Practical Examples and Debugging : Writing a Full Sample Assembler in C/C++

Designing and implementing a full assembler in C or C++ is an excellent practical exercise to consolidate the understanding of assembler architecture,...

Assembler Internals: Design Decisions -> Custom Directives and Instruction Macros

 1. Introduction Custom directives and instruction macros are powerful features within assembler design that enhance expressiveness, flexibility, and...

Assembler Internals: Design Decisions -> Label Resolution and PC-Relative Addressing

 1. Overview Label resolution and PC-relative addressing are critical components in the design of an x86-64 assembler, deeply affecting code generati...

Assembler Internals: Design Decisions -> Symbol Resolution Strategies

 1. Introduction Symbol resolution is a fundamental process within an assembler responsible for mapping symbolic names—such as labels, variables, a...

Assembler Internals: Design Decisions -> Macro Processors and Performance Tradeoffs

 1. Introduction Macro processing is a powerful feature in assemblers that allows programmers to define reusable code templates or macros, which can ...

Assembler Internals: Design Decisions -> One-pass vs Two-pass Assemblers

 1. Introduction A fundamental design decision when creating an assembler is choosing between a one-pass or two-pass architecture. This choice signif...

Object File Generation : Creating Relocatable Object Files -> Using Libraries (e.g., libelf, LLD) to Assist

 Introduction Developing a complete assembler capable of producing valid relocatable object files compliant with ELF specifications involves signific...

Object File Generation : Creating Relocatable Object Files -> ELF32 vs ELF64 Differences

 1. Introduction When designing an assembler targeting x86-64 architectures, understanding the distinctions between the 32-bit ELF (ELF32) and 64-bit...

Object File Generation: ELF Format Deep Dive -> Section Headers: .text, .data, .bss

In the ELF object file format, section headers define the organization of the binary’s data into logically distinct regions. Each section header pro...

Architecture of an Assembler: Data Structures in Assembler Design -> Relocation Table

The relocation table is a fundamental data structure in assembler and linker design, responsible for recording references to symbols or addresses that...

Architecture of an Assembler: Data Structures in Assembler Design -> Instruction Table

The instruction table is the core reference structure that an assembler uses to map mnemonic representations of machine instructions to their correspo...

Architecture of an Assembler: Data Structures in Assembler Design -> Symbol Table

The symbol table is one of the core data structures in any assembler. It serves as a central repository for all named identifiers encountered during t...