The CPU (Central Processing Unit) is the most important piece inside of your PC.
Without the CPU, you would not be able to run any programs, do any logical work,
or in general, probably would not even be able to start up the computer. CPU is
where the data is being processed in order to come up with the stuff that you see
on the screen (even at this moment). To an average Assembly programmer, CPU is a
very important piece of technology to understand. It is a complex piece of technology,
but Assembly programmers at least need to understand what's happening inside of
the CPU and what other parts the CPU comprises and how the CPU works in general.
Knowing this information will make you a better programmer.
Without a doubt, Assembly language is the toughest to understand and the hardest
to write an application in. For example, using C/C++ to write a simple "Hello World!"
program takes about 5 lines to write. Using Assembly language to write the same
exact program, would take about 13 lines (that's if you write a .com program).
(There will be a nice little program that I'm making that'll have a discussion on
80x86 processors, but the program is still on hold)
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An advantage in using Assembly language is fast and small-sized programs. The previous
C/C++ program would take about 7K to 8K of disk space (that's if you use the printf()
function), but if you use Assembly, it would only cost you about 24 bytes, a BIG
difference, huh?!
Like said before, Assembly is very fast, so the previous program in C/C++ would be
fast, but the ouput program of Assembly would be twice as fast (that's if you write
good code).
A great source that I've found on the Internet that explains a great deal of info
about your average 80x86 processors, is this On-Line book, called "The Art Of Assembly
Language Programming", it is a great book, but I must warn you, "This book
is not for beginners!", I've also found that chapter 2, which talks
much about the Boolean Mathematics. This has to do with circuitry of the CPU and stuff, which is not for a beginner, unless you
know Physics and Math. There are about 2 chapters that an average beginner could undertand, one
of the chapters talks about differend numbering systems, such as Binary and Hexadecimal
and the other talks about the processors itself. After that, the chapters get confusing,
because this book is made for college-bound students, so that's why you don't want to
begin with this one.
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