Q51728: Manual Correction for MASM Returning Single or Double to BASIC

Article: Q51728
Product(s): See article
Version(s): 5.00   | 5.00
Operating System(s): MS-DOS | OS/2
Keyword(s): ENDUSER | docerr B_BasicCom H_MASM B_QuickBas | mspl13_c
Last Modified: 15-MAR-1990

The following information is relevant to BASIC programmers who want
their BASIC programs to correctly invoke assembly language functions
that return single- or double-precision floating-point values.

The following two corrections apply to Page 78 of the "Microsoft
Mixed-Language Programming Guide," which comes with Microsoft C
Compiler Version 5.00 and with Microsoft Macro Assembler (MASM)
Version 5.00 (but does not come with BASIC):

1. In Section 6.1.6, in the second paragraph, the phrase "BASIC or"
   should be deleted.

2. In the third paragraph, change the phrase "FORTRAN or Pascal"
   to "BASIC, FORTRAN, or Pascal".

This documentation error was corrected in the "Microsoft
Mixed-Language Programming Guide" supplied with Versions 5.10 of
Microsoft C and Microsoft Macro Assembler.

The first sentence in the second paragraph in Section 6.1.6 on Page 78
should thus read as follows:

   When the return value is larger than 4 bytes, a procedure called
   by C must allocate space for the return value and then place its
   address in DX:AX.

The first sentence in the third paragraph in Section 6.1.6 on Page 78
should thus read as follows:

   If your assembly procedure is called by BASIC, FORTRAN, or Pascal,
   then it must use a special convention in order to return
   floating-point values, records and arrays, and values larger than
   4 bytes.

For a complete guide for passing parameters and invoking functions
between BASIC and assembly language, search in the Microsoft Knowledge
Base for the following word: BAS2MASM.

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