Chapter-8

The Stack and Introduction to Procedures

Overview
The stack segment of a program is used for temporary storage of data
and addresses. Stack is used to implement procedures.

8.1 The Stack

A stack is one-dimensional data structure. It is processed in a “last-in,
first-out” manner. The most recent addition to the stack is called top
of the stack.
A program must set aside a block of memory to hold the stack. For
example,
.STACK 100H
When the program is assembled and loaded in memory, SS will
contain the segment number of the stack segment. For the
preceding stack declaration, SP, the stack pointer, is initialized to
100H. This represents the empty stack position. When the stack is
not empty, SP contains the offset address of the top of the stack.

PUSH and PUSHF

To add a new word to the stack we PUSH it on. The syntax is
PUSH source
where source is a 16-bit register or memory word. For example,
PUSH AX

Execution of PUSH causes the following to happen:

1. SP is decreased by 2.
2. A copy of the source content is moved to the address specified by
The instruction PUSHF, which has no operands, pushes the contents
of the FLAGS register onto the stack.

Figure 8.1A Empty Stack Figure 8.1B After PUSH AX

Offset Offset
00F0 00F0
00F2 00F2
00F4 00F4
00F6 0100 SP 00F6 00FE SP

00F8 00F8
1234 AX 1234 AX
00FA 00FA
00FC 5678 BX 00FC 5678 BX
00FE 00FE 1234 SP
0100 SP 0100

STACK (empty) STACK

 Figure 8.1C After PUSH BX

Offset
00F0
00F2
00FC SP
00F4
00F6 1234 AX
00F8
5678 BX
00FA
00FC 5678 SP
00FE 1234
0100

STACK

Initially, SP contains the offset address of the memory location

immediately following the stack segment.
POP and POPF
To remove top item from the stack we POP it. The syntax is
POP destination
where destination is a 16-bit register (except IP) or memory word.
For example,
POP BX

Execution of POP causes the following to happen:

1. The content of SS:SP (the top of the stack) is moved to
the destination.
2. SP is increased by 2.

Note that PUSH and POP are word operations, so a byte instruction
such as
Illegal: PUSH DL
Is illegal. So is a push of immediate data, such as
Illegal: PUSH 2
Note: an immediate data push is legal for the 80186/80486 processors.

Figure 8.2A Before POP Figure 8.2B After POP CX

Offset Offset
00F0 00F0
00F2 00F2
00FC SP
00F4 00F4
00F6 FFFF CX 00F6 00FE SP

00F8 00F8
0001 DX 5678 CX
00FA 00FA
00FC 5678 SP 00FC 5678 0001 DX
00FE 1324 00FE 1234 SP
0100 0100

STACK STACK
Figure 8.2C After POP DX

Offset
00F0
00F2
00F4
0100 SP
00F6
00F8 5678 CX
00FA
00FC 5678 1234 DX
00FE 1234
0100 SP
STACK (empty)
8.2 A Stack Application
TITLE PGM8_1: REVERSE INPUT PUSH AX LOOP TOP
.MODEL SMALL INC CX EXIT:
.STACK 100H INT 21H MOV AH, 4CH
.CODE JMP WHILE_ INT 21H
MAIN PROC END_WHILE: MAIN ENDP
MOV AH, 2 MOV AH,2 END MAIN
MOV DL, ‘?’ MOV DL, 0DH
INT 21H INT 21H
XOR CX, CX MOV DL, 0AH
MOV AH, 1 INT 21H
INT 21H JCXZ EXIT
WHILE_: TOP:
CMP AL, 0DH POP DX
JE END_WHILE INT 21H
8.3 Terminology of Procedures
An assembly language program can be structured as a collection of
procedures. One of the procedures is the main procedure, and it
contains the entry point to the program.
When one procedure calls another, control transfers to the called
procedure.

Procedure Declaration
The syntax of procedure declaration is the following:

name PROC type

; body of the procedure
RET
name ENDP

Name is the user-defined name of the procedure. The optional type

is NEAR or FAR (if type is omitted, NEAR is assumed).
NEAR Type Procedure
For NEAR type procedure the statement that calls the procedure is in
the same segment as the procedure itself.
FAR Type Procedure
For FAR type procedure the calling statement is in a different segment
than the called procedure.
Figure 8.3
Procedure Call and Return MAIN PROC
CALL PROC1
next instruction

PROC1 PROC
first instruction

RET
RET
The RET (return) instruction causes control transfer back to the
calling procedure. Every procedure (except the main procedure)
should have a RET someplace; usually it’s the last statement in the
procedure.

Communication Between Procedures

Unlike high-level language procedures, assembly language
procedures do not have parameter lists, so it’s up to the
programmer to devise a way for procedures to communicate. For
example, if there are only a few input and output values, they can
be placed in registers.

8.4 CALL and RET

To invoke a procedure, the CALL instruction is used. There are two
kinds of procedure calls, direct and indirect.
Direct Procedure Call
The syntax of direct procedure call is
CALL name
where name is the name of a procedure.
Indirect Procedure Call
The syntax of an indirect procedure call is
CALL address_expression
where address_expression specifies a register or memory location
containing the address of a procedure.

Executing a CALL instruction causes the following to happen:

1. The return address to the calling program is saved on the stack. This
is the offset (IP) of the next instruction after the CALL statement.
2. IP gets the offset address of the first instruction of the procedure.

Offset Code segment

address
MAIN PROC
0010 CALL PROC1 Stack
Offset
IP 0012 next instruction segment
address

00FC
PROC1 PROC
00FE
0200 first instruction
0100 SP

RET

Figure 8.4A Before CALL

 Offset Code segment
address
MAIN PROC
0010 CALL PROC1
Offset Stack segment
0012 next instruction address

00FC
PROC1 PROC
00FE 0012 SP
IP 0200 first instruction
0100

RET

Figure 8.4B After CALL

To return from a procedure, the following instruction is executed:
RET pop_value
The integer argument pop_value is optional. Execution of RET
causes the stack to be popped into IP. If a pop_value N is specified
then an N bytes from the stack.
 Offset Code segment
address
MAIN PROC
0010 CALL PROC1
Offset Stack segment
0012 next instruction address

00FC
PROC1 PROC
00FE 0012 SP
0200 first instruction
0100

IP 0300 RET

Figure 8.5A Before RET

 Offset Code segment
address
MAIN PROC
0010 CALL PROC1
Offset Stack segment
IP 0012 next instruction address

00FC
PROC1 PROC
00FE
0200 first instruction
0100 SP

0300 RET

Figure 8.5B After RET

8.5 An Example of a Procedure
TITLE PGM8_2: MULTIPLICATION BY ADD AND SHIFT

.MODEL SMALL REPEAT:

.STACK 100H TEST BX, 1
.CODE JZ END_IF
MAIN PROC ADD DX, AX
CALL MULTIPLY END_IF:
MOV AH, 4CH SHL AX, 1
SHR BX, 1
INT 21H
JNZ REPEAT
MAIN ENDP
POP BX
MULTIPLY PROC POP AX
PUSH AX RET
PUSH BX MULTIPLY ENDP
XOR DX, DX END MAIN