Z:\bin\tasm4\binWe suggest that you append this directory to the current value of your environment path variable (see another FAQ question for this). Note that Z:\bin\tasm25 contains an older version of TASM. Other folders that might be of interest in the future are Z:\courses\yap and Z:\courses\v220201.002.
HINTS for MS-DOS PROMPT window: Usually, this is just another window on the Win95 desktop. But to make this window take over the entire screen, press ALT-ENTER. You can return to the Win95 desktop by pressing ALT-ENTER once more. There are basic window functions (such as making a copy of the window output) you can do from the MS-DOS PROMPT. To access these, left-click the icon on the left of the title bar, or right-click the title bar itself.
:> dir /?HINT:
:> dir /? | moreYou type a space-bar to get the next screenful of output from more. Note that ``|'' indicates the pipe from output of ``dir'' to the input of ``more''. Another original from the UNIX world.
You can use any of your favorite editors.
The simplest WYSIWYG editor from Windows 95 is Note Pad.
The simplest is edit from
within the MS-DOS COMMAND PROMPT. Edit is very
simple and intuitive to use. You can figure
it out without reading instructions.
But if you wish, there is online help.
Normally, you invoke "edit
If you use Note Pad or editors
such as MS WORD, you need to beware. These editors
inserts all kinds of formatting commands (such as
the font information, paragraphing and other commands)
among your pure ascii text. If you simply "save" what
you type in such an editor, you will get
a file that contain these non-printable (non-ascii) characters.
TASM will complain. Instead, you should choose
(in Note Pad or MS WORD)
the "save as" command. In the dialog box, choose the
"save as text only" option.
Unfortunately, [PRINT SCREEN] seems to
be disabled in the ACF labs. An alternative
was is to use the COPY and PASTE
functions of the windowing system. In the MS-DOS COMMAND PROMPT
window, you can left-click the MS-DOS icon at the left
corner of the title bar, or right-click the title bar.
A pull-down menu appears, and you can choose edit->mark.
You now mark the region of the window you want to copy:
press the left button at the top-left of the region and drag
the mouse to the bottom-right of the region, and release mouse.
Next, use the pull-down menu again and choose edit->copy.
This saves a copy of the region into a temporary file. If you
now open a new file (say "foo")
in a text editor, you can choose edit->paste to paste the
contents of the temporary file into "foo". You may
now print "foo" from your editor.
A third option which may work for you is to
re-direct the output of your program to a file
and to print that file. For instance, to redirect
the output of your program hw1.exe to the file "foo",
you invoke
For related information, see editors above.
The solution (say, from MS WORD) is to save your file
using the "save as" command. This throws up a dialog window
which contains an option to save your file as "text only".
Choose this option.
Two basic files in DOS, CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT,
used to configure your system. In WinNT, these files
are called CONFIG.NT and AUTOEXEC.NT
and are found in the directory /%systemroot%/System32,
where %systemroot% is where WinNT system information
are found (e.g., %systemroot%=WINNT).
Config.nt (not config.sys) and autoexec.nt (not autoexec.bat)
are used to initialize your MS-DOS environment,
unless some different startup files are specified in the
application's PIF.
echoconfig:
By default, no information is displayed when MS-DOS environment
is initialized. To display information, add the
command echoconfig in the config.nt/autoexec.nt files.
ntcmdprompt:
When you return to the command prompt from a TSR or while
running a MS-DOS application, WinNT runs command.com
(see above)
This allows the TSR to remain active. To run cmd.exe
(the WinNT command prompt) rather than command.com,
add the command ntcmdprompt in CONFIG.NT or
other startup file.
dosonly:
By default, you can start any application from command.com.
But if you start an application other than MS-DOS application,
any running TSR may be disrupted. To ensure that only MS-DOS applications
can be started, add the command dosonly to config.nt or
other startup file.
The easiest is to invoke the [PRINT SCREEN] key
(this is a single key).
To print the image of the entire screen, press [PRINT SCREEN]
To print the image of the window that is currently
active, press [ALT]+[PRINT SCREEN] (this is a combination
of two keys).
:> hw1 > foo
Normally, the output of hw1 is sent to your screen
("the standard output"). The ">" command tells
the system to send it to "foo" instead. (This is
another idea that originated in UNIX.)
Basically, you send the file to a printer that
has a postscript driver. This is available on
any NYU printer connected to unix machines
(your ACF email account is a unix account).
>>
For more information on printing postscript at NYU
CLICK HERE.
Postscript is a computer language for describing
layout of a document. In this class, we like to
distribute notes and homework assignments using
postscript files. To print a postscript file, you
just send the file to any printer that has a postscript
interpreter. All unix-based NYU machines will be able
to print such files. We are working to get this ability
in the PC labs as well (it can sometimes be done).
A postscript file is an ascii file, so you can view it using an editor!
You can recognize a postscript file by its first line,
which is something like this:
This happens if you create your .ASM file using
a fancy editor like MS WORD. It will not happen
if you use editors such as edit which is
a very simple editor available under DOS.
You may not realize you have this problem, as it may show
with the TASM complaining about some problems with your .ASM
file (which you think is a problem with your syntax).
To see if you have this problem, try to open your .ASM
file using edit in MS-DOS. If what you see contains
funny characters, you definitely have this problem.
These funny characters may representing page formatting instructions,
font changing instructions, etc.
(a) Here is how to do it in Windows 95:
go to the start menu->control panel. Click on the
the system icon. Choose the environment tab,
and click on the user PATH variable.
You can now modify its value in the
appropriate value box.
When done, click apply. Now when you invoke
MS-DOS or WINDOWS, the new value of the path
variable will be used. [Note: you can add new
environment variables this way too]
(b) You can also do this within the MS-DOS (but
unlike the previous approach, it will not survive a reboot).
Suppose your TASM is found is in Z:\tasm\bin. To add this
to the path, you type the following to the DOS prompt:
:> set path = <old-path>; Z:\tasm\bin
where <old-path> is the original value of path.
One way to automate this process is to create a
``bat file'' (say, mypath.bat) which performs this function.
Note that ``path'' will print the value of the
current path variable. Hence, to put this information
into mypath.bat, do:
:> path > mypath.bat
Now use an editor to edit mypath.bat, i.e., you insert
``set '' to the beginning of the line, and ``; Z:\tasm\bin''
to the end of the line. Now you can execute this bat file
each time you need it.
Batch programs are stored in batch files.
These are ascii files whose extension is ``.bat''
or ``.cmd''. They contain instructions for the
operating system. When you execute
such a file (you need not type the .bat or .cmd extension
if this is unambiguous), it is as if you issued those instructions
in your window (or MS-DOS prompt). It is useful to
use such files to store a set of related commands
that you want to use frequently. E.g., for this class,
you might want to prepare a batch file containing
the sequence
@rem my homework batch file
echo -- Processing Homework Batch File --
tasm /zi /z hw.asm
tlink /v hw.obj
hw.exe
echo -- Done Homework Batch File --
Some general commands are:
In many ways, Windows NT (or, WinNT) feels just like
Windows 95 (Win95).
The difference is that WinNT is geared towards multiple
users (like UNIX).
Each user has his or her own ``user profile'' that is
usually stored in the folder C:\winnt\profiles\<usr-name>.
Thus, your will find that your desktop files
and start menu are stored here.
Please click here.
Normally the executable files have the extension .exe.
An alternative form of executables have extensions .com.
Read section 14.1 in the textbook for general
information this alternative format. In particular, it
is more compact and useful for small programs.
Section 14.1 also tells you how to create .com files from
the source program, if you were using Microsoft's MASM and LINK.
For Turbo's TASM and TLINK, it is slightly easier. You use TASM
in the normal way, but you call TLINK with an extra ``/T'' flag.
If your object file produced by TASM is called ``myprog.obj'',
then you issue
:> TLINK /T MYPROG
to produce MYPROG.COM.
Taken from
http://www.rlt.dk/~erikoest/bb_terms.htm
2 to the 80th power bytes,
which is approximately 10 to the 24th power
(1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000) bytes.
A yottabyte is equal to 1,024 zettabytes.
The name yotta was chosen because it's the second-to-last
last letter of the Latin
alphabet and also sounds like the Greek letter iota.
2 to the 70th power bytes, which is approximately 10 to
the 21st power (1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000) bytes.
A zettabyte is equal to 1,024 exabytes.
The name zetta was chosen because it's the last letter of the
Latin alphabet and also sounds like the Greek letter Zeta.
(1) 2 to the 60th power (1,152,921,504,606,846,976) bytes.
An exabyte is equal to 1,024 petabytes.
(2) When capitalized, the name of a manufacturer of
mass storage devices.
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Bug reports? Suggestions?
Please send email to yap@nyu.edu.