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C to assembly: loops, structs and arrays

We have covered the C calling convention, frame pointers and the assembly code in the previous article. This article will focus on the code generation for:

C to assembly for loops, structure access and array indexing

Code generation for a "while" loop

The following example shows the code generation for a simple while loop. Also note that the function shown below does not use a frame pointer as this function does not have local variables. Since the FRAME_POINTER register is not used, parameter access is carried out by directly taking offsets from the STACK_POINTER register.

Code generation for a while loop

void copy_string(const char *source, char *destination)
{
     // Save registers on stack so that they can be used in this function
     PUSH R1
     PUSH R2
     // Move destination to register R1 (Direct offset from STACK_POINTER)
     MOVE 16(STACK_POINTER), R1
     // Move source to address register R2 (Direct offset from STACK_POINTER)
     MOVE 12(STACK_POINTER), R2
  while(*destination++ = *source++);
     // Define the label L1 for beginning of loop
     // Copy the byte from source to destination and increment pointers
  L1 MOVE_BYTE (R2), (R1)
     ADD #1, R1
     ADD #1, R2
     // Branch if not equal to zero. If the value moved to the destination
     // is not zero, branch to L1 (i.e. stay in the while loop)
     // Exit while loop as soon as a zero is moved into the destination
     BRANCH_IF_NOT_EQUAL L1
}
     // Restore the old values of R1 and R2 by popping them off the stack
     POP R2
     POP R1
     // Return back to caller
     RETURN_FROM_SUBROUTINE

Code generation for a "for" loop

Code generation for the for loop is covered in the example given below.

Code generation for a for loop

for (i=0; i < 100; i++)
{
  . . .
}
    
      * Data Register R2 is used to implement i.
      * Set R2 to zero (i=0)
      MOVE #0, R2
    
  L1  
      . . .
      // Increment i for (i++)
      ADD #1, R2
      // Check for the for loop exit condition ( i < 100)
      COMPARE #100, R2
      // Branch to the beginning of for loop if less than flag is set
      BRANCH_IF_LESS_THAN L1

Code generation for structure access

The code generation for C structure access is covered here. The example shows the filling of a message structure. This function does not have LINK and UNLK as the local variable p_msg has been assigned to a register, so no space needs to be allocated for local variables on the stack.

Code generation for structure access

typedef struct 
{
   UChar type;
   UChar sub_type;
   UShort source_id;
} MessageHeader;

typedef struct
{
   MessageHeader header;
   UChar status;
   UChar reason;
   UShort padding;
} StatusMessage; 
   
void send_status_message()
{
     # Save Address Register R1 on stack. Register R1 will be used for p_msg 
     PUSH R1
   StatusMessage *p_msg;
   p_msg = malloc(sizeof(StatusMessage));
     // Push the size of StatusMessage on the stack
     PUSH #8
     // Call malloc
     JUMP_TO_SUBROUTINE _malloc
     // Pop the parameter off the stack
     ADD #4, STACK_POINTER
     // _malloc returns in R0, this value is copied to R1
     MOVE.L R0, R1     
   p_msg->header.type = STATUS_MESSAGE;
     // Type is at offset 0 in the structure
     MOVE_BYTE #100, (R1)
   p_msg->header.sub_type = 0;
     // Clear sub_type at offset 1
     MOVE_BYTE #0, 1(R1)
   p_msg->header.source_id = TASK_ID;
     // source_id is at offset 2 and involves a word access
     MOVE_WORD #0x0A22, 2(R1)
   p_msg->status = SUCCESS;
     // Status field is at offset 4
     MOVE_BYTE #1, 4(R1)
   p_msg->reason = NOTHING;
     // Reason field is at offset 5
     MOVE #1, 5(R1)
   send_message(STATUS_TASK_ID, p_msg);
     // Push p_msg on to the stack
     PUSH R1
     // Push STATUS_TASK_ID on to the stack
     PUSH #0x0B23
     // Invoke send_message
     JUMP_TO_SUBROUTINE _send_message
     // Pop the parameters off the stack
     ADD #8, STACK_POINTER
     
}
    // Restore Address Register R1
    POP R1
    RETURN_FROM_SUBROUTINE

Code generation for array indexing

The code below shows an instance of array indexing. The generated code is very inefficient because it leads to a multiply by structure size. This overhead can also be reduced by making the size of the structure a power of 2, i.e. 2, 4, 8, 16 etc. In such cases the compiler would replace the multiply with a shift instruction.

Code generation for array indexing

typedef struct
{
    Ulong a;
    Ushort b;
} ABStructure;

for (i=0; i < 100; i++)
{
   abstructure[i].x = 0;
   . . .
}

     // Code for i = 0, R2 is used for i
     MOVEL #0, R2
     // Move index i into R3
  L1 MOVE_WORD R2, R3
     // Multiply index with size of ABStructure to determine the offset for the indexed
     // structure
     MULTIPLY_WORD #6, R3
     // Base address of abstructure is in R5, add the offset in D3 to obtain the address
     // of the indexed structure entry and set it to zero
     MOVE #0, (R5, R3)
     . . .
     // i++
     ADD #1, R2
     // For loop comparison (i < 100)
     COMPARE #100, R2
     // If less than 100, branch to loop start at L1
     BRANCH_IF_LESS_THAN L1

Most compilers will optimize the above code by directly incrementing the pointer in a loop. The optimized code and the generated assembly code are shown below. This optimization really speeds up array indexing in a loop as multiply/shifts are avoided.

Code generation for array indexing (optimized)

 // Effective C Code
ABStructure *ptr = &abstructure[0];
for (i=0; i < 100; i++)
{
   ptr->x = 0;
   . . .
   ptr++;
}
     // Store the base address of the array in Address Register A5
     MOVE #_abstructure, R5
     // Code for i = 0, R2 is used for i
     MOVE #0, R2
     // Code corresponding to ptr->x = 0;
  L1 MOVE #0, (R5)
     . . .
     // Code corresponding to ptr++
     // Add size of ABStructure to address in A5 (ptr)
     ADD #6, R5
     // i++
     ADD #1, R2
     // For loop comparison (i < 100)
     COMPARE #100, R2
     // If less than 100, branch to loop start at L1
     BRANCH_IF_LESS_THAN L1

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