PowerBASIC provides a number of ways in which you can use assembly-language. You can write the whole program using the Inline Assembler. You can write entire Subs and Functions in assembly-language, or, you can write individual lines of code in assembler, surrounded by BASIC statements. This ability to intermix BASIC and assembly-language, line by line, makes PowerBASIC's Inline Assembler a very powerful tool when optimal performance is an essential issue.
To write good assembler code, you must be aware of certain items:
The types of variables supported by PowerBASIC
How those variables are stored in memory
How to use variable names in your Inline Assembler routines
Which registers to save (and restore)
How to pass arguments (to and from Inline Assembler routines)
The need to pop everything you push
The differences between near and far calls
The rules to follow when writing assembly-language routines
See Also