EXAM I

• Exam Material
  • All material covered in lectures 1-12 (except history)

  • Material covered in required reading

  • Major Topics
    • Binary numbers and 2's complement
    • Memory segments, flags, and registers
    • Opcodes and addressing
    • The mode byte
    • Conditional branching and looping
    • All logical, shifting, and mathematical operations
    • MACROs
    • Stack (PUSH/POP)
    • Procedures & Recursion
    • Argument passing and Linking to C
    • Text Mode Video

• Question Types
  • Solve homework-like problems
    
    • "Explain Why..."
    • "Show How..."

  • Analyze and debug programs
    
    • TurboDebugger dumps
    • NASM listings

  • Write MP-like code fragments
    • Use only valid 80x86 OPCODES
    • Use valid registers to index memory
    • Avoid extraneous code

• Material NOT on the Exam
  • History

• Allowed
  • One 8.5" x 11" (two-sided) page of notes
    (Whatever you can fit onto the page)
    

    Suggestions

    • Opcodes (JMPs, Compares, Math, Logic)
    • Flags (What are they, what do they mean, when are they set?)
    • Registers
    • Mode byte interpretation
    • Stack & Procedures
    • MACROs
    • C/ASM linking
    • LIB306 routines
    • Anything else you can't readily remember

  • Pencils & Erasers

• Not Allowed (and not necessary)
  • Any device that performs calculation or stores data
    (calculators, computers, Analytical steam engines)

  • Textbooks, Class Notes, or other materials

• Warnings
  • Questions from the newsgroup may be altered (numbers changed, meaning inverted, etc.). Read the questions carefully!

• Assigned Seating

• Suggested Study Methods
  • Practice solving example problems (old exams, newsgroup, homeworks)
  • Practice writing new code (MP2 is a good exercise)
  • Use CodeView to trace through your programs (MP0,MP1,MP2)
  • Browse my On-line Lecture Notes
  • Consult textbook for clarifications and examples
  • Ask questions

• Previous Examinations
  • Exam1: Fall 1998
  • Exam1: Fall 1996
  • Student Review Questions

• Exam1: Spring 2002 (Solutions)
  [Posted 2/19/02]

Common Machine Problem Errors and Techniques

• Control Flow:
  • Execution of variables
  • No RET in procedures

• Loop Boundry conditions - The set (5,4,3,2,1,0) makes six iterations

• BP uses the Stack Segment (SS:BP) in address calculation
  In general DS != SS

• Comments should describe the problem, not the commands
  • MOV CX,6 .. LOOP CX ; Loop 6 times BAD
  • MOV CX,6 .. LOOP CX ; Sum HW Scores GOOD

• Register Planning: Think ahead about which registeres you will need.

• Compactness: Repetitive tasks should be implemented as loops