Customer Reviews

80X86 IBM PC and Compatible Computers: Assembly Language, Design, and Interfacing Volumes I & II (4th Edition)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

a very thorough and great book....

But as the other reviewer stated, this is most definitely not a book for the beginning assembly language programmer.

But for one who has been programming for many years, this book carefully and comprehensively covers the guts of the computer.

For one who has only a few years of computer work experience, you could still get through the first few chapters and write beginner-level assembly language programs.

When choosing this book, think carefully about what kind of assembler you wish to use. You can go and search on the web for "Assembler simulator" and you will see there are many variations on assembler languages as well as processors. You should pick one that fits your needs.

For the college instructor, this book comes with wonderful questions and answers. There is also a nice instructor manual. I enjoyed working through the examples, and found this book quite challenging.

When I bought this book, I knew it was not going to teach me assembly language. This book is not about teaching assembly. Its about HOW to interact with the hardware. The info in this book is good even up to today's standards ( 2010 ). In fact, if you throw in the new Intel PDFs off of Intel's website you will see that you have everything you need to interact with computer hardware. The Hardware specifications is so detailed that you can make your own Operating System from scratch.

Grab this book while you can. I bought a used one. I paid about 6 bucks roughly and I have to say, its worth MORE. I see the new price currently is about 100 + dollars and there is good reason why its so expensive. For those who really want to get serious and not just pass a class in school, then THIS book is for you. If all your trying to do is pass a grade in school, and you think you can skim through this book, do not bother. You wont get anywhere. This book is deep, and it shows you example code on how to talk to the hardware in specific ways. Sometimes more then one way on how to do it.

Those who are making their own Operating System, like me, GET THIS BOOK !!!! Even if you think your going to program in 64-Bit, you still need this book as a reference. This book gets a 5 Star rating !

most definately not a book for the beginning assembly language programmer. that said, this is one of the most detailed and informative books on the subject i have every had the pleasure of finding, purchasing, and reading.

the book travels deep into the electronic architecture of the humble pc and teaches you how to do things you never even knew could be done. it covers parallel port and serial port interfacing, memory architecture, graphics programming, and just about every other facet of the pc that there is in a very comprehensive and satisfying manner.

i have purchased 9 books so far published by prentice hall, and all were superb. i whole heartedly recommend to EVERYONE that if you ever need to know about something and want a book, see what prentice hall has on the subject FIRST. the quality and quantity of information and the layout and design in their publications are second to none.

if assembly language programming were a religion then this is my bible, and the authors and publishers are my gods.

This is the most useless book you'll ever buy as a student! My grades actually went up when I gave up reading the text and concentrated on the notes given in class. After the 4th week, I stopped using the book entirely. The author tries to explain everything in paragraph form like a story book. There are little diagrams and examples and explains everything in a "no hands on" type approach. The book goes into great detail which might be of some help if you work at NASA, but it would be of very little use to the typical student. Since I won't get any money from it, I'm donating it to the local library.