Assembly Language Programming (3rd Edition)

Rating:
Summary: WORST BOOK EVER ! Zero stars ! IRRITATING !
Review: I am a student (not a lazy one; 4.0GPA) and I can assure you that this book was NOT written with students in mind. I am very irritated by how this book is un(organized) and put together carelessly. The examples are HORRIBLE and imcomplete. Somehow I get the feeling that the other reviewers are related to the author because any serious student/programmer/instructor that has thoroughly used this book would certainly avoid it at all costs.

Here are a few irritating things:
Exercises with multiple items are not ordered (like 1.1, 1.2 or a) b) c)... and so on. It takes me more time to check my answers than to really complete the exercises.

In some chapters most of the exercises do NOT have answers.

The author makes you flip back during the explanation several times. I do NOT have time or patience for this.

Also, the information is very superficial and the book focus greatly on using the macros and libraries that come with the included CD, of course, instead of giving you enough to write them yourself.

For any serious programmer, I recommend instead Irvine's book "Assembly language for intel-based computers".

After the semester is over I will burn this and broadcast it over the internet : ) I would not sell it to anyone, not even for a dollar it is not worth it.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent for Beginners
Review: This is a very to easy to read book for learning the basics. Well written, but may be missing too many technical details for a higher level college course.

Rating:
Summary: Superb book for UNDERSTANDING assembly language
Review: This review is for the 2nd Edition.

I've read quite a few books on assembly language, but the approach to the material in each of them was not from a "teaching" point of view.

This book is the only one I've come across that addresses the material through the students eyes. For example, a concept or topic will not be used or referred to until it has been covered. That sounds like common sense, but I've discovered common sense is not common.

First, an overview of a computer and it's architecture is presented. Then topics are covered (clearly and extensively) that build on the previous topics. This is key in building a foundational, true understanding of the material.

Jones knows people learn best when "doing", so when exercises or examples are presented (using MASM or TASM), he goes though all of the nitty gritty details to get you going. The debuggers are covered and used thoughout the book (Debug Workshops) to give the student the required insight to what is going on within the processor/memory.

The writing style is refreshing, upbeat, and there are plenty of diagrams that help convey the concepts. Jones' mastery of the material is unquestioned, and he goes the extra mile to explain things like how an assembler works, from the inside (I haven't seen this in any of the other books I've read). There are many supporting activities that go on "beind the scenes" when using assembly language and Jones' takes the time to explain them. This is the kind of approach that leads to true understanding. There's even advanced topics that experienced assembly language programmers will find interesting.

I highly recommend Jones' book to high school teachers and college professors for their classes. You will not find a better text for TEACHING the material.

Rating:
Summary: Possibly the best book on Assembly Language
Review: Usually it is enough to go thru the first few chapters to know a book's usefulness. Reading just the first Chapter is enough to convince that this an excellent (possibly best!) book on Assembly Language.