| name | ody-asm |
| description | Wire Wrap Odyssey assembly language patterns and debugging reference. Use when writing, reviewing, or debugging Odyssey assembly code, looking up callee-save patterns, heap parameter passing, comparison/branch patterns, bulk memory ops, or when inserting trace calls to debug assembly. |
| version | 1.0.0 |
Odyssey Assembly Patterns Reference
Key Assembly Patterns
# ALU ops (register selectors always required)
ALUOP_AL %A+B%+%AL%+%BL% # AL + BL -> AL
ALUOP_AL %A+B%+%AH%+%BH% # AH + BH -> AL
ALUOP_DL %A%+%AL% # copy AL to DL (A/B write through ALU only)
ALUOP_ADDR_D %A%+%AH% # copy AH to memory at address in D
ALUOP_FLAGS %A-B%+%AL%+%BL% # compare AL vs BL (flags only, no CMP instruction)
# Callee-save prolog/epilog (restore in REVERSE order)
ALUOP_PUSH %A%+%AH%
ALUOP_PUSH %A%+%AL%
PUSH_CH
PUSH_CL
# ... body ...
POP_CL
POP_CH
POP_AL
POP_AH
RET
# Heap parameter passing
CALL :heap_push_AL # push arg
CALL :some_function # function pops args internally
CALL :heap_pop_AL # pop return value
# Memory/variables
LDI_C 0x4000 # 16-bit address into C
LDA_C_AL # load byte at [C] into AL
ST $my_var 0x42 # store immediate to variable
LD_AL $my_var # load variable
LD16_A $my_word_var # load 16-bit variable into AH:AL
All instructions are left-justified in actual code. Indentation above is for readability only.
Important Code Patterns
- No CMP instruction: compare via subtraction (
ALUOP_FLAGS %A-B%) and check flags. O flag for subtraction: O=1 means underflow (A < B), O=0 means no underflow (A >= B). Use JO to branch when A < B, JNO to branch when A >= B. E flag compares operands directly (use any ALU op, even AND/OR).
- No hardware multiply/divide: software in
math.asm (:mul16, :div8). Multiply-by-10 = 8a + 2a via shifts.
- MEMCPY/MEMFILL count is N-1: AL=0 copies 1 unit, AL=255 copies 256.
- Hardware bulk ops:
MEMCPY_C_D, MEMCPY4_C_D, MEMFILL4_C_PEEK, MEMFILL4_C_I auto-increment C (and D for copies).
- JMP for tail calls: preserves caller's return address on stack.
- MASKINT/UMASKINT: required around transfer register (TAH/TAL/TD) use, since interrupts clobber them. Heap functions do this internally.
- 256-byte circular buffers: keyboard (0xCC00) and UART (0xCB00) -- only low byte of pointers changes for natural wraparound.
- Display memory is directly manipulated: terminal input works on display memory, not a separate buffer.
:cursor_mark_getstring copies from display to buffer.
- Timer values are BCD: DS1511Y RTC uses BCD (0x75 = 75, not 117).
- Shared error labels: related functions share error-exit labels when stack frames match.
Troubleshooting Assembly Code
Some static analysis of assembly is reasonable. But once the problem gets complex, it's better to take a step back and collect additional information through tracing. Any .asm file may have :trace_N (:trace_0, :trace_1, etc.) calls inserted at strategic locations. See also os/bios/lib/trace.asm. For example:
CALL :trace_0 # comment about what we expect to see here
The trace functions are entirely idempotent -- they do not cause any changes to any registers or memory (aside from printing the trace data to the console). Every trace call prints to the console:
- an identifier,
DEBUG0, DEBUG1 ... DEBUG7
- the memory address where the CALL to trace was initiated
- The current values stored in all four primary registers (A, B, C, D)
- The current extended memory pages used by 0xe... and 0xd...
When debugging code generated from C, first make <c-file-basename>.asm to generate the assembly file, then directly edit the generated .asm file to insert trace calls. Then make to assemble the output binary. As long as you don't edit the .c file, you can keep editing the .asm file to move or add traces, and make will keep regenerating the binary without clobbering your traces.
Ask the owner to run and report trace output back.
