Concerning AOA

[Radix]

I respect anyone that publishes their book online freely for everyone but the book is way too long and too comprehensive. Majority of the people wanting to learn assembly are teenagers or people that have jobs and don't have time to read and go through a 900 page book. I mean, anyone that reads a 900 page programming book is either doing it because they have to or because they are a nerd. Learning assembly isn't easy but it shouldnt be difficult either.

How about something under 200 pages that hits the basics? I like hungryminds.com books where there modo is "read less and learn more". Their books are usually small and contain visual diagrams on every page. Not an in-debth guide, but a book to get your feet wet.

[QvasiModo]

Well, there are lots of quick tutorials and primers out there... a large and comprehensive book is a good thing to have once you're done with tutorials.

[drhowarddrfine]

I would like to have seen the hungryminds books but they've been bought by Wiley&Sons so you get redirected.

I agree that I wish more books would get to the point without the fluff but fluff is hard to write out of a book without making the text dry or unfriendly.  Some book publishers know they must look a certain way to appear more authoritative or attractive to sell more.  Sometimes these are the 1200 page books that cover every topic with larger type and cost $60 and up. 

Some people may say that the thinner "just show me how to do the damn thing" books throw theory out the window.  This is true in many cases but doesn't have to be.  It is hard to do and would require many rewrites which takes time.  Some books, nowadays, are rushed to print, especially technology books on some hot topic.

It might be good to look into publishing two versions of the same book.  One is comprehensive while the other is to the point but not  an "in a nutshell" book.  Even better would be to contain both in one large book.  A total newbie could read the comprehensive side.  When he gets more proficient he can still read the "to the point" side to come back up to speed quicker.

I have problems reading books when I know some parts of the subject but am missing major holes.  I'll skim or skip over chapters of a book but they may contain tidbits of important knowledge which I need for the job, or at least future chapters.  Then I waste time trying to find out what I missed. 

For example, I'm reading a book about cascading style sheets.  I skipped the first half of the book, the fluff to me, to get to the important stuff.  In the first few pages, the author talks about a page being "WAP'ed".  That term is not in the index or table of contents.  I spent some time flipping around trying to find what he meant by it to no avail.

I've been tempted to write a book on various subjects but there's no real money in it.  At least not until you get published the first time.  Even then you have to keep at it to make a living. 

OT--
I'm friends, sort of, with a screenwriter.  He writes for Disney and Paramount and, yes, you've heard of his movies.  (He writes the Whiney the Pooh films but he also wrote for Kevin Bacon and others, so go figure).  I sent him the first act of a screenplay I wrote and he loved it but I can't get myself motivated to finish it.  If it's not generating guaranteed income I have a hard time doing something like that.  Like programming.  I always feel like what I'm doing needs to create income or I go on a guilt trip. 

Mother?

[gedumer]

Actually, Randall Hyde wrote a very short guide to HLA programming just as you describe. It's called The Quick Guide to HLA and is available in PDF format under the name: 40PageGuide.pdf. I'm not sure if it's included in the standard distribution or if I downloaded it somewhere else on the Webster site, but I think it might be just what you're looking for. Obviously, it's not the 200 pages you were looking for, but it contains enough information to get you started and peak your interest.

Gary.

[Evenbit]

Art of Assembly was intended to be a university textbook on the subject -- and that is often how it is used.  If newbies just want a 'tutorial' introduction, there are several of these availably on the 'net and Randy does have links to a couple of these at Webster.  The reason there is so much in AoA is because of the typical motivation for learning assembly:  to understand low-level machine and language implementation concepts.  To actually use Asm for writing slick-N-slim code is just a side benefit.  ;-)

Nathan.

[Radix]

Actually, Randall Hyde wrote a very short guide to HLA programming just as you describe. It's called The Quick Guide to HLA and is available in PDF format under the name: 40PageGuide.pdf. I'm not sure if it's included in the standard distribution or if I downloaded it somewhere else on the Webster site, but I think it might be just what you're looking for. Obviously, it's not the 200 pages you were looking for, but it contains enough information to get you started and peak your interest.

Gary.

Yeah I found it on google. Looks ok but it looks more like a reference guide than a book.

I would like to have seen the hungryminds books but they've been bought by Wiley&Sons so you get redirected.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0764536443/qid%3D1116817544/sr%3D11-1/ref%3Dsr%5F11%5F1/102-9837545-8533738?v=glance

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0764536494/ref=pd_bxgy_img_2/102-9837545-8533738?v=glance&s=books

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0764536176/ref=pd_bxgy_img_2/102-9837545-8533738?v=glance&s=books

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0764535617/ref=pd_sim_b_6/102-9837545-8533738?%5Fencoding=UTF8&v=glance

(I love the PHP book)

Randy does have links to a couple of these at Webster.  The reason there is so much in AoA is because of the typical motivation for learning assembly:  to understand low-level machine and language implementation concepts.  To actually use Asm for writing slick-N-slim code is just a side benefit.  ;-)

Well, I mostly want to learn to use a debugger + the other benefits of knowing assembly. I didn't notice the links page. I did, however, find a good tutorial site that was not on his links page which covers win32asm and some win32C++. Check this out: http://www.madwizard.org/

[Randall Hyde]

Do keep in mind that the 900-page published edition of AoA was edited down from about 1,500 pages in the electronic version :-)

There is probably a market for an "assembly for dummies" book using HLA, but I've always felt that Jeff Duntemann's "Assembly Step-By-Step" filled that void and the market probably isn't big enough for another one.

OTOH, has everyone noticed that there have been a whole slew of assembly books announced in the past year or two? There are three or four that have come out that I'm aware of.  Maybe assembly *is* making a comeback.
Cheers,
Randy Hyde

[Sevag.K]

OTOH, has everyone noticed that there have been a whole slew of assembly books announced in the past year or two? There are three or four that have come out that I'm aware of.  Maybe assembly *is* making a comeback.
Cheers,
Randy Hyde

What gives it away for me is hearing comments like "What's the big interest in assembly language all of a sudden?"
That must really irk the anti-assemblhy crowd.

[Radix]

Jeff Duntemann's book is outdated and its huge.... its like 600 pages. If its step by step and its 600 pages then it better show me how to build a nuclear warhead so I can launch it at the person that made me buy the book.