Assembly Language Programming Made Not So Scary
This text book provides a fairly thorough examination of the ARM V8 ISA (Instruction Set Architecture). It begins from the perspective of a person knowledgeable in the C or C++ programming languages (or similar languages, of which there are many). Early chapters bridge your knowledge of C or C++ backwards into assembly language driving home a very sharp point: C is a high level assembly language. Further, assembly language is nothing to be scared about.
For Whom Is This Book Intended?
As mentioned, if you are already familiar with C or any language descended from C, this book begins with what you know. Later chapters dive deeply into the corners and recesses of the ARM V8 ISA and are suitable for those wishing to master the rich instruction set of the 64 bit ARM processors.
Can This Book Be Used In Courses Covering Assembly Language?
Yes, absolutely.
In fact, we would argue that the study of assembly language is extremely important to the building of competent software engineers. Further, we would argue that teaching the x86 instruction set is sadistic and cruel as that ISA was born in the 1970s and has simply gotten more muddled with age.
The MIPS instruction set is another ISA that is often covered in College level courses. While far kinder and gentler than the x86 ISA, the MIPS processor isn't nearly as relevant as the ARM family. Phones, tablets, laptops and even desktops contain ARM V8 processors making the study of the ARM ISA far more topical.
Calling Convention Used In This Book
Assembly language programming is quite closely intertwined with both the underlying hardware architecture and the host operating system. A "calling convention" refers to how functions are called and how parameters are passed. In this book we will use the ARM LINUX conventions. This means:
- You will need to run a ARM Linux VM on the Macintosh - even on ARM-based Macs. Why? Apple. That's why.
- You will need to run WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux) on ARM-based Windows machines.
- You will need to run an ARM Linux VM on x86-based Windows machines.
A Lot of Names
As commendable as the ARM designs are, ARM's naming conventions for their Intellectual Properties are horrid. In this book, AARCH64 and ARM V8 are taken to be synonyms for the 64 bit ARM Instruction Set Architecture (ISA).
Section 1 - Bridging from C / C++ to Assembly Language
| Chapter | Content |
|---|---|
| 1 | Hello World |
| 2 | If Statements |
| 3 | Loops |
| .... a | .... While Loops |
| .... b | .... For Loops |
| .... c | .... Implementing Continue |
| .... d | .... Implementing Break |
| 4 | Interludes |
| .... a | .... Registers |
| .... b | .... Load and Store |
| .... c | .... More About ldr |
| .... d | .... Register Sizes |
| 5 | Functions |
| .... a | .... Calling and Returning |
| .... b | .... Passing Parameters |
| 6 | FizzBuzz - a Complete Program |
| 7 | Structs |
| .... a | .... Alignment |
| .... b | .... Defining |
| .... c | .... Using |
| 8 | const |
| 9 | Casting |
Section 2 - Floating Point
| Chapter | Content |
|---|---|
| 10 | Floating Point |
| .... a | .... What Are Floating Point Numbers? |
| .... b | .... Registers (simplified) |
| .... c | .... Literals |
| .... d | .... fmov Not Yet Written |
| .... e | .... Conversion To / From Integers |
| .... f | .... Four Basic Operations Not Yet Written |
| .... g | .... Selected Additional Operations Not Yet Written |
| .... z | .... Half Precision Floats |
Section 3 - Bit Manipulation
| Chapter | Content |
|---|---|
| 11 | Bit Fields |
| .... a | .... Without Bit Fields |
| .... b | .... With Bit Fields |
| .... c | .... Review of Newly Described Instructions |
Section 3 - More Stuff
| Chapter | Content |
|---|---|
| --- | Determing string length for C functions |
Projects
Here are some project specifications to offer a challenge to your growing mastery.
About The Author
Perry Kivolowitz's career in the Computer Sciences spans just under five decades. He launched more than 5 companies, mostly relating to hardware, image processing and visual effects (for motion pictures and television). Perry received Emmy recognition for his work on the The Gathering, the pilot episode of Babylon 5. Later he received an Emmy Award for Engineering along with his colleagues at SilhouetteFX, LLC. SilhouetteFX is used in almost every significant motion picture for rotoscoping, paint, tracking, 2D to 3D reconstruction, compositing and more.
In 1996 Perry received an Academy Award for Scientific and Technical Achievement for his invention of Shape Driven Warping and Morphing. This is the technique responsible for many of the famous effects in Forrest Gump, Titanic and Stargate.
Twenty twenty two marks Perry's 18th year teaching Computer Science at the college level, ten years at the UW Madison and now 8 at Carthage College.
Assembly language is a passion for Perry having worked in the following ISAs:
-
Univac 1100
-
Digital Equipment Corporation PDP-11
-
Digital Equipment Corporation VAX-11
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Motorola 68000
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ARM beginning with AARCH64
This work is dedicated to my wife Sara and sons Ian and Evan.
Gratuitous Plug
Perry has created a library of about 200 programming projects suitable for CS 1, CS 2, Data Structures, Networking, Operating Systems and Computer Organization classes. If a publisher of CS text books be interested in purchasing the library, please reach out.