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base:signed_8bit_divied_by_2_arithmetic_shift_right

Arithmetic shift right

By Bitbreaker

If we want to divide by the power of 2 we usually shift right. That is fine with unsigned numbers, but for signed numbers we would need a arithemtic shift right, that we have no opcode for. So we need a trick to preserve bit 7 in another way:

    cmp #$80 ;copy bit 7 to carry (i love that trick also for other situations where A should not be clobbered)
    ror      ;now rotate and we successfully preserved bit 7

Easy like that, done in 4 cycles! However keep in mind that this way the result is rounded down and not up when dealing with negative numbers. So for more accuracy you might prefer:

   bpl +     ;positive number?
   eor #$ff  ;a = 0 - a to get a positive number
   clc
   adc #$01
   lsr       ;shift right
   eor #$ff  ;make it negative again
   clc
   adc #$01
   jmp ++
+
   lsr
++

This would need 13 cycles in average, but it can be done faster as well using the first method:

   cmp #$80  ;copy bit 7 to carry
   bcc +     ;positive number?
   adc #$00  ;add one (carry still set)
   sec       ;fix clobbered carry
+
   ror       ;shift

Then we would need 8,5 cycles in average. Still pretty nice. If you need it even faster (6 cycles) and use a lot of div by 2, then a lookup table might also be an option:

   tax
   lda divtable,x

And how's about shifting left?

If you intend to multiply a signed number by two, just do a = a + a and you are fine.

base/signed_8bit_divied_by_2_arithmetic_shift_right.txt · Last modified: 2015-04-17 04:33 by 127.0.0.1