8086 ALP: max and min of 16-bit list

Method: load the first word into AX (maximum) and BX (minimum), then compare the other nine words (unsigned) with them, updating AX and BX. Finally store them in MAXVAL and MINVAL. Words occupy 2 bytes, so SI is incremented by 2.

.MODEL SMALL
.STACK 100H

DISPSTR MACRO MSG            ; display a '$'-terminated string
        LEA  DX,MSG
        MOV  AH,09H
        INT  21H
        ENDM

CLRSCR  MACRO                ; clear screen and home the cursor
        MOV  AX,0600H        ; scroll whole window (AL=0 -> blank it)
        MOV  BH,07H          ; normal attribute
        MOV  CX,0000H        ; upper-left corner (row 0, col 0)
        MOV  DX,184FH        ; lower-right corner (row 24, col 79)
        INT  10H
        MOV  AH,02H          ; set cursor position
        MOV  BH,00H          ; page 0
        MOV  DX,0000H        ; row 0, col 0
        INT  10H
        ENDM

.DATA
    NUMS   DW 1234H, 0056H, 8000H, 0FFFH, 4321H
           DW 0A5A5H, 0010H, 7FFFH, 2222H, 9000H
    MAXVAL DW ?
    MINVAL DW ?

.CODE
MAIN PROC
    MOV  AX,@DATA
    MOV  DS,AX

    LEA  SI,NUMS           ; SI -> list of ten words
    MOV  AX,[SI]           ; AX = maximum so far
    MOV  BX,AX             ; BX = minimum so far
    ADD  SI,2
    MOV  CX,9              ; nine remaining words
NEXT:
    MOV  DX,[SI]           ; DX = next word
    CMP  DX,AX
    JBE  CHKMIN            ; DX <= max
    MOV  AX,DX             ; new maximum
CHKMIN:
    CMP  DX,BX
    JAE  SKIP              ; DX >= min
    MOV  BX,DX             ; new minimum
SKIP:
    ADD  SI,2              ; next word
    LOOP NEXT
    MOV  MAXVAL,AX         ; store results
    MOV  MINVAL,BX
    MOV  AH,4CH            ; return to DOS
    INT  21H
MAIN ENDP

END MAIN

Result: MAXVAL = 0A5A5H and MINVAL = 0010H for the sample list. For signed 16-bit data, replace JBE with JLE and JAE with JGE.