Assembly language translator

Details Assembly language translator Assembly language translator

1998-10-14

2001-11-13

Chaki, Kakali (Department: 2762)

Data processing: software development, installation, and managem

Software program development tool

Translation of code

C717S152000, C717S152000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06317873

ABSTRACT:

TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention is related in general to the field of computer applications. More particularly, the invention is related to a translator and method therefor for translating from a computer program in assembly language to a computer program in a high-level language, such as C.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Computers can be programmed by applications written in many different types of computer languages. The earlier computer applications were typically written in assembly language, such as Z8000. More recently, the preference in programming languages is high-level languages such as C and C++, which are easier to understand, code, and debug because of their closer resemblance to English. Further, these high-level languages often possess other advantages such as portability to different computing platforms. Because a large volume of complex application programs deployed in many industries is already written in assembly languages, manually rewriting these programs in high-level languages would be extremely costly. Therefore, a more cost effective way to recode these application programs in high-level languages is desired.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, there is a need for a translator that is capable of translating a program written in an assembly language to a high-level language such as C.
In accordance with the present invention, an assembly language to a high-level language translator is provided which eliminates or substantially reduces the disadvantages associated with prior systems and methods.
In one aspect of the invention, a computer-implemented method of translating an assembler program into a high-level language computer program is provided. The method includes receiving each line of the assembler program, parsing individual fields in each assembler program line, including an absolute line number and an opcode for an assembler instruction. Each assembler program line is then stored into a data structure such that each line is accessible and each field in each line is accessible, and the opcode of each assembler program line is parsed into individual digits. For each assembler program line, a decision tree is traversed in response to the value of each opcode digit to identify the corresponding assembler instruction. The assembler instruction is then translated to an equivalent set of code in the high-level computer language. The equivalent set of code for each assembler program line is generated and provided as output.


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