Assembly language experiments

This is an in-class lab. Nothing to hand in.

Setup and experimentation

Go to the Compiler Explorer
Set it up like this:
For each experiment in this lab:
- write a little C code in Compiler Explorer
- see what the corresponding assembly language output looks like
- walk through the assembly language code by hand on paper, making suitable adjustments to the registers and EFLAGS bits as you go; get clarity about what every single instruction is doing
- is the assembly code bizarrely short and baffling? what do you get if you change "-Og" to "-O0"?
- write down questions and instructions/notations that confuse you; let's get those questions answered for you!

Experiment 1

Write a function that computes the maximum value of two int parameters

Experiment 2

Write a function that contains a loop. For example, write the function

// Returns the sum 1 + 2 + 3 + ... + n int triangular_number(int n)

(The nth triangular number is also n * (n - 1) / 2, which is faster to compute, but write the loop anyway so you can see how x86_64 does loops.)

Experiment 3

Write a function that calls a second function. For example, you could take your maximum-value function from experiment 1 and call it twice to implement max(int a, int b, int c).

Experiment 4