Computer Architecture & Programming of the Intel x86 Family

This book is an introduction to computer architecture, hardware and
software, presented in the context of the Intel x86 family. The x86
describes not only a line of microprocessor chips dating back to 1978,
but also an instruction set architecture (ISA) that the chips implement.
The chip families were built by Intel and other manufacturers, and
execute the same instructions, but in different manners. The results are
the same, arithmetically and logically, but may differ in their timing.
Why the focus on the Intel x86? It was the basis of the IBM personal
computer (PC) family and its spin-offs. It has transitioned from a 16 to
a 32 to a 64-bit architecture, keeping compatibility for more than 30
years. It's an de-facto industry standard that has withstood the test of
time.
This book covers the Intel ISA-16 and ISA-32 architectures from the
8086/8088 to the Pentium, including the math coprocessors. A chart of
ISA processors is included.
The purpose of this book is to provide the basic background information
for an understanding of the 80x86 family, the IBM Personal Computer
(pc), and programming in assembly language as an introduction to the
broader field of Computer Architecture. It will stress the pervasiveness
of this pc-based technology in everyday things and events. It will
provide an introduction to Software System Engineering and the Design
for Debugging methodology. This book is a spin-off of a course in
Computer Architecture/System Integration, taught in the graduate
Engineering Science Program at Loyola College (now, Loyola University in
Maryland).
If we learn to program in the language c, for example, we can take our
skills to any computer with a set of c-based tools. If we learn IA-32
assembly language, we have to relearn a language if we switch to a
different architecture.
So, why do we learn assembly language? Because it gives us insight into
the underlying hardware, how it is organized, and how it operates.
This book is dedicated to the graduate students in Engineering Science
at Loyola College, Columbia Campus, who took the course EG-611, "System
Integration I, the x86 Architecture and Assembly Language." The course
was given to hundreds of students over a span of 15 years by myself and
others.
An Extensive bibliography is provided.
Table of Contents
Introduction
Definitions
Technological & Economic Impact
Limitations of the technology
Number Systems
Computer
Instruction Set Architecture
Prefixes
Position notation
Infinities, overflows, and underflows
Hexadecimal numbers
Elementary Math operations
Base conversion
Logical operations on data
Math in terms of logic functions
Negative numbers
Data structures
Integers
BCD Format
ASCII Format
Parity
Lists
Hardware Elements of a Computer
The Central Processing Unit
The fetch/execute cycle
X86 Processor family
Input/Output
I/O Methods
Polled I/O
Interrupt
DMA
Serial versus parallel
Memory
Memory organization and addressing
Caches
Memory Management
Software Elements of a Computer
Instruction Set Architecture (ISA) of the 80x86 Family
Programmers model of the x86
Assembly Language
The compilation process
Operating system: what it is; what it does
The Intel x86 instruction set
Stack Protocols
Basic Math Operations
Logical operations
BCD Operations 64
Operations on STRINGS of data
Shifts/rotates
Multiply
Divide
Faster Math
Interrupt architecture
Pseudo operations
Labels
Addressing modes on the 8086
Effective Address Calculation
Memory Segments
Code addressing modes
Data Addressing Modes
Program Flow
Subroutines
Macro
Modular design
X86 Boot sequence
The 8086 reset
The BIOS ROM
CPUid instruction
Load