MISRA C:2012 Dir 4.3

Assembly language shall be encapsulated and isolated

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Description

Directive Definition

Assembly language shall be encapsulated and isolated.

Rationale

Encapsulating assembly language is beneficial because:

Encapsulating assembly instructions in a C source files clearly marks the boundary between C and assembly, making the code easier to read.
The name, and documentation, of the encapsulating macro or function makes the intent of the assembly language clear.
All uses of assembly language for a given purpose can share encapsulation, which improves maintainability.
You can easily substitute the assembly language for a different target or for static analysis purposes.

Polyspace Implementation

Polyspace^® reports a violation of this rule if assembly language code is used without encapsulation. It is not a violation if the assembly code is encapsulated in:

Assembly language functions. Consider this code:

asm int h(int tt)  //Compliant            
{ 
  % reg val;                   
  mtmsr val;                  
  return 3;                   
}; 

void f(void) { 
  int x; 
  x = h(3);                    
}

The function h() is declared as an asm function which encapsulate the assembly code. Polyspace does not report a violation.

#pragma directives. For example, in this code:

#pragma inline_asm(h)
int h(int tt)  //Compliant            
{ 
  % reg val;                   
  mtmsr val;                  
  return 3;                   
}; 

void f(void) { 
  int x; 
  x = h(3);                    
}

The #inline_asm pragma designates the function h() as an assembly language function. Polyspace does not report a violation.

Macros. For instance:
```
#define FUNC_H\
asm\
{\
 % reg val; \                  
  mtmsr val;\                  
  return 3; \                  
}; \

void f(void) { 
  int x; 
  x = FUNC_H(3);                    
} 
```
The macro FUNC_H encapsulates the assembly code. Polyspace does not report a violation. You can also define such macros at the command line during the Polyspace analysis by using the options Preprocessor definitions (-D).

Troubleshooting

If you expect a rule violation but do not see it, refer to Diagnose Why Coding Standard Violations Do Not Appear as Expected.

Examples

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Assembly Language Code in C Function

enum boolVal {TRUE, FALSE};
enum boolVal isTaskActive;
void taskHandler(void);

void taskHandler(void) { 
    isTaskActive = FALSE; 
    // Software interrupt for task switching 
    asm volatile   /* Non-compliant */
    ( 
        "SWI &02"     /* Service #1: calculate run-time */ 
    ); 
    return; 
}

In this example, the rule violation occurs because the assembly language code is embedded directly in a C function taskHandler that contains other C language statements.

Correction — Encapsulate Assembly Code in Macro

One correction is to encapsulate the assembly language code in a macro and invoke the macro in the function taskHandler.

#define  RUN_TIME_CALC \
asm volatile \
    ( \
        "SWI &02"     /* Service #1: calculate run-Time */ \
    )\

enum boolVal {TRUE, FALSE};
enum boolVal isTaskActive;
void taskHandler(void);

void taskHandler(void) {
    isTaskActive = FALSE;
    RUN_TIME_CALC;
    return;
}

Check Information

Group: Code design

Category: Required

AGC Category: Required

Version History

Introduced in R2014b