exponent.s

.globl _start
# This will calculate 2^3.
# You can modify %rbx and %rcx to calculate
# another exponential.
.section .text
_start:
    # %rbx will hold the base
    movq $2, %rbx
    # %rcx will hold the current exponent count
    movq $3, %rcx
    # Store the accumulated value in %rax
    movq $1, %rax
mainloop:
    # Adding zero will allow us to use the flags to
    # determine if %rcx has zero to begin with
    addq $0, %rcx
    # If the exponent is zero, we are done
    jz complete
    # Otherwise, multiply the accumulated value by our base
    mulq %rbx
    # Decrease the counter
    decq %rcx
    # Go back to the beginning of the loop and try again
    jmp mainloop
complete:
    # Move the accumulated value to %rdi so we can return it
    movq %rax, %rdi
    # call the "exit" system call
    movq $60, %rax
    syscall