Proudly - Shop now
Buy used:
$352.99
FREE delivery December 30 - January 3. Details
Arrives after Christmas. Need a gift sooner? Send an Amazon Gift Card instantly by email or text message.
Used: Good | Details
Sold by Supersonic Books
Condition: Used: Good
Comment: Has a sturdy binding with some shelf wear. Pages have little to no markings. Disc not included.
Access codes and supplements are not guaranteed with used items.
Kindle app logo image

Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.

Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.

Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.

QR code to download the Kindle App

Follow the author

Michael Abrash
Follow
Something went wrong. Please try your request again later.

Michael Abrash's Graphics Programming Black Book (Special Edition) Paperback – January 1, 1997

by Michael Abrash (Author)
4.8 4.8 out of 5 stars 24 ratings
See all formats and editions
No one has done more to conquer the performance limitations of the PC than Michael Abrash, a software engineer for Microsoft. His complete works are contained in this massive volume, including everything he has written about performance coding and real-time graphics. The CD-ROM contains the entire text in Adobe Acrobat 3.0 format, allowing fast searches for specific facts.
Previous slide of product details
  1. Print length
    1342 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Coriolis Group
  4. Publication date
    January 1, 1997
  5. Dimensions
    7.75 x 2.75 x 9.25 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    1576101746
  7. ISBN-13
    978-1576101742
  8. See all details
Next slide of product details
The%20Amazon%20Book%20Review
The Amazon Book Review
Book recommendations, author interviews, editors' picks, and more. Read it now.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Michael Abrash's Graphics Programming Black Book is a collection of the author's previous books on assembly language and graphics programming, as well as past columns for Dr. Dobb's magazine. Though much of the book (such as 8088/286/386 assembly language optimization and VGA graphics programming) is out-of-date by now, the reader can see some of the larger tendencies in the author's work over the years--a reliance on profiling in order to test code, and creative thinking to improve performance wherever possible. This text features assembler optimization for a variety of problems including searching algorithms, and records the author's approaches to optimizing code for the evolving line of Intel CPUs, from the 8088 on to the early Pentium lines. The last few chapters of this book are more relevant, and include a series of explorations of some of the technology behind the popular Doom and Quake 3-D games by id Corporation (where the author worked). Optimized solutions to 3-D graphics problems from texture mapping, hidden surface removal, and Binary Space Partitioning (BSP) trees are explained. Current gaming and 3-D technology, such as Direct3D and VRML is left out, but it's clear that game programmers like the author will continue to push the limits of current hardware technology in inventive ways. This book is clearly targeted at game developers and serious assembly language programmers, not for the general reader.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Coriolis Group; No cd-rom or Software; Book Only edition (January 1, 1997)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 1342 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1576101746
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1576101742
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 5.5 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 7.75 x 2.75 x 9.25 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.8 4.8 out of 5 stars 24 ratings

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.
Michael Abrash

Michael Abrash

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.
Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Discover more of the author’s books, see similar authors, read book recommendations and more.

Customer reviews

4.8 out of 5 stars
24 global ratings

Review this product

Share your thoughts with other customers
Write a customer review

Top reviews from the United States

  • Amazon Customer
    5.0 out of 5 stars Great wisdom, insight, and experience through an engineer who worked one-on-one with John Carmack to make Quake!
    Reviewed in the United States on February 28, 2018
    Verified Purchase
    Some will criticize the book for being archaic in its intimate details for platforms of the time. I'm not sure what those buyers were expecting when they bought a book with forwards about Doom and Quake and the date in which this was originally published.

    Yes, it is true that a lot of the code samples are older than much of what modern developers might consider but the core methodology, insights, and domain knowledge ushered in by Abrash are unparalleled both in proficiency and professional writer ability; he knows what he's talking about through and through but also knows how to share it in a very inclusive way. I've found it rare to find both in the same person.

    Anyone interested in optimization, its ethics, classic 3D optimization and performance, or even just interested in refining their C/x86 Assembly code should look this over; it's insights are both technically and morally advantageous to any aspiring software engineer. I say engineer and not programmer because this book covers the former and how to excel at efficiency and best-practices rather than simply creating functionality in an abstracted development environment.

    What makes this write-up particularly special is that this was the only man to truly worked as an equal with John Carmack on Quake's revolutionary 3d, fluid fps engine on 1996 and he's giving the whole development story away for almost free. That incredible development struggle and the insights tied to making the necessary breakthroughs happen are given in rich detail here with fully-coded examples for use at your leisure.

    In all seriousness, this book has been my bible for software engineering efficiency and graphics programming. It helped me tremendously to write a software based rasterization engine from scratch (no OpenGL/DirectX) and to learn so much of what I have endeavored to learn about real-time 3d graphics. This is by far one of the best technical books I've ever read and I revisit it frequently.
    12 people found this helpful
    Helpful
     Report
  • P. Wilson
    5.0 out of 5 stars Graphics Programming Black Book and the mindset of programming for performance
    Reviewed in the United States on February 20, 2009
    Verified Purchase
    This book is gold... it also happens to be old. This does not however change the value of the book, the author was addressing the needs of the computer industry for high performance graphics code in the 80's and 90's, but the principles and thought processes passed on in the book are just as valid today as they were then, perhaps more so since computers have become heavily layered in software abstractions that suck performance at every turn.

    The book is still very relevant to the Embedded community, embedded processors are becoming increasingly capable and are similar in many ways to the early PC's, with simple graphics controllers and other components, and the skills to make high performance use of these can be re-learned from this book.

    Its a great buy and looks pretty imposing on a bookshelf too.
    7 people found this helpful
    Helpful
     Report
  • nerdyguy1618
    5.0 out of 5 stars accessible book -- out of print but not rare
    Reviewed in the United States on December 14, 2003
    Verified Purchase
    I was a little worried I would need to be a guru to make any sense of this book. Not true. It's pretty accessible and has engaged me right from the beginning.
    The book is out of print, but it is by no means rare. Keep an eye on online auctions and on this site. I bought mine here at amazon in "like new" condition, with the CD-ROM, for much less than the original price of the book. Be patient and keep checking. They're out there.
    5 people found this helpful
    Helpful
     Report
  • John Carmack
    5.0 out of 5 stars I personally learned a lot from Michael's early articles.
    Reviewed in the United States on October 21, 1997
    Verified Purchase
    If you have any interest in programming, you should look at Michael Abrash's Graphics Programming Black Book Special Edition. It has just about everything he has written, from the ancient work on optimizing for the 8086 (still interesting to read) to the articles written during quake's development.
    I personally learned a lot from Michael's early articles, and I was proud to contribute to the later ones.
    John Carmack, id Software
    188 people found this helpful
    Helpful
     Report
  • Michael Spertus
    5.0 out of 5 stars Required Reading
    Reviewed in the United States on August 9, 2000
    I don't do any graphics programming and much of the advice in this book is obsolete. Still, writing high-performance assembler and C code is essential to my job, and I can't begin to imagine how to become an expert on performance programming without reading the first portion of this book.
    Abrash teaches you how to think like a performance programmer in a way that no one else does. Even the best (and much more current) books on performance programming like Rick Booth's excellent "Inner Loops" can't approach Abrash' skill at imparting the mindset of how one approaches code optimization. No wonder Abrash' earlier books (which are bundled into this one) have names beginning "The Zen of..." Michael Abrash preaches a discipline of constant awareness of the bus, the cache, and the pipeline in a clear and useful fashion. And of course, Test, test, test! Even if you are not a graphics programmer, you will have much to learn about writing tight code and good algorithms from the graphics examples.
    Even though the book contains over 1000 pages, the real jewel may be the CD-ROM, which contains the complete text of the long out-of-print classic "Zen of Assembler". It is hard to express how influential a book on 8088(!) programming can be. That book begins by deconstructing a published article on speeding up a program by repeatedly applying optimizations that reduce the cycle count, eventually the cycle count was halved. Despite this, the "optimized" program ran slower than the original, and Abrash clearly explains why.
    The chapter on Terje Matheson's wc program tought me more about assembler than any program I have ever looked at. (You can test your skill by rewriting wc to run well on the Pentium II and above. The Pentium code in the book runs into a devastating partial register stall on the newer processors. Then compare your solution to Matheson's latest, which can be found on the internet).
    The bottom line is that if you are looking for a cookbook, stay away from this. The shelf-life of performance code samples is too short. On the other hand, if you are interested in really becoming a master of performance programming and are willing to work hard, this book will improve your skills more than you believed possible.
    35 people found this helpful
    Helpful
     Report

Top reviews from other countries

  • Wayne
    5.0 out of 5 stars Hardcore and in-depth
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 10, 2020
    Verified Purchase
    This book is deep and still very relevant to this day.
    Report