I really can't understand why we're making such an indigestible meal of all this.
Take for example, AHI R1,2X'FF'. What does that even *mean*? If it *means* AHI R1,-1, then write it like that, so that the unfortunate programmer who has to maintain your code doesn't have to cast runes to know what you mean! In the context of DC/DS, 2X'FF' and X'FFFF' are completely different things, except at the level of object code (which isn't what anyone is looking for): DC 2X'FF' defines an array of two 1-byte constants DC X'FFFF' defines a single two-byte constant The moral is this: say what you *mean*, not any old gibberish that gets what you think you need into the object code.
