IBM PC Assembly Language and Programming (Hardcover)

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Editorial Reviews

Product Description

This Fourth edition of this broad-based and comprehensive text covers all programming levels - from introductory through advanced. Both inexperienced readers and experienced programmers can learn and benefit. Appropriate for both two and four year schools. This revision retains the practical, hands on approach while and updating the text to include the latest changes in Assembly Language and Operating Systems.

From the Publisher

The primary focus of this book is to assist readers in learning assembly language programming. Abel has designed the text to serve as both tutorial and reference, asking students to read through each chapter, key the many program examples, convert them to executable modules, and execute them. Coverage starts from scratch, discussing the simpler aspects of the hardware and the language, then introduces instructions as they are needed. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 606 pages
• Publisher: Prentice Hall; 4 edition (May 22, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0137566107
• ISBN-13: 978-0137566105
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.9 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,599,160 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An Excellent Overview of Assembly Language, December 27, 2003

By	Matthew K. Minerd "The Coding Catholic" (Herdon, VA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: IBM PC Assembly Language and Programming (5th Edition) (Hardcover)

While not perfect for the beginning x86 assembly language programmer, Abel's text is an excellent overview of the basic and intermediate concepts of x86 assembly. This text covers many of the commands of the x86 instruction set and is an excellent introduction to learning about various BIOS and DOS interrupts. Herein lies a slight problem with the text. Relying too heavily on the "old world" of DOS and Windows 95/98 (and possibly - depending on your system - Windows 2000), this text often takes for granted that you are running on an older Microsoft-based x86 system. As long as you can overcome this compatibility "hurdle", this text is an excellent source for learning about x86 assembly. It covers the topic of machine code, which is of prime importance for those who are interested in writing assembler and compilers (and for writing succinct assembly), and also has copious notes on all the instructions taught in the text.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not Good Enough For Beginners, May 5, 2005

By	Siddhardha (Colorado, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: IBM PC Assembly Language and Programming (5th Edition) (Hardcover)

This book is a required text in an undergrad class on Assembly Language that I was taking. I found this book to be too difficult for a beginner simply, not because of the sophisticated concepts introduced here but because of the errors and lack of explanation. The latter half of the book is essentially like a reference and provided no explanation most of the time. Even for the example programs given in the text, there was not sufficient explanation. I also found that most of the programs (particularly in the latter half) do not work at all. I could fix a few bugs in some programs to make them work, however, this is a time consuming effort. Unless you have a really good instructor who can help you with the bugs and explanation of the code, I will not recommend this book. While I struggled with this book and managed to get an 'A' grade, I would look elsewhere if I had to do it all over again!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Too Operating System Dependent, August 30, 2002

By	Joseph D. Wagner "TechnoJoe" (Vancouver, WA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: IBM PC Assembly Language and Programming (5th Edition) (Hardcover)

I bought this book for the express purpose of learning and programming PC-BIOS Assembly language functions, because I read the 3rd edition of this same book and found it to be excellent. I was severely disappointed to learn that the very chapter I wanted to thoroughly dissect was rewritten from being operating system independent to being operating system dependent, the dependent operating systems being DOS and Windows 95/98. A good deal of the information in this book depends upon these operating systems and will not work with Windows 2000, ME, or XP.

The book provides meticulously thorough backgrounds, mundane explanations, and vague and ambiguous examples. Personally, I wish the depth of information was structured completely opposite.

If you just want to "learn the ropes" of Assembly and have access to a DOS or Windows 95/98 machine to learn them on, this book will do. If you need something portable, something operating system independent, this book is not for you.