Irvine32... Shall I?

[chicago]

Hey all :D

I want to learn assembly language. A teacher of mine therefore lent me a Kim Irvine book. It looks OK but I don't like to use Irvine32/16 libraries.
I'd like to learn with either standard libraries or on the best case to develop my own complete code.

What's the recommendations you could give me?

Thank you!

Jose

[dedndave]

hi Jose - welcome to the forum
i'd say you came to the right place   :U
in the upper right corner, there are links for downloading the masm32 package
as well as reference material and Iczelion's win32 tutorial

[GregL]

Jose,

I agree, the Irvine32 library isn't so good, the MASM32 library is much better. After you learn assembly language, then consider developing your own library. If it's the 4th Edition or later, you can still learn a lot from just reading the book.

[chicago]

Jose,

I agree, the Irvine32 library isn't so good, the MASM32 library is much better. After you learn assembly language, then consider developing your own library. If it's the 4th Edition or later, you can still learn a lot from just reading the book.

Thank you both!

That was my intention (to learn from the book without his libraries lol).

I'm gonna go check out the documents you mentioned.

Thank you!

[baltoro]

chicago,
I bought the Fourth Edition of Kip Irvine's book (mainly because I found an edition of it in the University of California library).   
It is designed for a beginner (which I was - still am, actually). I have several complaints. (1) It has alot of material on 16-bit assembly programming (which is practically useless in Windows XP and later), and (2) It has just one short chapter on Floating-Point assembly programming (very important subject). His libraries are simplest code possible for demonstrating the material he presents in the book. The libraries and all the documentation that come with MASM32 are far better in design and reliability. Read the Intel manuals. Visit the websites of programmers here at the MASM Forum.

[GregL]

Since he already has the book, what's it gonna hurt for him to read it?  It has a lot of good information for beginners in my opinion. The Intel manuals are great but you need a basic understanding of assembly language to use them.  The "MASM Programmer's Guide" is something beginners (and experienced MASM programmers) should read, more than once. Iczelion's Tutorials are very good and the MASM32 help files and examples are very good too.

[hutch--]

If you own the book, reading it will do you no harm but don't get trapped into learning 16 bit architecture, its close to useless in protected mode programming. Learn the 32 bit architecture as it is close enough to be useful in the coming 64 bit era.

32 bit code is clear, clean and fast and with MASM there is a mountain of good code available from simple learner stuff to very sophisticated SSE code so don't waste your time with old junk, learn the useful stuff that you can use in modern programs.

[GregL]

Of course, skip the 16-bit content and concentrate on the 32-bit.

Personally I think the Kip Irvine book is worth reading for beginners, if it can be had for a decent price. The 4th Edition has mostly 32-bit content and some floating point and some 16-bit content. The 5th Edition has even more 32-bit and floating point content and even less 16-bit content. I haven't read the 6th Edition but from looking at the table of contents it is continuing the trend even more. Yes the library isn't the greatest, it's because he adapted the 16-bit library to work with 32-bit instead of writing a new 32-bit library. The book has a lot of good content and for beginners I think it's worth reading.  The editions less than the 4th should be avoided because they only have 16-bit content.

[chicago]

Of course, skip the 16-bit content and concentrate on the 32-bit.

Personally I think the Kip Irvine book is worth reading for beginners, if it can be had for a decent price. The 4th Edition has mostly 32-bit content and some floating point and some 16-bit content. The 5th Edition has even more 32-bit and floating point content and even less 16-bit content. I haven't read the 6th Edition but from looking at the table of contents it is continuing the trend even more. Yes the library isn't the greatest, it's because he adapted the 16-bit library to work with 32-bit instead of writing a new 32-bit library. The book has a lot of good content and for beginners I think it's worth reading.  The editions less than the 4th should be avoided because they only have 16-bit content.

I have the 5th edition.

I will see what I find. The book fortunately is not mine, so I spent nothing on it.

I've liked the tutorials I've was recommended and I am now starting to understand the assembly deal.

When I have a good understanding of the language then I'll read the books to get tips and learn new things, but this, until having a solid base of my own (therefore being able to pick what will help me and discard what won't).

Thank you!!!