ASCII and BCD Arithmetic

Chapter 11 S. Dandamudi

Outline
Representation of Numbers
ASCII representation BCD representation
Unpacked BCD Packed BCD

Processing packed BCD numbers

Packed BCD addition Packed BCD subtraction Example: Multibyte packed BCD addition

Processing ASCII numbers

ASCII addition ASCII subtraction ASCII multiplication ASCII division

Performance: Decimal versus binary arithmetic

Example: Multidigit ASCII addition

S. Dandamudi

1998

BCD: Page 2

To be used with S. Dandamudi, Introduction to Assembly Language Programming, Springer-Verlag, 1998.

Representation of Numbers
Numbers are in ASCII form
when received from keyboard when sending to the display

Binary form is efficient to process numbers internally

Input data (in ASCII)

ASCII to binary conversion

Process in binary
S. Dandamudi

Binary to ASCII conversion

Output data (in ASCII)

1998

BCD: Page 3

To be used with S. Dandamudi, Introduction to Assembly Language Programming, Springer-Verlag, 1998.

Representation of Numbers (contd)

Requires conversion between these two number representations
We have used GetInt/GetLint and PutInt/PutLint to perform these two conversions

In some applications, processing of numbers is simple (e.g. a simple addition)

Does not justify the input and output conversion overheads In this case, it is better to process numbers in the decimal form

Decimal numbers can be represented in

ASCII BCD
1998 S. Dandamudi BCD: Page 4

To be used with S. Dandamudi, Introduction to Assembly Language Programming, Springer-Verlag, 1998.

Representation of Numbers (contd)

ASCII representation
Numbers are stored as a string of ASCII characters
Example: 1234 is stored as 31 32 33 34H ASCII for 1 is 31H, for 2 is 32H, etc.

BCD representation
Unpacked BCD
Example: 1234 is stored as 01 02 03 04H Additional byte is used for sign Sign byte: 00H for + and 80H for

Packed BCD
Saves space by packing two digits into a byte Example: 1234 is stored as 12 34H
1998 S. Dandamudi BCD: Page 5
To be used with S. Dandamudi, Introduction to Assembly Language Programming, Springer-Verlag, 1998.

Processing ASCII Numbers

Pentium provides four instructions
aaa aas aam aad ASCII adjust after addition ASCII adjust after subtraction ASCII adjust after multiplication ASCII adjust before division

These instructions do not take any operands

Operand is assumed to be in AL

1998

S. Dandamudi

BCD: Page 6

To be used with S. Dandamudi, Introduction to Assembly Language Programming, Springer-Verlag, 1998.

Processing ASCII Numbers (contd)

ASCII addition Example 1
34H = 00110100B 35H = 00110101B 69H = 01101001B Should be 09H Ignore 6

Example 2
36H = 00110110B 37H = 00110111B 6DH = 01101101B Should be 13H Ignore 6 and add 9 to D

The aaa instruction performs these adjustments to the byte in AL register

1998 S. Dandamudi BCD: Page 7

To be used with S. Dandamudi, Introduction to Assembly Language Programming, Springer-Verlag, 1998.

Processing ASCII Numbers (contd)

The aaa instruction works as follows:
If the least significant four bits in AL are > 9 or if AF =1, it adds 6 to AL and 1 to AH.
Both CF and AF are set

In all cases, the most significant four bits in AL are cleared Example:
sub mov add aaa or
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AH,AH AL,'6' AL,'7' AL,30H

; ; ; ; ;

clear AL := AL := AX := AL :=

AH 36H 36H+37H = 6DH 0103H 33H

BCD: Page 8

S. Dandamudi

To be used with S. Dandamudi, Introduction to Assembly Language Programming, Springer-Verlag, 1998.

Processing ASCII Numbers (contd)

ASCII subtraction The aas instruction works as follows:
If the least significant four bits in AL are > 9 or if AF =1, it subtracts 6 from AL and 1 from AH.
Both CF and AF are set

In all cases, the most significant four bits in AL are cleared

This adjustment is needed only if the result is negative

S. Dandamudi

1998

BCD: Page 9

To be used with S. Dandamudi, Introduction to Assembly Language Programming, Springer-Verlag, 1998.

Processing ASCII Numbers (contd)

Example 1: Positive result
sub mov sub aas or AH,AH AL,'9' AL,'3' AL,30H ; ; ; ; ; clear AL := AL := AX := AL := AH 39H 39H-33H = 6H 0006H 36H

Example 2: Negative result

sub mov sub aas or
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AH,AH AL,'3' AL,'9' AL,30H

; ; ; ; ;

clear AL := AL := AX := AL :=

AH 33H 33H-39H = FAH FF04H 34H

BCD: Page 10

S. Dandamudi

To be used with S. Dandamudi, Introduction to Assembly Language Programming, Springer-Verlag, 1998.

Processing ASCII Numbers (contd)

ASCII multiplication The aam instruction adjusts the result of a mul instruction
Multiplication should not be performed on ASCII
Can be done on unpacked BCD

The aam instruction works as follows

AL is divided by 10 Quotient is stored in AH Remainder in AL

aam does not work with imul instruction

1998 S. Dandamudi BCD: Page 11
To be used with S. Dandamudi, Introduction to Assembly Language Programming, Springer-Verlag, 1998.

Processing ASCII Numbers (contd)

Example 1
mov mov mul aam or AL,3 BL,9 BL ; ; ; ; AX,3030H ; multiplier in unpacked BCD form multiplicand in unpacked BCD form result 001BH is in AX AX := 0207H AX := 3237H

Example 2
mov mov and and mul aam or
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AL,'3' BL,'9' AL,0FH BL,0FH BL AL,30H

; ; ; ; ; ; ;

multiplier in ASCII multiplicand in ASCII multiplier in unpacked BCD form multiplicand in unpacked BCD form result 001BH is in AX AX := 0207H AL := 37H
S. Dandamudi BCD: Page 12

To be used with S. Dandamudi, Introduction to Assembly Language Programming, Springer-Verlag, 1998.

Processing ASCII Numbers (contd)

ASCII division The aad instruction adjusts the numerator in AX before dividing two unpacked decimal numbers
The denominator is a single unpacked byte

The aad instruction works as follows

Multiplies AH by 10 and adds it to AL and sets AH to 0 Example:
If AX is 0207H before aad AX is changed to 001BH after aad

aad instruction reverses the changes done by aam

1998 S. Dandamudi BCD: Page 13
To be used with S. Dandamudi, Introduction to Assembly Language Programming, Springer-Verlag, 1998.

Processing ASCII Numbers (contd)

Example: Divide 27 by 5
mov mov aad div AX,0207H ; dividend in unpacked BCD form BL,05H ; divisor in unpacked BCD form ; AX := 001BH BL ; AX := 0205H

aad converts the unpacked BCD number in AX to binary form so that div can be used Example: Multidigit ASCII addition
ASCIIADD.ASM Adds two 10-digit numbers
Adds one digit at a time starting with the rightmost digit
1998 S. Dandamudi BCD: Page 14
To be used with S. Dandamudi, Introduction to Assembly Language Programming, Springer-Verlag, 1998.

Processing Packed BCD Numbers

Two instructions to process packed BCD numbers
daa Decimal adjust after addition
Used after add or adc instruction das Decimal adjust after subtraction
Used after sub or sbb instruction

No support for multiplication or division

For these operations Unpack the numbers Perform the operation Repack them
1998 S. Dandamudi BCD: Page 15
To be used with S. Dandamudi, Introduction to Assembly Language Programming, Springer-Verlag, 1998.

Processing Packed BCD Numbers (contd)

Packed BCD addition Example 1
29H = 00101001B 69H = 01101001B 92H = 10010010B Should be 98H (add 6)

Example 2
27H = 00100111B 34H = 00110100B 5BH = 01011101B Should be 61H (add 6)

Example 3
52H = 01010010B 61H = 01100001B B3H = 10110010B
1998

Should be 13H (add 60H)

BCD: Page 16

S. Dandamudi

To be used with S. Dandamudi, Introduction to Assembly Language Programming, Springer-Verlag, 1998.

Processing Packed BCD Numbers (contd)

The daa instruction works as follows:
If the least significant four bits in AL are > 9 or if AF =1, it adds 6 to AL and sets AF If the most significant four bits in AL are > 9 or if CF =1, it adds 60H to AL and sets CF

Example:
mov add daa AL,71H AL,43H ; AL := B4H ; AL := 14H and CF := 1

The result including the carry (i.e., 114H) is the correct answer
1998 S. Dandamudi BCD: Page 17
To be used with S. Dandamudi, Introduction to Assembly Language Programming, Springer-Verlag, 1998.

Processing Packed BCD Numbers (contd)

Packed BCD subtraction The das instruction works as follows:
If the least significant four bits in AL are > 9 or if AF =1, it subtracts 6 from AL and sets AF If the most significant four bits in AL are > 9 or if CF =1, it subtracts 60H from AL and sets CF

Example:
mov sub das
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AL,71H AL,43H

; AL := 2EH ; AL := 28H
S. Dandamudi BCD: Page 18

To be used with S. Dandamudi, Introduction to Assembly Language Programming, Springer-Verlag, 1998.

Processing Packed BCD Numbers (contd)

Example: Multibyte packed BCD addition Adds two 10-digit numbers
Adds two digits at a time starting from the rightmost pair

For storage of the two input numbers and the result, we can use DT (Define Ten-byte) directive
DT stores in packed BCD form Example:
DT 1234567890

is stored as
90 78 56 34 12H
1998 S. Dandamudi BCD: Page 19

To be used with S. Dandamudi, Introduction to Assembly Language Programming, Springer-Verlag, 1998.

Performance: Decimal vs Binary Arithmetic

Tradeoffs associated with the three representations
Representation Binary Packed BCD ASCII Storage overhead Nil Medium High Conversion overhead High Medium Nil Processing overhead Nil Medium High

1998

S. Dandamudi

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To be used with S. Dandamudi, Introduction to Assembly Language Programming, Springer-Verlag, 1998.

10

Performance: Decimal vs Binary Arithmetic

2.0
add ary Bin dd Da BC

Execution time (seconds)

1.5

1.0
d

0.5

ASCII ad

0.0 0 50 100 Number of calls (in thousands)

1998 S. Dandamudi BCD: Page 21

150

200

To be used with S. Dandamudi, Introduction to Assembly Language Programming, Springer-Verlag, 1998.

Performance: Decimal vs Binary Arithmetic

6.0 5.0

Execution time (seconds)

dd II a SC A

4.0 3.0 2.0 1.0 0.0 0 50 100 Number of calls (in thousands) 150 200

add BCD add Binary

1998

S. Dandamudi

BCD: Page 22

To be used with S. Dandamudi, Introduction to Assembly Language Programming, Springer-Verlag, 1998.

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