Turbo Assembler

Turbo Assembler (TASM) is an assembler package developed by Borland which runs on and produces code for 16- or 32-bit x86 MS-DOS or Microsoft Windows. It can be used with Borland's high-level language compilers, such as Turbo Pascal, Turbo Basic, Turbo C and Turbo C++. The Turbo Assembler package is bundled with the Turbo Linker, and is interoperable with the Turbo Debugger. TASM can assemble MASM source using its MASM mode and has an ideal mode with a few enhancements. Object-oriented programming has been supported since version 3.0. The latest version of Turbo Assembler is 5.0, with files dated 1996 and patches up to 2002; it is still supplied with Delphi and C++Builder.

The Borland Turbo Assembler 5.0 package contains three 3.5-inch diskettes and three small books. For learning how to write in assembly language using Borland Turbo Assembler 5.0 further resources such as knowledge of MS-DOS interrupts should be consulted.

An example of Borland Turbo Assembly Language that prints 'Merry Christmas!':

p8086
model small
dataseg
mymessage DB 'Merry Christmas!',0
codeseg
startupcode
mov bx, SEG mymessage
mov es, bx
mov si, OFFSET mymessage
mov bx, 0
fetchcharacter:
mov DL, es:[si+bx]
cmp DL, 0
je ending
mov ah, 2
push bx
push si
push es
int 21h
pop es
pop si
pop bx
inc bx
jmp fetchcharacter
ending:
mov ah, 04ch
mov al, 0
int 21h
end

Lazy Assembler^[1] is a freeware assembler not associated with Borland which is compatible with TASM ideal mode but with support for newer instructions not supported by TASM: MMX, SSE, SSE2, SSE3 (PNI), SSE4 (MNI), 3DNow!Pro. It was last updated to version 0.56 on 6 August 2007; the website is no longer available, but the program is available for download.^[2]

See also

• Comparison of assemblers

References

Notes

• Swan, Tom (1989). Mastering Turbo Assembler. Carmel, Indiana: Howard W. Sams & Company, Hayden Books division of Macmillan Computer Publishing. ISBN 0-672-48435-8. 2nd Edition, 1995 ISBN 0-672-30526-7.

External links

• Archive of official webpage
• Mastering Turbo Assembler: Programming with Objects