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Usborne Introductions
Machine Code for Beginners
Unknown Binding
First published October 7, 1983
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
December 11, 2015
A Kids Book for Machine Code Programming
26 May 2014
When I was a kid I dreamed of becoming a computer programmer so that I could write computer games, but unfortunately that dream never came about, despite the fact that I did manage to write computer games when I was a kid. Well, come to think of it, while I am not a 'paid' or 'university qualified' computer programmer, I must say that I did end up managing to write computer games, not only in BASIC (Beginners All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code), but also using game development programs such as the Bards Tale Construction Set and Neverwinter Nights (which came with its own construction set). In fact, I ended up spending so much time developing a very complex world with the Neverwinter Nights construction set that I have pretty much exhausted the last of my desire to write computer games, and so these days, even if I do play some games, it tends to be a short shoot-em up, usually on the Commodore 64 emulator, and usually this game:
Anyway, the reason I mentioned that was because as a kid, to assist me in writing computer games, I wanted to learn how to program in Machine Code, or Assembler as it is more commonly known (though Machine Code and Assembler are slightly different). What I did not understand as kid, but what I have come to understand now after reading this book (for the first time by the way, because as a kid I ended up being too distracted by the games I had on my computer to actually begin learning how to write in machine code) I have come to understand the difficulties of such a task. With what I have learnt from this book, the programs that I wrote when I was a kid would have actually been much easier to write in BASIC than in machine code because the difficulty with machine code is that you are telling the computer, using its own language, what to do, and that is not an easy task. In fact, the thing about BASIC (and other languages such as Java, PHP, C++, et al) is that they are designed so that we humans can tell a computer what to do without resorting to its language (which at its core is a series of 0s and 1s, which represent an on state and an off state).
The next step up is what is called Hexadecimal, which is a numerical set that uses a base of sixteen (as opposed to 10, as we are used to, namely because a computer actually works in sets of 8, as opposed to 10, which is why when you go and purchase memory you end up purchasing them at 8 gig, 16 gig, 32 gig, etc). Anyway, here is a program, in the computer's language, that is used to add the number 4 to the number 2:
So, if that doesn't make any sense to you, then you are in good company because I assure you that that collection of letters and numbers makes no sense to many of the computer scientists and IT gurus out there today. The reason is that, as I have mentioned above, because many of them simply do not use, or even need to use, machine code since much easier languages have already been developed to remove that necessity. These days the only reason that one would resort to the use of machine code is when one needs to do something that these other languages cannot do, and what is then done is that a program is created by the programmer so that if the need to do that again comes about a simple command is then used without having to go back and use machine code once again.
26 May 2014
When I was a kid I dreamed of becoming a computer programmer so that I could write computer games, but unfortunately that dream never came about, despite the fact that I did manage to write computer games when I was a kid. Well, come to think of it, while I am not a 'paid' or 'university qualified' computer programmer, I must say that I did end up managing to write computer games, not only in BASIC (Beginners All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code), but also using game development programs such as the Bards Tale Construction Set and Neverwinter Nights (which came with its own construction set). In fact, I ended up spending so much time developing a very complex world with the Neverwinter Nights construction set that I have pretty much exhausted the last of my desire to write computer games, and so these days, even if I do play some games, it tends to be a short shoot-em up, usually on the Commodore 64 emulator, and usually this game:
Anyway, the reason I mentioned that was because as a kid, to assist me in writing computer games, I wanted to learn how to program in Machine Code, or Assembler as it is more commonly known (though Machine Code and Assembler are slightly different). What I did not understand as kid, but what I have come to understand now after reading this book (for the first time by the way, because as a kid I ended up being too distracted by the games I had on my computer to actually begin learning how to write in machine code) I have come to understand the difficulties of such a task. With what I have learnt from this book, the programs that I wrote when I was a kid would have actually been much easier to write in BASIC than in machine code because the difficulty with machine code is that you are telling the computer, using its own language, what to do, and that is not an easy task. In fact, the thing about BASIC (and other languages such as Java, PHP, C++, et al) is that they are designed so that we humans can tell a computer what to do without resorting to its language (which at its core is a series of 0s and 1s, which represent an on state and an off state).
The next step up is what is called Hexadecimal, which is a numerical set that uses a base of sixteen (as opposed to 10, as we are used to, namely because a computer actually works in sets of 8, as opposed to 10, which is why when you go and purchase memory you end up purchasing them at 8 gig, 16 gig, 32 gig, etc). Anyway, here is a program, in the computer's language, that is used to add the number 4 to the number 2:
3E, 02
C6, 04
32, 577F
C9
So, if that doesn't make any sense to you, then you are in good company because I assure you that that collection of letters and numbers makes no sense to many of the computer scientists and IT gurus out there today. The reason is that, as I have mentioned above, because many of them simply do not use, or even need to use, machine code since much easier languages have already been developed to remove that necessity. These days the only reason that one would resort to the use of machine code is when one needs to do something that these other languages cannot do, and what is then done is that a program is created by the programmer so that if the need to do that again comes about a simple command is then used without having to go back and use machine code once again.
May 16, 2013
A solid introduction into the low level syntax world of assembly. The pictures are great, the math succinct, and the concepts are explained in a universal way that does not prevent picking them up.
Now.. realize this flavor of assembly is written for "computers with a Z80 or 6502 microprocessor". Which is *not* your every day machine. That does not make the book worthless, just recognize flavors of assembly change with the processors.
Also note that this is what happens when your higher level languages like c++, java, .NET, etc are being compiled and ran. This is the great Oz behind the curtain of a more readable and modern languages.. though it never hurts to know enough assembly to jump in and micro-optimize your code as needed.
Now.. realize this flavor of assembly is written for "computers with a Z80 or 6502 microprocessor". Which is *not* your every day machine. That does not make the book worthless, just recognize flavors of assembly change with the processors.
Also note that this is what happens when your higher level languages like c++, java, .NET, etc are being compiled and ran. This is the great Oz behind the curtain of a more readable and modern languages.. though it never hurts to know enough assembly to jump in and micro-optimize your code as needed.
August 30, 2020
Great wee introduction to machine coding on classic computer systems - and it’s a free download from the Usbourne website too. Took me a while to get my head around converting binary to decimal to hexadecimal and back - but it was worth putting the effort in. Whaddya know...maths can be fun :)
November 1, 2024
Hermoso libro, da una idea clara de como las máquinas operan código binario, me da la impresión que es un libro imperecedero, es un buen registro histórico. Al mismo tiempo no fue hace mucho que la programación se hacía así, estamos hablando de los '80
March 6, 2024
Great intro to machine code. Still relevant today!
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews