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Juras



Joined: 18 Jun 2003
Posts: 23
Location: Belarus
Juras 15 Apr 2004, 18:18
What are the primary differences, pros and cons of NASM and FASM ?

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Best Regards, Juras aka Exhu (aka YBX)
Post 15 Apr 2004, 18:18
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decard



Joined: 11 Sep 2003
Posts: 1092
Location: Poland
decard 15 Apr 2004, 18:32

  • license - FASM is freeware with open source, NASM is GPL;
  • speed - FASM is written in assembly, wheras NASM in C; also FASM is optimized, so it generates the output faster;
  • syntax - is quite smilar, based on IDEAL mode of TASM; but there are some differences in assembler directives;
  • preprocessor capabilities - FASM has an extended preprocessor (advanced macroinstructions); I don't know too much about NASM, but it's macro capabilities are extended too;
  • support - FASM is updated very often, bugs disappear quickly, and new features are comming (although usually it is hard to convince Privalov to add new directives and features), and you have excellent support on this board; NASM has been dead for a long time, now as I know there is a team developing 64-bit version;

well, maybe this is biased to FASM, but generally these are the facts.

regards,
decard
Post 15 Apr 2004, 18:32
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pelaillo
Missing in inaction


Joined: 19 Jun 2003
Posts: 878
Location: Colombia
pelaillo 15 Apr 2004, 18:49
More biased facts Wink (However, I liked Nasm a lot until I discovered Fasm)

Fasm is a multipass assembler, Nasm performs only two passes
Fasm runs on MenuetOS (and is easier to port to other systems).
Fasm is smaller in size and in source length and is well written permitting better maintainability/extendibility.
IMHO the preprocessor directives are cleaner and hus permit writing code easier to read.
Post 15 Apr 2004, 18:49
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vid
Verbosity in development


Joined: 05 Sep 2003
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vid 15 Apr 2004, 19:02
fasm is maintained by privalov, and he is always ready to explain you why is some behavior of fasm used (i bet he explains every change / addition zound stimes again and again), he can aid you if you are going to learn from / modify it's sources etc. In my opinion he is another pro of FASM.
Post 15 Apr 2004, 19:02
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crc



Joined: 21 Jun 2003
Posts: 637
Location: Penndel, PA [USA]
crc 16 Apr 2004, 21:43
A key reason that NASM is still widely used is that it supports more output formats than FASM does. The support for including debugging information is nice too.

Also a minor correction: NASM is LGPL, not GPL, so it's a little more free. Both NASM and FASM are open source.

As far as portability, I've had better luck getting NASM to run on other OSes than I've had with FASM. That's largely due to the use of standard C libraries though.
Post 16 Apr 2004, 21:43
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pelaillo
Missing in inaction


Joined: 19 Jun 2003
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pelaillo 16 Apr 2004, 21:57
Another key reason that Nasm is still widely used is that Nasm goes in (near) all Linux distros as developement tool.
Fasm is still unknown to the mainstream, but I am confident that this will change soon. Exclamation
Post 16 Apr 2004, 21:57
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crc



Joined: 21 Jun 2003
Posts: 637
Location: Penndel, PA [USA]
crc 16 Apr 2004, 22:36
Good point.
Post 16 Apr 2004, 22:36
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Embrance



Joined: 14 Mar 2004
Posts: 116
Location: Greece
Embrance 16 Apr 2004, 23:02
What are the supported export file formats for FASM?I mean for Emu8086 they are:EXE,BOOT,COM,and BIN.
For FASM?
Post 16 Apr 2004, 23:02
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Dryobates



Joined: 13 Jul 2003
Posts: 46
Location: Poland
Dryobates 18 Apr 2004, 08:42
Embrance wrote:
What are the supported export file formats for FASM?I mean for Emu8086 they are:EXE,BOOT,COM,and BIN.
For FASM?

Look at manual:
pure asm (COM etc.), MZ, PE (EXE, DLL), COFF, ELF (System V, but with brandelf you can simply change it into Linux. With FreeBSD I'm still trying to use, but in 5.x there is prolem with sys_brk in Linux compatibity mode Sad ).
Post 18 Apr 2004, 08:42
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Madis731



Joined: 25 Sep 2003
Posts: 2139
Location: Estonia
Madis731 25 Apr 2004, 17:54
I wonder if it is legal to say, that BOOT=COM=BIN cuz they all are binary in the way they are executed or did BOOT have headers ^o) ...
...hmm, you can change your .bin to .com and you have a program:D vóila:P
Post 25 Apr 2004, 17:54
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Embrance



Joined: 14 Mar 2004
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Embrance 28 Apr 2004, 20:10
I think BOOT has header.The only pure thing i think is BIN,Correct me if im wrong!
Post 28 Apr 2004, 20:10
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neonz



Joined: 02 Aug 2003
Posts: 62
Location: Latvia
neonz 01 May 2004, 20:06
pelaillo wrote:
(However, I liked Nasm a lot until I discovered Fasm)


You aren't only Smile
Post 01 May 2004, 20:06
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OzzY



Joined: 19 Sep 2003
Posts: 1029
Location: Everywhere
OzzY 01 May 2004, 21:55
What are the primary differences, pros and cons of TASM and FASM ? =P
Post 01 May 2004, 21:55
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Yawgmoth



Joined: 20 Aug 2003
Posts: 37
Yawgmoth 03 May 2004, 21:59
Tasm: Con--It costs money.

Fasm: Pro--It's free.

nuff said.
Post 03 May 2004, 21:59
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vid
Verbosity in development


Joined: 05 Sep 2003
Posts: 7105
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vid 04 May 2004, 18:48
Tasm: micro$ofty intel syntax (copied from MASM)
Fasm: own, simplified (and better, M$ free) intel syntax.
Post 04 May 2004, 18:48
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decard



Joined: 11 Sep 2003
Posts: 1092
Location: Poland
decard 04 May 2004, 20:01
actually Fasm doesn't have "its own" syntax: as Privalov said, it is based on the IDEAL mode of TASM, thus you can make TASM use similar syntax. Notice that NASM and GoASM use this syntax too Wink
Post 04 May 2004, 20:01
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scientica
Retired moderator


Joined: 16 Jun 2003
Posts: 689
Location: Linköping, Sweden
scientica 06 May 2004, 06:13
Let's just say, that it's not AT&T syntax (which is imo "just different" - or in other words "IMO quer, and makes eyes bleed" Wink)
Post 06 May 2004, 06:13
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crc



Joined: 21 Jun 2003
Posts: 637
Location: Penndel, PA [USA]
crc 13 May 2004, 11:36
Embrance: BOOT does *not* have a header. It has a different origin in memory than a totally flat binary though.
Post 13 May 2004, 11:36
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Embrance



Joined: 14 Mar 2004
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Embrance 22 May 2004, 17:18
Ok.Thamnks for defination!
Post 22 May 2004, 17:18
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vid
Verbosity in development


Joined: 05 Sep 2003
Posts: 7105
Location: Slovakia
vid 30 May 2004, 19:45
i still didn't comprehend this - is NASM project alive?
Post 30 May 2004, 19:45
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