Assembly Language Coding in Color: ARM and NEON

Learning to program in assembly language is an excellent hands-on introduction to computer architecture. However, assembly language has a bad reputation of being difficult to learn. Through the use of complete program examples, flow diagrams, and color codes, Assembly Language Coding in Color helps students and computer enthusiasts start on a solid path to understanding computer architecture.

• This tutorial introduces the novice to the basics of the ARM and NEON architectures.
• Although the Raspberry Pi and BeagleBone Black computers are ideal platforms for this book, most other Linux-based ARM systems are also compatible.
• Programmers learn by example and develop their skills by examining and modifying working programs. The sample programs in this book, ranging from five to over one hundred lines of code, are available for download through GitHub.
• Many assembly language books present CPU instructions in catalog form along with snippets of coding examples. In this book, CPU instructions are introduced as needed to achieve programming goals as the projects in each chapter progress to the next.
• Over fifty color illustrations are included to explain programming techniques as well as ARM and NEON instructions.
• Programming examples and flow diagrams are color coded to help “connect” concepts to implementation.
• Topics like binary and hexadecimal are introduced through programming examples as well as appearing in appendices.
• The examples in this book have been “classroom tested” with students having very little, if any, previous programming experience. The information is complete, allowing it to be used as an independent study.

Is a book in color worth twice the production print costs of one in black and white? It is for those students struggling to get a working knowledge of a subject where they need to connect concepts to implementation. Learning computer architecture through hands-on assembly language programming experience helps develop well-rounded programmers and computer engineers.

Robert Dunne has over 40 years of computer experience ranging from developing custom hardware interfaces on supercomputers to teaching technology courses in middle-school gifted-education programs. Starting out with degrees in physics and computer science, he was on staff at a national laboratory and a major engineering firm for ten years before becoming an entrepreneur in the development of embedded systems. He has written well over 100,000 lines of assembler code developing systems and applications on ten unique CPU architectures encompassing mainframes, minicomputers, and microcomputers. During the past ten years, he has taught three undergraduate courses per semester in digital electronics and embedded systems and is notorious for getting his students working on a lab project within the first 60 seconds of the very first class meeting.