IntroductionΒΆ

This manual has been written to help the reader program the INTEL 8080 microcomputer in assembly language. Accordingly, this manual assumes that the reader has a good understanding of logic, but may be completely unfamiliar with programming concepts.

For those readers who do understand programming concepts, several features of the INTEL 8080 microcomputer are described below. They include:

  • 8-bit parallel CPU on a single chip

  • 78 instructions, including extensive memory referencing, flexible jump-on-condition capability, and binary and decimal arithmetic modes

  • Direct addressing for 65,536 bytes of memory

  • Fully programmable stacks, allowing unlimited subroutine nesting and full interrupt handling capability

  • Seven 8-bit registers

There are two ways in which programs for the 8080 may be assembled; either via the resident assembler or the cross assembler. The resident assembler is one of several system programs available to the user which run on the 8080. The cross assembler runs on any computer having a FORTRAN compiler whose word size is 32 bits or greater, and generates programs which run on the 8080.

The experienced programmer should note that the assembly language has a macro capability which allows users to tailor the assembly language to individual needs.