Features of machine independent assembler

One feature is Literal which is an operand and is part of an instruction. This is a constant operand and there is no need to define this separately. In an assembler language, a literal is identified with the prefix = which is followed by a specification of the literal value similar to that in a BYTE statement. Literal pool is a combination of literal operands.  Duplicate literals can also be used in assemblers. Next feature is symbol-defining statements. General format of this statement is ‘symbol   EQU    value’. EQU is used to establish symbolic names and for defining mnemonic names for various registers. Use of arithmetic expressions is another feature of assemblers. Assemblers also provide features which allow more flexible handling of the source and object programs in the form of program blocks. Control sections and program linking is an important feature of an assembler. A control section is a part of the program for maintaining assembler’s identity after the assembly process.