ICS 312 Spring 2026 | Subprograms

Learning Outcomes

Be able to develop assembly programs using a main classes of instructions and programming idioms.

Understand some of the relations between high-level programming languages and assembly language

Understand how the stack is used to implement subprograms and structured as activation records and how it is managed at runtime

Introduction to subprograms in assembly (PCASM Sections 4.1, 4.2, 4.3, 4.4)

Lecture notes Textbook reading

Implementing programs that take arguments in assembly (PCASM Sections 4.5.1)

Lecture notes Textbook reading

Implementing subprograms with local variables in assembly (PCASM Sections 4.5.2)

Lecture notes Textbook reading

Practice Problems

Source code

The buffer overflow code vulnerability due to stack corruption

Lecture notes Textbook reading

Tracing stack use of C programs, reverse-engineering of assembly code

Sample homework assignment No turn-in