Initial brainstorm for Concepts in x86-64-assembly

Programming x86-64 Assembly
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Hi, folks.

I’ve created an initial brainstorm for concepts in the track, listing some subtopics and possible dependencies between them.

This is just preliminary, I believe things are going to change as I write the concepts. Maybe some topics are too large, maybe there are important things not listed, etc.

Right now, there’s a draft in github where we’re discussing things.

I’m posting it here so we can gather feedback from the community.

This is the current state of the list:

List of Topics for Concepts

This is a preliminary list of topics to be implemented in the x86-64-assembly track.

Most of the topics should map onto a Concept and have its own Concept Exercise.

Introductory Topics

Basics

  • comments

  • constants (EQU)

  • what is a register

  • what is an instruction

  • general layout of an instruction (INSTRUCTION DEST, SRC)

  • some sample instructions (MOV, ADD, SUB)

  • general structure of a function

  • calling and returning (CALL and RET)

  • PREREQUISITES : NONE

Memory

  • section .data/.rodata/.bss

  • RIP-relative addressing (REL)

  • BYTE/WORD/DWORD/QWORD

  • what is a pointer (labels)

  • accessing memory (indirection, LEA)

  • what is an array

  • array offsets

  • PREREQUISITES: BASICS

Integers

  • binary representation

  • signedness, sign extension (MOVZX, MOVSX, CDQ, CQO) and negation (NEG)

  • arithmetic (INC, ADD, ADC, DEC, SUB, MUL/IMUL, DIV/IDIV)

  • PREREQUISITES: BASICS

Conditionals/Loops

  • most common flags in rFLAGs (CF, PF, ZF, SF, DF, OF)

  • comparison instructions (CMP and TEST)

  • jump instructions (JMP and Jcc)

  • difference between signed and unsigned jumps

  • branchless instructions (CMOVcc and SETcc)

  • additional loop-control instructions (LOOP, LOOPE, LOOPNE)

  • PREREQUISITES: BASICS

Bitwise Instructions

  • accessing individual bits (BT, BTR, BTS)

  • bitwise instructions (NOT, OR, XOR, AND, SHR/SAR, SHL)

  • other bit manipulation instructions (POPCNT, LZCNT, BSR, BFR)

  • PREREQUISITES: INTEGERS

Stack

  • RSP and RBP

  • prologue and epilogue (PUSH and POP)

  • stack frame

  • stack alignment

  • PREREQUISITES: MEMORY

Strings

  • ASCII characters

  • strings are arrays ending in NULL

  • main string instructions (LODSx, STOSx, MOVSx, CMPSx, SCANSx, REP, REPE, REPNE)

  • direction flag (CLD, STD)

  • PREREQUISITES: MEMORY

Functions

  • section .text

  • extern and global

  • calling conventions (registers)

  • tail call

  • recursion

  • PREREQUISITES : CONDITIONALS/LOOPS AND STACK

Floating-Point Numbers

  • binary representation (IEEE-754)

  • XMM registers (MOVSx)

  • calling conventions

  • storing floating-point in memory

  • converting between integers and floating-points (CVTxx2xx and ROUND)

  • common arithmetic instructions (ADDSx, SUBSx, MULSx, DIVSx)

  • comparison instructions (COMISx and UCOMISx)

  • other common instructions (SQRTSx)

  • PREREQUISITES: INTEGERS, CONDITIONALS/LOOPS, MEMORY

Advanced Topics

Macros and Assembler Directives

  • what is a macro and how is it different from functions

  • single-line macros (%define)

  • multi-line macros

  • %assign

  • times and %rep

  • PREREQUISITES: BASICS

Introduction to SIMD

  • what are SIMD operations

  • XMM as SIMD registers

  • integer SIMD move (MOVDQA, PMOV)

  • packed shifts (PSLLD, PSRLD)

  • packed integer arithmetic instructions (PADD, PSUB, PMUL)

  • packed integer horizontal reductions (PHADD, PHSUB)

  • packed bitwise instructions (PAND, PANDN, POR, PXOR, PSR, PSL)

  • packed comparison instructions (PCMP, PTEST)

  • PREREQUISITES: BITWISE INSTRUCTIONS, FLOATING-POINT NUMBERS

Floating-Point SIMD Instructions

  • packed floating-point arithmetic instructions (ADDPx, SUBPx, MULPx, DIVPx)

  • packed floating-point horizontal reductions (HADDPx, HSUBPx)

  • other packed instructions (PABS, PMAX, PMIN)

  • PREREQUISITES: INTRODUCTION TO SIMD

Other topics (To be discussed)

  • ATOMICS?
  • SYSCALLS?
  • HEAP?
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