Re: The Second Book Of Machine Language on the Web

[mjmahon@aol.com (Michael J. Mahon)]

Roy relied:

>Michael J. Mahon wrote:
>> Bryan Parkoff wrote:
>> 
>> 
>>>Which machine language book is the best for advanced assembly
>>>programming?
>> 
>> 
>> Since you already have a fundamental grasp of assembly language,
>> I would recommend reading some good/great assembly language
>> programs.  Source may be a bit tricky to come by, which will
>> frequently call for disassembling the code.  In the process of
>> understanding and commenting the disassembled code, you
>> will learn a great deal about the machine you are studying and
>> how to do things with it.
>> 
>> If you have access to commented source, all the better.
>> The Apple II monitor is not commented, but it has very
>> well-written parts (you will notice some different styles).
>> Note that it is "optimized" to save space, not to maximize
>> structure, particularly.  (But, of course, it's small enough
>> that it can be comprehended "whole".)
>> 
>> For the conceptual basis of good programming, the actual
>> language (high-level or assembler) is not so important. A
>> good computer science/engineering text on the kind of
>> concepts you want to learn is fine (data structures,
>> compilers, sorting, etc.).  Don Knuth's "The Art of
>> Computer Programming" is without peer, and contains
>> excellent code examples and exercises.
>> 
>> But for actual programming, the very best preparation
>> is reading good code and learning from it.  You will see
>> a lot of techniques, some better, some worse, and you
>> can find what works best for your needs.
>> 
>> Although one can imagine a "tips and techniques" kind
>> of book for advanced programming, I would be quite
>> surprised if it worked as well as what I have suggested.
>> 
>> Studying existing examples of code that does things
>> like what you want to do is one of the very few ways of
>> getting the benefit of someone else's hard-won experience.
>> 
>> Of course, when you start doing some good-sized projects,
>> you will inevitably acquire some of your own hard-won
>> experience!  ;-)
>> 
>> Remember:  Good judgement comes from experience,
>> and experience comes from poor judgement.
>> 
>> -michael
>
>Isn't what you've written below the same basic advice given by Don 
>Lancaster?
>
>Roy

It's been a long time since I read Don's advice, but it's nice
to know that we agree!  ;-)

-michael

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