[RESOLVED] [MASM] Clarification about Symbolic Constants

Theres an ambiguous part in a book I'm reading about MASM, I won't quote it here but tell me how the following code behaves...

Code:

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NUMBER = 20 ;does this really mean 5?
mov eax, NUMBER
NUMBER = 5
mov ebx, NUMBER
add eax, ebx

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I inferred from the book that the very last instance of ...

Code:

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NUMBER = ??

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... propagates through the whole file rendering all of the other instances useless. Is this right?

If this is the case then eax now contains 10 (5+5). But my own mind makes me think that it would actually contain 25.

I know how things like this behave in other languages and they way the book says it sounds weird.

Can anyone shed any light?

(I would try it but I haven't got MASM on this machine)

the final result must be 25..........i checked in the inline assembler of C++!!!

Code:

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NUMBER = 20 ;does this really mean 5?

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:ehh:
it means that NUMBER now contains 20!!!

Quote:

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If this is the case then eax now contains 10 (5+5).

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how you mean by this???? :confused:

Code:

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add eax, ebx

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if that statement is related to this one then here eax will contain 25, 20 from the first mov stment then adding BX = 5 to it.........adding upto 25!!!

Quote:

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"The assignment to symbolic constants has nothing to do with the order of the lines of code"

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is roughly what the book says, looks like I've been thinking the same thing as you said.

Nevermind it is 25 after all :)