Electrical and Computer
Engineering Computer Design Lab –
ENCS4110
Objectives ARM Addressing Modes
Explore ARM addressing modes
- Register Addressing Mode
- Register Indirect Addressing Mode
- ARM's Autoindexing Pre-indexed Addressing Mode
- ARM's Autoindexing Post-indexing Addressing Mode
- Program Counter Relative (PC Relative) Addressing Mode
- and so on
Review of ARM Registers Set
As mentioned in the previous lab, ARM has 16 programmer-visiable registers and a Current Program Status
Register, CPSR.Here is a picture to show the ARM register set.
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R0 to R12 are the general-purpose registers.
R13 is reserved for the programmer to use it as the stack pointer.
R14 is the link register which stores a subroutine return address.
R15 contains the program counter and is accessible by the
programmer.
Conditonion code flags in CPSR:
N - Negative or less than
flag Z - Zero flag
C - Carry or bowrrow or
extendedflag V - Overflow flag
The least-significant 8-bit of the CPSR are the control bits of the
system. The other bits are reserved.
Summary of ARM addressing Modes
There are different ways to specify the address of the operands for any given operations such as load, add or
branch. The different ways of determining the address of the operands are called addressing modes. In this lab,
we are going to explore different addressing modes of ARM processor and learn how all instructions can fit
into a single word (32 bits).
Name Alternative Name ARM Examples
Register to register Register direct MOV R0, R1
Absolute Direct LDR R0, MEM
Literal Immediate MOV R0, #15 ADD R1, R2, #12
Indexed, base Register indirect LDR R0, [R1]
Pre-indexed, Register indirect LDR R0, [R1, #4]
base with displacement with offset
Pre-indexed, Register indirect LDR R0, [R1, #4]!
autoindexing pre-incrementing
Post-indexing, autoindexed
Register indirect post-increment
LDR R0, [R1], #4
Double Reg indirect Register indirect Register
LDR R0,
indexed
[R1, R2]
Double Reg indirect with
Register
scaling
indirect indexed
LDR with
R0, [R1,
scaling
R2, LSL #2]
Program counter relative LDR R0, [PC, #offset]
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Literal Addressing Mode
Examples Meaning
CMP R0, #22
ADD R1, R2, #18 MOV R1, #30
MOV R1, #0xFF
CMN R0, #6400 ; R0 + #6400, update the N, Z, C and V flags CMPGT SP, R7, LSL #2; update t
Register Indirect Addressing Mode
Register indirect addressing means that the location of an operand is held in a register. It is also called indexed
addressing or base addressing.
Register indirect addressing mode requires three read operations to access an operand. It is very important
because the content of the register containing the pointer to the operand can be modified at runtime. Therefore,
the address is a variable that allows the access to the data structure like arrays.
Read the instruction to find the pointer register
Read the pointer register to find the oprand address
Read memory at the operand address to find the operand Some
examples of using register indirect addressing mode:
LDR R2, [R0] ; Load R2 with the word pointed by R0
STR R2, [R3] ; Store the word in R2 in the location pointed by R3
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Register Indirect Addressing with an Offset
ARM supports a memory-addressing mode where the effective address of an operand is computed by adding
the content of a register and a literal offset coded into load/store instruction. For example,
Instruction Effective Address
LDR R0, [R1, #20] R1 + 20 ; loads R0 with the word pointed at by R1+20
ARM's Autoindexing Pre-indexed Addressing Mode
This is used to facilitate the reading of sequential data in structures such as arrays, tables, and vectors. A
pointer register is used to hold the base address. An offset can be added to achieve the effective address. For
example,
Instruction Effective Address
LDR R0, [R1, #4]! R1 + 4 ; loads R0 with the word pointed at by R1+4
; then update the pointer by adding 4 to R1
ARM's Autoindexing Post-indexing Addressing Mode
This is similar to the above, but it first accesses the operand at the location pointed by the base register,
then increments the base register. For example,
Instruction Effective Address
LDR R0, [R1], #4 R1 ; loads R0 with the word pointed at by R1
; then update the pointer by adding 4 to R1
Program Counter Relative (PC Relative) Addressing Mode
Register R15 is the program counter. If you use R15 as a pointer register to access operand, the resulting
addressing mode is called PC relative addressing. The operand is specified with respect to the current code
location. Please look at this example,
Instruction Effective Address
LDR R0, [R15, #24] R15 + 24 ; loads R0 with the word pointed at by R15+24
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ARM's Load and Store Encoding Format
The following picture illustrates the encoding format of the ARM's load and store instructions, which is
included in the lab material for your reference. Memory access operations have a conditional execution field in
bit 31, 03, 29, and 28. The load and store instructions can be conditionally executed depending on a condition
specified in the instruction. Now look at the following examples:
CMP R1, R2
LDREQR3, [R4]
LDRNER3, [R5]
Encoding Format of ARM's load and store instructions
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Summary of ARM's Indexed Addessing Modes
Addressing Mode R1 Assembly Mnemonic Effective addressFinalValue in
Pre-indexed, base unchanged
LDR R0, [R1, #d] R1 + d R1
Pre-indexed, base updated
LDR R0, [R1, #d]! R1 + d R1 + d
Post-indexed, base updated
LDR R0, [R1], #dR1 R1 + d
An Example Program of Using Post-indexing Mode
;The semicolon is used to lead an inline documentation
;When you write your program, you could have your info at the top document block
;For Example: Your Name, Student Number, what the program is for, and what it does etc.
; This program will find the sum of an array.
;;; Directives
PRESERVE8 THUMB
; Vector Table Mapped to Address 0 at Reset
; Linker requires Vectors to be exported
AREARESET, DATA, READONLY
EXPORT Vectors
Vectors
DCD 0x20001000 ; stack pointer value when stack is empty
DCD Reset_Handler ; reset vector ALIGN
;Your Data section
;AREA DATA
SUMPDCD SUM
NDCD 5
NUM1 DCD 3, -7, 2, -2, 10 POINTER DCD NUM1
AREAMYRAM, DATA, READWRITE SUMDCD 0
; The program
; Linker requires Reset_Handler
6
AREA MYCODE, CODE, READONLY
ENTRY
EXPORT Reset_Handler
Reset_Handler
;;;;;;;;;;User Code Start from the next line;;;;;;;;;;;;
LDR R1, N ; load size of array -
; a counter for how many elements are left to process
LDR R2, POINTER ; load base pointer of array
MOV R0, #0 ; initialize accumulator
LOOP
LDR R3, [R2], #4 ; load value from array,
; increment array pointer to next word
ADD R0, R0, R3 SUBS R1,; R1,
add #1
value
BGT from
LOOP array to accumulator
; decrement work counter
LDR R4, SUMP STR R0, [R4]
; keep looping until counter is zero
; get memory address to store sum
; store answer
LDR R6, [R4] ; Check the value in the SUM
STOP
B STOP
END
Another Example
;The semicolon is used to lead an inline documentation
;
;When you write your program, you could have your info at the top document block
;For Example: Your Name, Student Number, what the program is for, and what it does etc.
;
;This program will count the length of a string.
;
;;; Directives
PRESERVE8 THUMB
; Vector Table Mapped to Address 0 at Reset
; Linker requires Vectors to be exported
AREARESET, DATA, READONLY
EXPORT Vectors
Vectors
DCD 0x20001000 ; stack pointer value when stack is empty
DCD Reset_Handler ; reset vector
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ALIGN
;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
; Character array - string
; This type of format will construct a C string and null terminate.
; This means you can tell when the string ends
;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
string1
DCB "Hello world!",0
; The program
; Linker requires Reset_Handler
AREA MYCODE, CODE, READONLY
ENTRY
EXPORT Reset_Handler
Reset_Handler
;;;;;;;;;;User Code Start from the next line;;;;;;;;;;;;
LDR R0, = string1 ; Load the address of string1 into the register R0
MOV R1, #0 ; Initialize the counter counting the length of string1
loopCount
LDRB R2, [R0], #1 ; Load the character from the address R0 contains
; and update the pointer R0
; using Post-indexed addressing mode
CBZ R2, countDone ; If it is zero...remember null terminated...
; You are done with the string. The length is in R1.
;ADD R0, #1; ; Otherwise, increment index to the next character
ADD R1, #1; ; increment the counter for length
B loopCount
countDone
B countDone
END ; End of the program
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Lab work:
Program#1:
Write an ARM assembly language program AddGT.s to add up all the numbers that are great
than 5 in the number array NUM1. Look at the following given code for more details and
complete it.
;The semicolon is used to lead an inline documentation
;When you write your program, you could have your info at the top document lock
;For Example: Your Name, Student Number, what the program is for, and what it does
etc.
;;; Directives
PRESERVE8
THUMB
; Vector Table Mapped to Address 0 at Reset
; Linker requires Vectors to be exported
AREA RESET, DATA, READONLY
EXPORT Vectors
Vectors
DCD 0x20001000 ; stack pointer value when stack is empty
DCD Reset_Handler ; reset vector
ALIGN
;Your Data section
;AREA DATA
SUM DCD 0
SUMP DCD SUM
N DCD 7
NUM1 DCD 3, -7, 2, -2, 10, 20, 30
POINTER DCD NUM1
; The program
; Linker requires Reset_Handler
AREA MYCODE, CODE, READONLY
ENTRY
EXPORT Reset_Handler
Reset_Handler
;;;;;;;;;;User Code Start from the next line;;;;;;;;;;;;
; Please complete the program to add up all the
; numbers in the array NUM1 that are greater than 5.
; Put the sum in the register R0.
;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
Hint: Check the example in the lab notes.
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You will hand in the following:
1. The source code in the file AddGT.s
2. The screenshot (print screen) to show the program has been successfully built
3. The screenshot showing the sum in R0.
Program#2:
Write an ARM assembly language program Min-Max.s to find the maximum value and the
minimum value in the number array NUM1. Look at the following given code for more details and
complete it.
;The semicolon is uded to lead an inline documentation
;When you write your program, you could have your info at the top document lock
;For Example: Your Name, Student Number, what the program is for, and what it does etc.
;;; Directives
PRESERVE8 THUMB
; Vector Table Mapped to Address 0 at Reset
; Linker requires Vectors to be exported
AREARESET, DATA, READONLY
EXPORT Vectors
Vectors
DCD 0x20001000 ; stack pointer value when stack is empty
DCD Reset_Handler ; reset vector ALIGN
;Your Data section
;AREA DATA
MaxDCD 0
MaxP DCD Max MinDCD 0
MinP DCD Min
N DCD 12
NUM1 DCD 3, -7, 2, -2, 10, 20, 30, 15, 32, 8, 64, 66 POINTER DCD NUM1
; The program
; Linker requires Reset_Handler
AREA MYCODE, CODE, READONLY
ENTRY
EXPORT Reset_Handler
1
Reset_Handler
;;;;;;;;;;User Code Start from the next line;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
; Add code below to find the maximum value and the minimum value in the number array NUM1
; You can use the example in the notes as a reference.
;
;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
You will hand in the following:
1. The source code in the file Min-Max.s
2. The screenshot (print screen) to show the program has been successfully built
3. The screenshot showing the Min in R5 and the Max in R6.
