<s>
A86	B-Application
is	O
an	O
assembler	B-Application
for	O
MS-DOS	B-Application
which	O
generates	O
code	O
for	O
the	O
Intel	B-Operating_System
x86	I-Operating_System
family	O
of	O
microprocessors	B-Architecture
.	O
</s>
<s>
Written	O
by	O
Eric	O
Isaacson	O
,	O
it	O
was	O
first	O
made	O
available	O
as	O
shareware	B-License
in	O
June	O
1986	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
assembler	B-Application
is	O
contained	O
in	O
one	O
32K	O
executable	O
and	O
can	O
directly	O
produce	O
a	O
COM	O
file	O
or	O
an	O
object	B-Application
file	I-Application
for	O
use	O
with	O
a	O
standard	O
linker	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
comes	O
with	O
a	O
debugger	B-Application
,	O
D86	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
While	O
supporting	O
expected	O
x86	B-Operating_System
syntax	O
,	O
A86	B-Application
allows	O
simpler	O
shorthand	O
in	O
some	O
cases	O
and	O
does	O
not	O
require	O
directives	O
,	O
such	O
as	O
ASSUME	O
,	O
SEGMENT	O
,	O
and	O
PROC	O
,	O
which	O
Microsoft	B-Application
Macro	I-Application
Assembler	I-Application
and	O
other	O
contemporaries	O
rely	O
on	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Isaacson	O
claimed	O
that	O
A86	B-Application
could	O
assemble	O
100,000	O
lines	O
of	O
source	O
per	O
second	O
on	O
a	O
Pentium	B-General_Concept
II	I-General_Concept
or	O
better	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
A86	B-Application
and	O
D86	B-Application
target	O
16-bit	B-Device
x86	B-Operating_System
platforms	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Isaacson	O
added	O
32-bit	O
support	O
in	O
the	O
mid	O
1990s	O
in	O
the	O
form	O
of	O
A386	B-Application
and	O
D386	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
These	O
were	O
not	O
distributed	O
as	O
shareware	B-License
,	O
but	O
were	O
provided	O
to	O
users	O
who	O
registered	O
A86	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
A86	B-Application
family	O
of	O
products	O
was	O
never	O
ported	O
to	O
Microsoft	O
Windows	O
,	O
but	O
it	O
is	O
possible	O
to	O
use	O
the	O
object	B-Application
files	I-Application
created	O
by	O
A386	B-Application
with	O
a	O
Windows	O
linker	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
assembler	B-Application
does	O
not	O
support	O
64-bit	O
code	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Macros	O
use	O
a	O
different	O
syntax	O
than	O
contemporaneous	O
assemblers	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
assembler	B-Application
was	O
designed	O
to	O
use	O
particular	O
instruction	O
encodings	O
which	O
are	O
functionally	O
equivalent	O
,	O
but	O
together	O
create	O
a	O
fingerprint	O
that	O
's	O
embedded	O
in	O
the	O
executable	O
file	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
fingerprint	O
makes	O
it	O
possible	O
to	O
tell	O
if	O
code	O
was	O
assembled	O
with	O
A86	B-Application
and	O
also	O
to	O
distinguish	O
between	O
registered	O
and	O
unregistered	O
versions	O
of	O
the	O
assembler	B-Application
.	O
</s>
