Tickers in Assembly Language

Assembly Language doesn’t have built-in support for high-level concepts like tickers or timers. However, we can simulate a similar behavior using loops and system calls for timing. This example will use x86 assembly for Linux.

section .data
    tick_msg db 'Tick at ', 0
    stop_msg db 'Ticker stopped', 10, 0
    fmt db '%s%d', 10, 0

section .text
    global _start
    extern printf
    extern usleep
    extern time

_start:
    ; Initialize counter
    mov dword [counter], 0

    ; Main loop (simulating ticker)
tick_loop:
    ; Print tick message
    push dword [counter]
    push tick_msg
    push fmt
    call printf
    add esp, 12

    ; Increment counter
    inc dword [counter]

    ; Sleep for 500ms (500000 microseconds)
    push dword 500000
    call usleep
    add esp, 4

    ; Check if we've ticked 3 times
    cmp dword [counter], 3
    jl tick_loop

    ; Print stop message
    push stop_msg
    call printf
    add esp, 4

    ; Exit program
    mov eax, 1
    xor ebx, ebx
    int 0x80

section .bss
    counter resd 1

This Assembly code simulates the behavior of a ticker by using a loop and the usleep function to create regular intervals. Here’s how it works:

1. We define messages for ticks and when the ticker stops.

2. In the _start section, we initialize a counter to keep track of the number of ticks.

3. We enter a loop (tick_loop) that simulates the ticker:

   • It prints a “Tick at” message along with the current counter value.
   • Increments the counter.
   • Uses the usleep function to pause for 500,000 microseconds (500 ms).

4. The loop continues until we’ve ticked 3 times (simulating the 1600ms in the original example).

5. After the loop, we print a “Ticker stopped” message.

6. Finally, we exit the program.

To run this program:

1. Save the code in a file, e.g., ticker.asm.
2. Assemble and link the program:

$ nasm -f elf ticker.asm
$ ld -m elf_i386 -o ticker ticker.o -lc

3. Run the program:

$ ./ticker
Tick at 0
Tick at 1
Tick at 2
Ticker stopped

This Assembly implementation provides a basic simulation of the ticker concept. However, it’s important to note that Assembly doesn’t have native support for concurrent operations or channels as in higher-level languages. The timing may also not be as precise as in the original example due to the simplicity of this implementation.