Assembly x64 in easy steps: Modern coding for MASM, SSE & AVX Paperback – 31 Aug. 2021

Good book for introduction to assembler

each command is introduced and explained with examples in this colourful introductory guide

I last programmed in assembler on '90s home computers and I bought this book to get up to date and see what was possible on my windows PC. The book uses MASM running in the free version of Microsoft Visual Studio, and the instructions for installing and configuring that were straightforward, without any problems. If you are developing assembler then a debugger/monitor is essential, and I found the one in Visual Studio to be excellent - much better than command-line tools I've tried. Another reason to be impressed - every program in this book compiled without a problem and worked as expected. I don't intend to write an entire project in assembler like in the old days, only using it where speed is required. The book demonstrates clearly how to interface between an assembler routine and a program written in a high-level language e.g. C++, and in that chapter the author mentions his companion book "C++ Programming in Easy Steps" - my next book purchase.

This is a good introduction to the basics of machine code.

I used to know x86 assembler back in the 90s. Fun times. My current day job has no need for such fun activities, but I do regret letting that skill wander off into the depths of time. This book fixes that.Each chapter is 2 pages. Some of the concepts could probably do with more space, but I think that that would hinder the readability/easy part of this.All in all, a good (re) introduction to x64

I was surprised and delighted to find this book. I hadn't programmed in assembly language for many years (decades in fact). The assembly for most CPUs is similar, but not the same, and to have a an easy to follow step by step guide on a modern Intel 64 bit CPU is great.Each two-page spread covers a simple but fundamental step in beginning to write assembly on a Windows platform using free to access Visual Studio Community. The book references Visual Studio - I downloaded Visual Studio 2022 and it all worked fine (the book was published in 2021). Note: experience with an IDE like Visual Studio is recommended, but this book guides you through the steps to use it for the examples.Bearing in mind that the cost of this book is relatively low, as are all the books in the "in easy steps" series, it is low-cost entry to assembly programming on Intel's 64-bit CPU, provided you have a machine running Windows.If you have never used Assembly, then you will need to grasp some fundamentals about computer architecture, which this book introduces. This is probably the hardest part if starting from zero knowledge or experience. But I think most people would come from a high-level language before dipping into assembly, and therefore have some grasp of the concepts.If you have used Assembly before on another platform, then this book makes x64 (Intel) assembly really accessible at a starter level.As a comparison, you could download the manual from Intel - a "mere" 2000 (two thousand) plus pages. I think I'd rather use this book!I like the fonts used in the book - the assembly codes are coloured and in block capitals. This is not necessary, but at a starter level, it makes things clear. More advanced texts and much reference material uses lower case type for the instruction set.On the subject of the instruction set, the x64 set is huge compared to 1980s CPUs. Getting to grips with all these and their use is beyond the scope of this book, but it is touched on (SSE and AVX).If you want to write real-world projects, then another platform and different books might be more suitable, for example the Raspberry Pi and CPUs of its ilk, for which there are many publications - mainly in high level, accessible languages such as Python, but you can get into assembly [for ARM] that way too!On a practical note, few projects are implemented in Assembly only, especially for Intel's x64. Often the assembly is used for time critical loops and code to optimise performance. The assemble code modules can be referenced and integrated with a high-level language implementation such as C++. This book also touches on this use case.Before buying the book, I found a copy of this book in my local library - I was the only person so far to borrow it. Its definitely worth the money.

Good book.