Using Huge Memory Model and Huge Arrays in MASM (73187)

MORE INFORMATION

Huge model is provided for code documentation and consistency with high-level languages. The symbol @DataSize is defined as 1 under the large model and as 2 under the huge model. Also, under MASM 6.0, @Model is defined as 5 under large model and as 6 under huge model.

Pages 84 and 85 of the "Microsoft Macro Assembler Programmer's Guide" for MASM versions 5.0 and 5.1 describes the memory models that are used by Microsoft high-level languages. Huge model is described as a model where:

Both code and data may be greater than 64K. In addition, data arrays may be larger than 64K. Both code and data are far, and pointers to elements within an array must also be far. Segments are the same for large and huge models.

Page 41 of the "Microsoft Macro Assembler Programmer's Guide" shipped with MASM version 6.0 discusses the limitations of huge model in assembly language:

Huge model implies individual data items larger than a single segment, but the implementation of huge data items must be coded by the programmer. Since the assembler provides no direct support for this feature, huge model is essentially the same as large model.

The two sample programs below demonstrate the creation of a huge array and how to handle incrementing a pointer to the array under MS-DOS and OS/2. The MS-DOS program allocates a huge data item of 100000 bytes and loads every 10000th (ten-thousandth) element into the DL register. The OS/2 program allocates a huge data item and sets every 10000th element to 1. Viewing the execution in CodeView provides the best understanding of the process.

The following are the basic steps used in the sample programs:

MS-DOS: Statically declare multiple, adjacent segments using full segment declarations. This example needs one full 64K segment and another segment for the remainder of the 10000 bytes. The huge array has been declared in two portions. These portions can be treated as a single array. (To do dynamic allocation instead, use int 21h function 48h to request a block the desired size and receive a pointer to the beginning of the allocated area).

OS/2: Use the function DosAllocHuge() to dynamically allocate a huge array. (To do static allocation instead, use multiple, adjacent segments using full segment declarations as in the DOS example).
The segment and offset of the first element are placed in ES and BX, respectively.
When the offset is incremented to advance to another element, the program must handle the case where it wraps at the end of a segment. That is, when the offset value exceeds FFFFh.

MS-DOS: The segment must be incremented by 4096 when addition to the offset sets the carry flag. The 16-bit segment is shifted 4 bits and added to the 16-bit offset to produce a 20-bit address. The maximum value that the 16-bit offset can hold is FFFFh. When the offset wraps, the carry should be added to the bit of the segment that would line up with the 17th bit of the true 20-bit address. This is bit 12 of the segment. Since 2 to the power of 12 is 4096, you add 4096 to the segment when the offset wraps.

OS/2: The segment register is actually a selector into a descriptor table. The descriptor contains segment access rights, the segment base address, and the segment limit. The physical address is computed from the segment base address and the offset. Since you do not have access to the actual address, you cannot modify bit 17 when the offset overflows. Therefore, OS/2 provides a mechanism to get a new selector to the next segment: the DosGetHugeShift() API function. You shift the number 1 left by the value returned from DosGetHugeShift() in order to get the amount of the increment for subsequent selectors. That increment amount added to the original selector value will give you the selector for the segment that contains the rest of the array. (For further details, see page 128 of the Microsoft Press book "Inside OS/2" by Gordon Letwin.)

Sample Code (MS-DOS)

; Huge array example for MS-DOS
; Data is declared statically; every 10000th element is loaded into dl

    .model huge
    .stack

huge_data1 segment para public 'fardata'  ; segment size is 64K
    huge_array1 db  65535 dup( 1 )        ; can't dup 65536 elements
                db  1     dup( 1 )        ;   since max word is 65535
huge_data1 ends

huge_data2 segment para public 'fardata'
    huge_array2 db  34464 dup( 2 )        ; remainder of 100000 bytes
huge_data2 ends

    .code

Start:
    mov ax, huge_data1
    mov es, ax
    mov bx, offset huge_array1        ; start at element 1
    mov cx, 10                        ; do this 10 times
    sub dx, dx
again:
    mov dl, es:[bx]           ; es:[bx] is the array element
    add bx, 10000             ; skip 10000 elements
    jnc testcx                ; test for wrap of offset
    mov ax, es                ; add 4096 to seg if offset wrapped
    add ax, 4096
    mov es, ax
testcx:
    loop again

    mov ax, 4c00h             ; terminate program
    int 21h

    end Start

Sample Results (MS-DOS)

The following is a summary of execution (as viewed from CodeView):

   CX   ES:[BX]     ADDRESS
   =========================
   A       1       67E8:0000    ; values from huge_array1
   9       1       67E8:2710    ;
   8       1       67E8:4E20    ;        .
   7       1       67E8:7530    ;        .
   6       1       67E8:9C40    ;        .
   5       1       67E8:C350    ;
   4       1       67E8:EA60    ;
   3       2       77E8:1170    ; values from huge_array2
   2       2       77E8:3880    ;        .
   1       2       77E8:5F90    ;        .

Sample Code (OS\2)

; Huge array example for OS/2
; Data is declared dynamically; every 10000th element is set to 1
; Elements of the code are specific to MASM 6.0 for readability.

    .model huge, pascal, OS_OS2
    .286

INCL_BASE  equ    1              ; include kernel, keyboard, video
                                 ;   and mouse definitions
include    os2.inc
includelib os2.lib

    .stack
    .data
    i           word     1
    selector    SEL      ?       ; SEL is defined in include file
    ShiftCount  ushort   ?
    .code
    .startup

    invoke DosAllocHuge,         ; call DosAllocHuge
           1,                    ;   # of full segments
           34464,                ;   # of bytes in last segment
           addr selector,        ;   ptr to var for allocated selector
           0,                    ;   max segments to be reallocated
           SEG_NONSHARED         ;   sharable/discardable flag
    invoke DosGetHugeShift,      ; call DosGetHugeShift
           addr ShiftCount       ;   ptr to var for shift count
    mov cx, ShiftCount
    shl i, cl                    ; i contains value to inc selector
    mov ax, selector
    mov es, ax
    mov bx, 0                    ; start at element 1
    mov cx, 1
    sub dx, dx
    mov dl, 1

    .while cx <= 10              ; set every 10000th element to 1
        mov es:[bx], dl          ; es:[bx] is the array element
        add bx, 10000            ; skip 10000 elements
        inc cx
        jnc testcx               ; test for wrap of offset
        mov ax, es
        add ax, i                ; add i to selector
        mov es, ax
    testcx:
    .endw
.exit 0
end

Sample Results (OS/2)