High Level Assembler or HLASM is
IBM's current
assembler programming language for its
z/OS,
z/VSE,
z/VM and
z/TPF
Transaction Processing Facility (TPF) is an IBM real-time operating system for mainframe computers descended from the IBM System/360 family, including zSeries and System z9.
TPF delivers fast, high-volume, high-throughput transaction processing ...
operating systems on
z/Architecture
z/Architecture, initially and briefly called ESA Modal Extensions (ESAME), is IBM's 64-bit complex instruction set computer (CISC) instruction set architecture, implemented by its mainframe computers. IBM introduced its first z/Architecture-b ...
mainframe
A mainframe computer, informally called a mainframe or big iron, is a computer used primarily by large organizations for critical applications like bulk data processing for tasks such as censuses, industry and consumer statistics, enterprise ...
computers
A computer is a machine that can be programmed to carry out sequences of arithmetic or logical operations (computation) automatically. Modern digital electronic computers can perform generic sets of operations known as programs. These programs ...
. There is also a version that runs on
Linux, primarily intended for systems running on a z/Architecture system (this environment is sometimes referred to as
Linux on IBM Z).
Overview
HLASM was released in June 1992 replacing IBM's Assembler H Version 2. Despite the name, HLASM on its own does not have many of the features normally associated with a
high-level assembler
A high-level assembler in computing is an assembler for assembly language that incorporate features found in a high-level programming language.
The earliest high-level assembler was probably Burroughs' Executive Systems Problem Oriented Language ...
, but does offer a number of improvements over Assembler H and Assembler(XF), such as labeled and dependent USINGs, more complete cross-reference information, and additional macro language capabilities such as the ability to write user-defined functions.
While working at IBM, John Robert Ehrman created and was the lead developer for HLASM and is considered the "father of high level assembler".
High Level Assembler Toolkit
The High Level Assembler Toolkit is a separately priced accompaniment to the High Level Assembler. The toolkit contains:
* A set of
structured programming
Structured programming is a programming paradigm aimed at improving the clarity, quality, and development time of a computer program by making extensive use of the structured control flow constructs of selection ( if/then/else) and repetition ( ...
macros —
**IF/ELSE/ENDIF
**DO/ENDDO
**STRTSRCH/ORELSE/ENDLOOP/ENDSRCH
**CASENTRY/CASE/ENDCASE
**SELECT/WHEN/OTHRWISE/ENDSEL.
* A
disassembler.
* A "Program Understanding Tool" (
re-engineering aid).
* A Source XREF utility (cross-reference facility).
* Interactive Debug Facility.
* Enhanced SuperC (source comparison tool).
See also
*
IBM Basic assembly language and successors
Basic Assembly Language (BAL) is the commonly used term for a low-level programming language used on IBM System/360 and successor mainframes. Originally, "Basic Assembly Language" applied only to an extremely restricted dialect designed to run unde ...
Notes
References
External links
IBM HLASM Online Manuals*
*High-level
High Level Assembler
A high-level assembler in computing is an assembler for assembly language that incorporate features found in a high-level programming language.
The earliest high-level assembler was probably Burroughs' Executive Systems Problem Oriented Langu ...
Assembly languages
Assembler High level
IBM mainframe software
{{Prog-lang-stub