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Intel makes microprocessor, so he could define the instruction format and its corresponse assembly of its processors,so why AT&T could also create its syntax of assembly language?

thanks.

1 Answer 1

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This google book link (Assembly Language Step-by-Step: Programming with Linux By Jeff Duntemann p. 444) matches what I would have guessed: that AT&T developed the syntax for use on a number of different platforms.

AT&T played a major role in the history of computers. AT&T (Bell Labs) was the source of Unix, the C programming language, and many other fundamental tools that we continue to use today.

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So... for the same reason that musical notation uses a lot of Italian words!
According to the book, at&t try to define this 'portable-notation' assembly syntax,then what are the platforms that support at&t syntax anyway?As the book says, its really strange that the assembly itself is to be portable on multi-platforms,since their instruction sets varies from one to another.
Some of the syntax stays the same across platforms: use of % on register names, $ on immediate values, and "opcode source, destination" format. This syntax is available, via as or gas, on many platforms including x86, MIPS, PowerPC, PDP-11, probably a few thousand chips. HOWEVER, because the operations supported, registers provided, memory layouts, and details vary between platforms, programs written to the AT&T syntax do not "recompile" on any other platform. The common syntax was used because the assembler served as a 'back end' for the C compiler, i.e., it received generated input.
@Artelius: <irony>Bravi! Bravi! Bravissimi!</irony>

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