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Winter 2015 SPO600 Assembly Language Presentation

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This is a draft only!
It is still under construction and content may change. Do not rely on this information.

Assignment

  1. Select one of the topics below by placing your name in the "Student" column (first come, first served - one student per topic).
  2. During week 3, research the topic and prepare a 3- to 5-minute presentation to teach the answer to the class.
  3. Be prepared to teach this presentation during week 4. You may want to draw whiteboard diagrams, use presentation slides, or have a 1-page handout. Please avoid taking more than 5 minutes in total for your presentation.

Deadlines

  • Topic selection: 11:40 am (end of class), Tuesday, January 22
  • Presentation ready: 8:00 am (before class), Tuesday, January 27

FAQ

  • Q: How much detail should the presentation include?
    • A: Each of these topics is pretty small and straightforward. Provide enough detail that your colleagues in this course will know what they need to know going forward -- the focus is practical knowledge necessary to understand, modify, and write code. Where appropriate, provide some type of resource for future reference -- a link to an existing web resource, a 1-page handout, or a blog post or wiki page about the topic.
  • Q: How will this be marked?
    • A: One of the Week 4 Deliverables is to write a short blog post summarizing your presentation.
  • Q: What about the topics not selected by a student?
    • A: Feel free to grab a second topic if you're interested. I'll teach the unclaimed topics.
  • Q: Can we work with others preparing our topic?
    • A: Yes. In many cases, one topic is complimentary to another topic, and it would be great if you coordinated on your presentations.

Topics

Topic Question/Topic Description Presenter Links to resources (Wiki page, handout, web resources) Link to your blog post on this topic
x86 Registers What are the names and sizes of all of the x86_64 registers? Why are they named this way? Which ones have special significance, unusual operation, or are required for specific operations?
Aarch64 Registers What are the names and sizes of all of the Aarch64 registers? Why are they named this way? Which ones have special significance, unusual operation, or are required for specific operations?
Address and immediate values on Aarch64 In Aarch64 systems, the size of each instruction is limited to 32 bits. Since some bits are required to encode the operation, addressing mode, and registers, the number of bits available to specify an address or immediate value (constant) are much less than the 64 bits required for a full address or integer value on this on this architecture. How are constant values represented, and what are the limitations on the values that can be specified? How can you work around these limitations?
NASM Syntax What is NASM, and what are the basic rules of NASM syntax? How do you use preprocessor directives (such as #include and #define) or equivalent?
GNU x86_64 gas Syntax What are the basic rules of GNU Assembler (gas) syntax for x86_64 platforms? How do you use preprocessor directives (such as #include or #define) or equivalent?
GNU aarch64 Syntax What are the basic rules of GNU Assembler (gas) syntax for aarch64 platforms? How do you use preprocessor directives (such as #include or #define) or equivalent?
Argument storage on x86_64 When a function/procedure is called on an x86_64 Linux system, where are the arguments stored? What if there are many arguments?
Argument storage on aarch64 When a function/procedure is called on an aarch64 Linux system, where are the arguments stored? What if there are many arguments?
System call numbers on x86_64 What are the system call numbers on an x86_64 Linux system? Where are they defined and how do you use them?
System call numbers on aarch64 What are the system call numbers on an aarch64 Linux system? Where are they defined and how do you use them?
PLT In an ELF file, what is a PLT and how is it used? When does an ELF file not contain a PLT?
Assembling using gas How do you use the GNU assembler (gas) to compile an assembly-language program ("assemble" it) from the command line, producing an executable file? What are some useful command-line options?
Single-stepping with gdb How do you execute a program one instruction at a time (single-stepping) using the GNU debugger (gdb)? How do you view register contents between steps?
Dividing integers on x86_64 and aarch64 How do the integer division instructions work on x86_64 and aarch64? How are they different? What are the advantages of each?
Static and dynamic linking What are the differences between static and dynamic linking? What are the advantages of each from the point of view of performance, resource utilization, and security? Linpei Fan
The Mysterious XOR x86 and x86_64 code often contains instructions that XOR a register with itself (e.g., xor %eax,%eax). What does this do and why is it used? What is the equivalent in Aarch64?
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