It is possible to write assembly language programs for Windoze that do not look and act like C, Delphi or Visual Basic. It is possible to do it quickly and simply, without an IDE, a stack of make files, a drive full of include and library files, a giant encyclopedia of documentation or even Windoze itself. All the examples on this page (as well as this page itself) were created with the MICOSYEN program editor under Windoze 98. All can be assembled and linked with DOS tools on a DOS computer or in a DOS box under Windoze.

It is also possible to create a pair of applications from a single source file--one for Windoze and one for extended DOS. Download the Simple Windoze/extended DOS application template and read the comments for more information. The MICOSYEN "dinosaur WordStar syntax" program source editors were created using this methodology. All three versions share common source code and are made in a single step.

  tasm32 /ml/m4/t/z %1
  tlink32 -Tpe -aa -x -Lc:\apps\tasm5\lib %1,,,import32
  del %1.obj

Also please note that the "-aa" option should be changed to "-ap" to build a console application.

The other resource is the win32.hlp file that ships with Borland Delphi. It can be found many places on the Internet. A Google search for "win32.hlp" should turn up good number of links. The initial file is about 13 MB and expands to twice that size. The viability of this tool is severely compromised, however, by the usage of the old 16-bit Windoze help engine, with its non-realtime scrolling.

http://win32asm.cjb.net
http://www.movsd.com
http://www.masm32.com

• Symbol names with all upper-case names are constants. Most of them can be found in windows.inc.
• Symbol names with mixed case are Windoze function calls.
• Symbol names with all lower case are standard C calls, which have declining support under windoze. They also leave the calling parameters on the stack when they return.
• Parameters are pushed on the stack in reverse order to the way they appear in the high-level function call. The following C function call

  Event = WaitForMultipleObjects(3,             // Object handle count
                                 WaitEventHans, // Object array pointer
                                 FALSE,         // Activate on any event
                                 INFINITE);     // No timeout
  

  converts to

           push   INFINITE                ;No timeout
           push   FALSE                   ;Activate on any event
           push   offset WaitEventHans    ;Object handle array pointer
           push   3                       ;Object handle count
          call    WaitForMultipleObjects
          mov     [Event],EAX             ;Store return value
  

• Windoze function calls return status or a value in EAX. Additional values or values larger than 32 bits are returned to the place pointed to by an input parameter.
• Windoze function calls save EBX, ESI, EDI and EBP. EAX, ECX and EDX are always destroyed.
• Virtually all Windoze function input parameters are 32 bits. There are a few exceptions, but it should be safe to assume any unknown variable types are that width.