nop - revisited

[oioi]

hi i've some assembler code using "nop" code. but i couldn't understand what nop for. this the code:
-a100
1384:0100 mov ah,02
1384:0102 mov cx,000a
1384:0105 mov dl,41
1384:0107 mov bx,cx
1384:0109 int 21
1384:010B dec bx
1384:010C inc dl
1384:010E mov cx,0003
1384:0111 int 21
1384:0113 loop 111
1384:0115 mov cx,bx
1384:0117 nop
1384:0118 mov bl,dl
1384:011A mov dl,2d
1384:011C int 21
1384:011E mov dl,bl
1384:0120 inc dl
1384:0122 loop 107
1384:0124 int 20
1384:0126
-g
ABBB-CDDD-EFFF-GHHH-IJJJ-
Program terminated normally

n then i wanna modification that output become :
A-BBB-C-DDD-E-FFF-G-HHH-I-JJJ-

but i couldn't find the solve, could u help me. actulally what is nop for?


thx ion

[Salem]

Split from http://cboard.cprogramming.com/showthread.php?t=23653
Which was a couple of years old.

[misplaced]

it does nothing really...basically it stops the processor and waits for an intereupt before resuming.

edit: ha ha - nevermind....i read that on ti-82 reference

[Salem]

Well if you take out the nops (and nothing else), does it still do the same thing?

[Fordy]

n then i wanna modification that output become :

Sorry, but what on earth are you talking about?

Assuming you want a decent answer: invest in a sensibly constructed question!

Does that mean you are editing the code to remove the NOP? If so then your code is bound to choke as your code uses absolute values for offsets.

loop 107 - This means jump to offset 107 if cx is not 0. Therefore if you lose the NOP, then offset 107 may no longer be the code that you expected it to be, and you no longer get the output expected.

NOPs are handy when you are editing code outside an assembler (less use when you are still to assemble) as relational offsets are now changed with absolutes. Therefore, when you see a NOP in place, realise that it wont do anything, but realise that it may be there for a reason, and dont assume that it can be easilly removed without causing problems