IBM Assembler Question: Download IBM Assembler PDF
Can we use an equated value as operand for an MVC instruction? Reason for the same?
Answer:
If you write an MVC statement with an equated value as the
sending operand, then the assembler will try to resolve that
operand value as a base and displacement, it will not
necessarily throw an error at assembly, but the results at
execution will be unpredictable and may well give rise to a
protection exception.
The point of the MVI statement is that the single byte
sending operand value is assembled as part of the
instruction itself and does not have to be 'fetched' at
execution time, therefore if you are only moving a single
byte of fixed value, then an MVI will be marginally more
efficient than an MVC
sending operand, then the assembler will try to resolve that
operand value as a base and displacement, it will not
necessarily throw an error at assembly, but the results at
execution will be unpredictable and may well give rise to a
protection exception.
The point of the MVI statement is that the single byte
sending operand value is assembled as part of the
instruction itself and does not have to be 'fetched' at
execution time, therefore if you are only moving a single
byte of fixed value, then an MVI will be marginally more
efficient than an MVC
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