Chapter 4

Macro Processors

1
Chapter 4: Macro Processors
 4.1 Basic Macro Processors Functions
 4.2 Machine-Independent Macro Processors
Features
 4.3 Macro Processors Design Options
 4.4 Implementation Examples

2
Introduction to Macro Processors
 A macro instruction (macro) is a notational
convenience for the programmer.
 Allow the programmer to write a shorthand version of a
program
 A macro represents a commonly used group of
statements in the source programming language.
 Expanding the macros
 The macro processor replaces each macro instruction with
the corresponding group of source language statements.

3
Introduction to Macro Processors
(Cont.)
 A macro processor
 Essentially involve the substitution of one group
of characters or lines for another.
 Normally, it performs no analysis of the text it
handles.
 It doesn’t concern the meaning of the involved
statements during macro expansion
 The design of a macro processor generally is
machine independent.
4
Introduction to Macro Processors
(Cont.)
 Three examples of actual macro processors:
 A macro processor designed for use by assembler
language programmers
 Used with a high-level programming language
 General-purpose macro processor, which is not
tied to any particular language

Source Macro Expanded Compiler Object

Code Processor Code /Assembler program
(with macro)

5
Introduction to Macro Processors
(Cont.)
 C uses a macro preprocessor to support
language extensions, such as named constants,
expressions, and file inclusion.

#define max(a,b) ((a<b)?(a):(b))

#define MACBUF 4
#include <stdio.h>

6
4.1 Basic Macro Processors Functions
 Macro processor should processes the
 Macro definitions
 Define macro name, group of instructions
 Macro invocation (macro calls)
 A body is simply copied or substituted at the point of call
 Expansion with substitution of parameters
 Arguments are textually substituted for the parameters
 The resulting procedure body is textually substituted for the call

7
Macro Definition
 Two new assembler directives are used in macro definition:
 MACRO: identify the beginning of a macro definition
 MEND: identify the end of a macro definition
 label op operands
name MACRO parameters
:
body
:
MEND
 Parameters: the entries in the operand field identify the parameters of the
macro instruction
 We require each parameter begins with ‘
&’
 Body: the statements that will be generated as the expansion of the macro.
 Prototype for the macro:
 The macro name and parameters define a pattern or prototype for the macro
instructions used by the programmer 8
Fig 4.1: Macro Definition

•
Macro definition

Macro body contains no label 9

Fig 4.1: Macro Definition (Cont.)
•
Macro definition

Macro body contains no label 10

Macro Invocation
 A macro invocation statement (a macro call) gives
the name of the macro instruction being invoked and
the arguments in expanding the macro.
 Macro Invocation vs. Subroutine Call.
 Statements of the macro body are expanded each time the
macro is invoked.
 Statements of the subroutine appear only one, regardless
of how many times the subroutine is called.
 Macro invocation is more efficient than subroutine call,
however, the code size is larger
11
Fig 4.1: Macro Invocation
•
Macro invocation

12
Macro Expansion
 Each macro invocation statement will be expanded
into the statements that form the body of the macro.

 Arguments from the macro invocation are

substituted for the parameters in the macro prototype.
 The arguments and parameters are associated with one
another according to their positions.
 The first argument in the macro invocation corresponds to the
first parameter in the macro prototype, etc.

13
Macro Expansion
Expanded source program
Source program Macro .
definition
.
WD MACRO .
STA DATA1
STA DATA1
STB DATA2
Macro STB DATA2
MEND Expansion .
. by
WD STA DATA1
Macro
. processor STB DATA2
WD .
. STA DATA1
WD Macro STB DATA2
. invocation
. 14
Macro Expansion with Parameters
Substitution
Source program Macro Expanded source program
definition
.
WD MACRO &A1,&A2 .
STA &A1 STA DATA1
STB &A2 STB DATA2
Macro
MEND Expansion .
. by STA DATA3
WD DATA1,DATA2 Macro
STB DATA4
. processor
WD DATA3,DATA4 .
. STA DATA5
WD DATA5,DATA6 Macro STB DATA6
. invocation .
15
Program From Fig. 4.1 with Macros
Expanded (fig. 4.2)
•
Macro expansion

16
Program From Fig. 4.1 with Macros
Expanded (fig. 4.2)(Cont.)
•
Macro expansion

17
Program From Fig. 4.1 with Macros
Expanded (fig. 4.2)(Cont.)
•
Macro expansion

18
No Label in the Body of Macro
 Problem of the label in the body of macro:
 If the same macro is expanded multiple times at different places in the
program.
 There will be duplicate labels, which will be treated as errors by the
assembler,
 Solutions:
 Simply not to use labels in the body of macro.
 Explicitly use PC-relative addressing instead.
 For example, in RDBUFF and WRBUFF macros,
JEQ * +11
JLT *-14
 It is inconvenient and error-prone.
 Other better solution?
 Mentioned in Section 4.2.2.

19
4.1.2 Macro Processors Algorithm and
Data Structures
 Two-pass macro processor

 One-pass macro processor

20
Two-pass macro processor
 Two-pass macro processor
 Pass1: process all macro definitions
 Pass2: expand all macro invocation statements
 Problem
 Does not allow nested macro definitions
 Nested macro definitions
 The body of a macro contains definitions of other macros
 Because all macros would have to be defined during the
first pass before any macro invocations were expanded
 Solution
 One-pass macro processor

21
Nested Macros Definition
 MACROS (for SIC)
 contains the definitions of RDBUFF and
WRBUFF written in SIC instructions.
 MACROX (for SIC/XE)
 contains the definitions of RDBUFF and
WRBUFF written in SIC/XE instructions.
 Example 4.3

22
Macro Definition within a Macro Body
(Figure 4.3(a))

23
Macro Definition within a Macro Body
(Figure 4.3(b))

24
Nested Macros Definition (Cont.)
 A program that is to be run on SIC system
could invoke MACROS whereas a program to
be run on SIC/XE can invoke MACROX.

 Defining MACROX does not define

RDBUFF and WRBUFF.
 These definitions are processed only when an
invocation of MACROX is expanded.
25
One-pass macro processor
 One-pass macro processor
 Every macro must be defined before it is called

 One-pass processor can alternate between macro

definition and macro expansion

 Nested macro definitions are allowed

26
Three Main Data Structures
 DEFTAB
 A definition table used to store macro definition including
 macro prototype
 macro body
 Comment lines are omitted.
 Positional notation has been used for the parameters for efficiency in
substituting arguments.
 E.g. the first parameter &INDEV has been converted to ?1 (indicating the first
parameter in the prototype)
 NAMTAB
 A name table used to store the macro names
 Serves as an index to DEFTAB
 Pointers to the beginning and the end of the macro definition
 ARGTAB
 A argument table used to store the arguments used in the expansion of macro
invocation
 As the macro is expanded, arguments are substituted for the corresponding
parameters in the macro body. 27
28
 One-Pass Macro Processor
 Procedures
 Macro definition: DEFINE
 Macro invocation: EXPAND

NAMTAB
One-Pass GETLINE
macro Macro DEFINE DEFTAB
definition
processor PROCESSLINE
Macro EXPAND ARGTAB
invocation

29
One-Pass Macro Processor Allows
Nested Macro Definition
 Sub-procedure DEFINE should handle the
nested macro definition
 Maintains a counter named LEVEL
 Each time a MACRO directive is read, the value
of LEVEL is increased by 1
 Each time an MEND directive is read, the value
of LEVEL is decreased by 1

31
Algorithm for one-pass macro processor (Fig. 4.5)
(Cont.)

32
33