I written an asm function in Delphi 7 but it transforms my code to something else:
function f(x: Cardinal): Cardinal; register;
label err;
asm
not eax
mov edx,eax
shr edx, 1
and eax, edx
bsf ecx, eax
jz err
mov eax, 1
shl eax, cl
mov edx, eax
add edx, edx
or eax, edx
ret
err:
xor eax, eax
end;
// compiled version
f:
push ebx // !!!
not eax
mov edx,eax
shr edx, 1
and eax, edx
bsf ecx, eax
jz +$0e
mov eax, 1
shl eax, cl
mov edx, eax
add edx, edx
or eax, edx
ret
err:
xor eax, eax
mov eax, ebx // !!!
pop ebx // !!!
ret
// the almost equivalent without asm
function f(x: Cardinal): Cardinal;
var
c: Cardinal;
begin
x := not x;
x := x and x shr 1;
if x <> 0 then
begin
c := bsf(x); // bitscanforward
x := 1 shl c;
Result := x or (x shl 1)
end
else
Result := 0;
end;
Why does it generate push ebx and pop ebx? And why does it do mov eax, ebx?
It seems that it generates the partial stack frame because of the mov eax, ebx.
This simple test generates mov eax, edx but doesn't generate that stack frame:
function asmtest(x: Cardinal): Cardinal; register;
label err;
asm
not eax
and eax, 1
jz err
ret
err:
xor eax, eax
end;
// compiled
asmtest:
not eax
and eax, $01
jz +$01
ret
xor eax, eax
mov eax, edx // !!!
ret
It seems that it has something to do with the label err. If I remove that I don't get the mov eax, * part.
Why does this happen?
Made a bug report on Quality Central.