SLAU131V October 2004 – February 2020
The assembler adds code or data to one section at a time. The section the assembler is currently filling is the current section. The .text, .data, .intvec, and .sect directives change which section is considered the current section. When the assembler encounters one of these directives, it stops assembling into the current section (acting as an implied end of current section command). The assembler sets the designated section as the current section and assembles subsequent code into the designated section until it encounters another .text, .data, .intvec, or .sect directive.
If one of these directives sets the current section to a section that already has code or data in it from earlier in the file, the assembler resumes adding to the end of that section. The assembler generates only one contiguous section for each given section name. This section is formed by concatenating all of the code or data which was placed in that section.