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

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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Kip Irvine has written four computer programming textbooks, for Intel Assembly Language, C++, Visual Basic, and COBOL. His Assembly Language for Intel-Based Computers has been translated to six languages, and has been a best seller since 1990. Kip grew up in Hawaii as a surfer, sailor, and surfboard maker. He studied classical guitar and music composition at University of Hawaii, eventually earning his music doctorate from the University of Miami. He began programming computers for music synthesis around 1982, and taught at Miami-Dade Community College. He has a Masters degree in Computer Science from the University of Miami, and is currently on the computer science faculty at Florida International University.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 752 pages
• Publisher: Prentice Hall; 5 edition (June 26, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0132383101
• ISBN-13: 978-0132383103
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.9 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #24,205 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars You will learn some things, but you will encounter lots of errata and poor organization, December 16, 2007

By	Jeremy J. Baker "Jeremy Baker" (Omaha, Ne. USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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.

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Inappropriately Titled Tome, February 17, 2008

By	V. Coetzee (Johannesburg, South Africa) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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.

14 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good textbook for college course on Assembly Language, November 9, 2006

By	Kevin "k740" (Fremont, CA) - See all my reviews

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).