From: "M. Schulter" <mschulter AT value DOT net>
Newsgroups: comp.os.msdos.djgpp
Subject: Re: AT&T ASM : tutorials?
Date: 18 Oct 1997 20:13:15 GMT
Organization: Value Net Internetwork Services Inc.
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To: djgpp AT delorie DOT com
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Thomas Harte <T DOT Harte_ AT _btinternet DOT com> wrote:
: Hi,

: 	I was just wondering, is there a place where I can download a
: tutorial of basic assembly language suitable for use with DJGPP's inline
: assembler? I've seen a few which cover differences between intel ASM and
: AT&T ASM, and at the moment it seems my only option may be to learn
: intel ASM and then do the conversion courses, but this seems needlessly
: time filling.

As someone just learning assembler DJGPP-style without any previous
background in the Intel syntax, in my case mostly standalone GAS coding
(GAS is the GNU assembler, as.exe), I can tell you that the road is often
challenging but not impossible.

First of all, as Jeff Weeks has noted, there are new resources becoming
available on the Internet. Jeff's upcoming tutorial is one of them, and
the work in progress by Jim Schwarz as part of the DJGPP User's Guide is
another:

http://www.delorie.com/djgpp/doc/ug/asm/about-386.html

Also, there have been a number of standalone GAS programs posted here by
masters such as Charles W. Sandmann and Gurunandan R. Bhat, as well as by
myself and other eager students. You might want to check out the DJGPP
mail archives available on one of the submenus at:

http://www.delorie.com/djgpp/

(be sure to include that last slash!).

You could also try searching messages in comp.os.msdos.djgpp at

www.dejanews.com

on such topics as 'hello.s' or 'GAS'.

: Or maybe someone could give me a couple of examples of
: AT&T ASM, just to get me started? I have been trying some things, but
: they have all spectacularly failed to have worked so far. I have to
: learn intel ASM as part of a college course soon anyway (a couple of
: months, maybe a half a year) . . . just what does everyone ele suggest?

One of the tricks is that you can learn the basic opcodes and the AT&T
syntax at the same time; often the translation is trivial, even for a
beginner like myself. The real problems most often involve what you can or
can't do in protected mode -- which, however, adds safety features as well
as sparing a beginning a lot of complications regarding segments and so
forth.

I'd be glad to share code with you and help out in any way I can via
e-mail.

Most appreciatively,

Margo Schulter
mschulter AT value DOT net