IBM Assembly Language Processor

The Assembly Language Processor (ALP) is a macro assembler from IBM that offers a native mode and a MASM 5.1 compatible mode, and indeed intended to replace the Microsoft Assembler product for use on OS/2 systems especially for driver development. ALP was available in versions for OS/2 and AIX, versions with dates later than 1995 also support a subset of the MASM 6.x language.

Features

ALP generates standard OMF files that can be linked to produce DOS or OS/2 executables. Symbolic debugging information is compatible with IBM's source code debuggers.

Version

• May 1995: Version 1.03.273
• 1996: Version 4.00.000 - IBM Developer Connection Vol. 11
• Version 4.00.003
• Version 4.00.004
• Sep 1997: Version 4.00.005 - IBM Developer's Toolkit for OS/2 Warp Version 4
• Latest Version: 4.00.008

Prerequisites

• OS/2 Warp
• Link386 or compatible linker

Product Documentation

• Assembly Language Processor Reference Guide - May 1995
• ALP Programming Guide and Reference - Oct 1997
• Assembly Language Processor (ALP) Assembler Reference

Related Article

• Gruber; Turner: Developers Enjoy the "ALP"s (Assembly Language Processor)

Links

• The Hobbes DEV/ASM directory contains most of the ALP tools and patches.

Add-ons

• ALP_MXG - By default the native mode on ALP is 32 bits only while the otherwise less capable MASM 5.1 emulation mode allows mixed 16/32 bit code. This patch allows you to use mixed 16/32 bit code in native ALP mode.
• masm2alp - Utility that converts MASM projects to ALP projects.

License and availability

• Closed source software - Available as a free download from IBM.
• Came packaged with other IBM Compiler products.
• Comes with the IBM Device Driver Development Kit [DDK]
• Was available to Passport Advantage subscribers before the program was discontinued in 2005.

Author

• IBM (Steve Turner)