Customer Reviews

Assembly Language for Intel-Based Computers (5th Edition)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I have read a lot of programming text books, but I have never seen so much errata before. My fellow classmates and I are amazed at the amount of errors.

It all started early with the book claiming that George Bool invented the Analytical Engine, instead of Charles Babbage.

We also wonder if the author just cranks out new editions and just adds a few things and doesn't update the rest of the book. It took me awhile to figure out the solution to an assignment, right out of the book, that didn't compensate for newer processors(or any processor in recent history). Actually it seems like it hasn't been changed for 7 years or longer or it's just plain errata. So, I was wondering for a long while why my programming assignment would not work. I finally figured out the book was the reason. Later on there was a programming exercise that required adding to existing code in the book, but when adding lines, it would not work. I would get jump too far errors.

This book could use some better organization too. Simply putting related things together in a chapter is not enough. Yes there is an index and appendices, but the organization in the chapters is poor. Better explanation would be great too.

I guess I am just spoiled by Deitel's books. They are great. Too bad they don't have one on x86 Assembly.

This book was supposed to have a cd-rom disc, but I don't think anyone got one. I sure didn't. The files on the cd-rom are required for the programming assignments to work. Luckily you can download the files off the web site. If you figure out that the files might be on the web site and you go there.

Finally, the binding is weak, I had to re-glue mine within a couple of weeks of receiving a new copy. My professor complained about the binding too. It's too thin(or something) to hold up.

Having written many 8086 assembly language programs many years ago, and after having used PPC and SPARC chips for a number of years, I decided to purchase this book to refresh my knowledge of Intel assembler. I was very disappointed in the contents of this book. The title would suggest that the subject matter covered relates to writing Intel assembly language perhaps in a platform agnostic manner, however the book should rather be titled "Assembly Language USING MASM for Intel based computers RUNNING WINDOWS". The book does not even seem to acknowledge that there are other OSs apart from Windows that run on Intel based machines, and also makes use of features and peculiarities of the MASM assembler. If you are looking for a text that will assist you in writing assembler using MASM for Intel based machines running Windows then this is it, otherwise stay well clear, and try to find a text that is less partisan.

I bought this book as it was the textbook for a class I was taking at the local community college. I found it to be helpful in learning about the Intel Assembly Language. The material is presented well and it has examples in the book as well as additional materials and study information that you can get from the author's web site. I've spent over 27 years writing software in various languages (FORTRAN, C/C++, JAVA and 4 different assembly languages) but Intel Assembly language was new to me. The information I was looking for specifically was how I could use the knowledge of Intel Assembly to help me debug problems in C/C++. The information and explanations in the book of the different language and Windows calling conventions was particularly helpful in that regard. Ever have a problem with the stack and tried to figure out what happened?

I don't know of any other books on this topic but this one seems to be one of the best as it has been adopted by colleges and unversities.

Some of the descriptions/explanations are a bit off from what we use in the software industry but you can figure out what the author meant. One area is how the stack is depicted in the book. It's upside down from what I am used to seeing (ie. the top of the stack is depicted at the bottom of the illustration).

A little surprising that no reviews have already appeared on this 5th edition. The previous editions have been some of the definitive texts on the subject and the author is quite well known.

Anyhow, if you have used an earlier edition, much remains unchanged. Intel has gone to great expense to make its microprocessor family largely compatible as each new generation is released. Here is a thorough description of the assembler commands. Giving examples of how to use each. Along with brief assembler programs that illustrate ideas in a chapter. There are generous numbers of section review questions for the student to tackle.

Plus, how C commands are translated into Intel assembler instructions is gone into at great depth. Takes the mystery out of how compilers work. You can follow the mapping from C-level structures to how they are implemented.

Perhaps surprisingly, there is considerable discussion of MS-DOS. You might have thought it was safely dead and gone. But MS-DOS still is present in many legacy applications. For some jobs, you need to know this stuff.

Sorry, but I have been teaching assembly language for over 15 years. I try to use Irvine's books, but the last thing I want my to do is use a book that "dumb" downs the students learning! I absolutely hate the include files and prewritten routines that Irvine uses. I want my student to write these and learn. Assembly language should not be "easy". I want my student to learn the hard, gut-level hard knocks writing of this language. That's when they understand the power of assembly!

Kip's book is an excellent book suitable for textbook purpose as well as table-reference. If I could I would give it 10 stars.

The way the author progresses the material makes it very easy to follow, and very enjoyable to read.

There is no CD comes with the book. But you can freely download the Visual Studio 2005 Express Edition from Microsoft website.

I have another book, Assembly Language Step-by-step: Programming with DOS and Linux (with CD-ROM) by Jeff Duntemann (Paperback - May 24, 2000). Comparing to Kip's book, that book is almost like a joke (no doubt for Jeff's expertise or authority on Assembly language but the way he put stuff in the book makes you feel somewhat stupid).

Get the book, and enjoy the beautiful binary world with Assembly!

This book take you by the hand if you're really interested on learning Assembly Language. You can also find good tools in the Author's web site.

To understand this book you should have some knowledge of high level language. Have to read the material not just skim through (especially the code segments). Author uses his own .inc file idk if that's a good or bad thing. I liked it, made the input and output more easier :D

This book is very thorough, leaves nothing out, and is fairly long, heavy reading. There is no filler, nothing you can really skip over or skim. But when you're finished, you really will know quite a bit about computer architecture, and the low-level processes that all higher-level programs are based on.

If you're a slow reader like me, or generally need to reread technical books a few times over to understand them , then I'd recommend you START READING a month or so BEFORE your class starts.

This is a great book to learn Assembly language. I got this book because my teacher used it in my Computer Archictecture and Organization course. It's very well organized, covers a lot of subjects and has plenty of examples and illustrations to help.