Ready for ASM?

[deftlogik]

Hi guys,
           Ive been pondering learning x86 based asm for some time. My only previous experiance of pogramming has been python (very limited). Non the less i've downloaded
MASM32 and completed the Install. Few worries though


1) I suck at maths, will this be a major barrier?

2) does my computer have sufficent grunt for assembly programming ?(CPU specs where grabbed with mikes CPU identification util )

AuthenticAMD  Family 15  Model 16  Stepping 2
AMD Name String: AMD Turion(tm) 64 Mobile Technology MK-36
Features: FPU TSC CX8 CMOV CLFSH FXSR MMX SSE SSE2 SSE3

Machine has a gig of memory installed, running Windows XP media Center


Regards, Deft

[Ehtyar]

Hi deftlogik, welcome to the forum. As for number one, trust me when I say you're not alone *wink wink, nudge nudge*, and I've had no trouble thus far, though it all depends on what you're going to be doing. As for the second, it once again depends on what you're going to be doing, if you want to give us more information about what you intend to do with asm, we can give you betters answers.

Good luck with your coding :)

Ehtyar.

[hutch--]

deft,

Your machine is easily powerful enought to use asm as you can write asm for very old slow machines with no problems. Welcome to the club with maths, I count with my fingers and cheat by using a computer to do my maths.  :bg

Depending on how much Python you know, what you will need to get the swing of is memory addressing which is critical to assembler programming, its also one of its great advantages Have a good look at the help files in MASM32, get the Intel PIV manuals and at least some Windows API reference. The forum web site has the links for most of it.

[gabor]

Hi Deft!

First of all welcome!  :P

Coding, in general, needs more brains than raw power. That means you'll have to think more thoroughly about algos and designs use logic (a cornerstone of math, I'd say) before coding a (maybe lame) version and find it acceptable because it "runs pretty well" on a hi edge-performance-power machine.
Thus, math is not a must here in my opinion. The only drawback would be a dislike for reading. A coder must read about first how to code, then how to optimize and must always read about algorithms and implementation. There are tons of formal descriptions of algos that just wait to be implemented in asm :bg Further more there are many examples here on the forum as well.
So, your hardware is okay, I guess your "software" will cause no problems!

Oh, yeah something important to add: if you feel stuck or don't know how to get further come here and ask! Here always will be someone capable and willing to answer a question.

Good luck!
Greets, Gábor

[Tedd]

Depending how much you got into python, asm will be a bit of a change, but having a 'high level' view can actually be a good thing when trying to write/understand your programs.

1) The amusing thing is that most programmers are equally useless at maths. Seriously! Of course, it can come in useful for many things, but that doesn't mean you need to do 'those' things :wink What's best is that the computer does all the maths for you :bg So if you can use a calculator, that's good enough.

2) "sufficent grunt for assembly programming?" :lol That's like saying "is this empty aircraft-hanger big enough to fit my car in?" If you're running XP Media Center, it has more than enough grunt (when it comes down to it, everything ends up running at the assembly level anyway, so it would even be good enough if it could only handle windows 95)

3) Oh, there wasn't a 3? Well then, why are you still here? Shouldn't you be programming?! :green2