Assembly Language Syntax

Assembly syntax varies slightly depending on the assembler. Two commonly used assembly syntaxes are:

• Intel Syntax: Used in x86 and x86-64 architecture. Operands are written in destination, source order.
• AT&T Syntax: Often used in Unix-like environments. Operands are written in source, destination order.

Intel Syntax Example

mov eax, 10     ; Move 10 into register eax
add eax, 5      ; Add 5 to eax
    

AT&T Syntax Example

movl $10, %eax  ; Move 10 into register eax
addl $5, %eax   ; Add 5 to eax
    

Registers

Registers are small storage units in the CPU. Common x86-64 registers include:

• rax: General-purpose register (accumulator).
• rbx: Base register.
• rcx: Counter register.
• rdx: Data register.