This Day In Review

	Tomorrow, some math instructions!

	Until Next Time!,
		-GbaGuy


Intro - Day 4