Assembly language is a symbolic representation of machine language. It is therefore very architecture-specific.

Each instruction is represented by a short mnemonic word such as “LDR” for Load Register, “MOV” for move, or “MUL” for multiply, followed by (optional) arguments. The addressing mode is implied by the format of the arguments. Different assemblers use slightly different syntax.

Here is a “Hello, World!” program written for an x86_64 Linux system using the GNU Assembler (gas/as) syntax (which is the main assembler used in open source projects such as the Linux kernel, as well as the SPO600 course), using Linux Syscalls:

 .text
 .globl _start
 _start:
     mov $len, %edx     /* file descriptor: 1 is stdout */ 
     mov $msg, %ecx     /* message location (memory address) */
     mov $1, %ebx       /* message length (bytes) */
     mov $4, %eax       /* write is syscall #4 */
     int $0x80          /* invoke syscall */
     mov $0, %ebx       /* exit status: 0 (good) */
     mov $1, %eax       /* kernel syscall number: 1 is sys_exit */
     int $0x80          /* invoke syscall */
 .data
 msg:
     .ascii "Hello, World!\n"
     len = . - msg

Here is a similar program for a 32-bit x86 system using the Nasm syntax:

 section    .text
 global    _start
 _start:
     mov    edx,len          ; message length (bytes)
     mov    ecx,msg          ; message location (memory address)
     mov    ebx,1            ; file descriptor: 1 is stdout
     mov    eax,4            ; kernel syscall number: 4 is sys_write
     int    0x80             ; invoke syscall
     mov    ebx,0            ; exit status: 0 (good)
     mov    eax,1            ; kernel syscall number: 1 is sys_exit
     int    0x80             ; invoke syscall
 section    .rodata
 msg    db    'Hello, world!\n'
 len    equ    $ - msg

Notice that the order of the arguments in some lines is reversed between the two assemblers, and the prefixes to symbols and values also change.

This is written in GNU Assembler (gas/as) syntax using Linux Syscalls:

 .text
 .globl _start
 _start:
      mov     %r0, $1     /* file descriptor: 1 is stdout */
      ldr     %r1, =msg   /* message location (memory address) */
      ldr     %r2, =len   /* message length (bytes) */
      mov     %r7, $4     /* write is syscall #4 */
      swi     $0          /* invoke syscall */
      mov     %r0, $0     /* exit status: 0 (good) */
      mov     %r7, $1     /* kernel syscall number: 1 is sys_exit */
      swi     $0          /* invoke syscall */
 .data
 msg:
      .ascii      "Hello, world!\n"
      len = . - msg

This is also in GNU Assembler (gas/as) syntax using Linux Syscalls:

 .text
 .globl _start
 _start:
 	mov     x0, 1           /* file descriptor: 1 is stdout */
 	adr     x1, msg   	/* message location (memory address) */
  	mov     x2, len   	/* message length (bytes) */
  	mov     x8, 64     	/* write is syscall #64 */
 	svc     0          	/* invoke syscall */
 	mov     x0, 0     	/* status -> 0 */
 	mov     x8, 93    	/* exit is syscall #93 */
 	svc     0          	/* invoke syscall */
 .data
 msg: 	.ascii      "Hello, world!\n"
 len= 	. - msg

Here is the same “Hello World” program in 6502 assembler as used in the 6502 Emulator, using the ROM routines for output:

 define SCINIT $ff81 ; initialize/clear screen
 define CHROUT $ffd2 ; output character to screen
 	JSR SCINIT	; clear screen
 	LDY #$00	; set Y index to zero
 loop:	LDA msg,Y	; get a character
 	BEQ done	; quit if character is null
 	JSR CHROUT	; output the character
 	INY		; increment index
 	JMP loop	; get next character
 done:	BRK		; break (stop program)
 msg:	
 	DCB "H","e","l","l","o",$2C,$20
 	DCB "W","o","r","l","d","!",$0d, $00

• Assembler Basics
• "Hello World" in many different types of assembler
• x86_64 Register and Instruction Quick Start
• aarch64 Register and Instruction Quick Start