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Virtual-assembly tome gets real update
By Nicholas Cravotta -- EDN, 11/13/2003
The Art of Aassembly Language by Randall Hyde, which has for 10 years been available online (http://webster.cs.ucr.edu/Page_asm/ArtOfAsm.html), is now available in a $59.95, 928-pg paper version from No Starch Press. Hyde presents initial programming concepts in HLA (high-level assembly), a language that closely resembles C. HLA uses a high-level syntax for declarations and control structures. As an assembly programmer of more than two decades, I initially found it disconcerting that the beginning of this book contains little if any assembly. The author leads readers into low-level assembly by first starting with high-level structures with which they are already familiar. The HLA structures present basic concepts, and Hyde later breaks down these concepts into low-level assembly. The author warns readers not to use the HLA as a crutch but as a means to approach low-level assembly. In this regard, the second half of the book and the accompanying CD contain plenty of the hieroglyphics of as-sembly.
By learning both HLA and low-level assembly together, readers should gain enough experience and confidence with both to determine which one is appropriate for an application. To capitalize on this knowledge, the book also addresses mixed-language development.
The CD has command-line development tools and a standard library with many common routines. However, if you don’t know assembly, you may find it difficult to blindly use these routines and expect to be able to code the complex algorithms your programs need. For example, if you simply replace values in the loop-function template without understanding the nuances of assembly loops, you’ll most likely encounter serious problems after you connect tens or hundreds of such functions and try to debug an error. In general, the functions are not complex. Instead, they provide a variety of straightforward examples, allowing you to crack into the code for functions you understand abstractly or in a high-level language and see how low-level assembly implements such functions.
As a veteran of many assembly level projects, I find the text to be a solid reference for common functions that are confusing if you haven’t coded them in a while. A chapter covers x86 MMX (multimedia-extension) instructions; another covers implementing objects and classes in assembly. For beginners, the book offers a first step in the understanding and ap-preciation of the fine art of programming in assembly. Whether you’re a novice or an experienced programmer, look over the text over online to see whether you want the printed version.
No Starch Press, www.nostarch.com.
