assembly language on Mac OS X
I just purchased two books. The first is called "Write Great Code -- Volume 1: Understanding the Machine". It is not about assembly language in specific, just about understanding how computers work on a low level. The other is called "Assembly Language: Step-by-Step" by Jeff Duntemann. I've only read the introduction. It teaches assembly language for Intel-based computers (that's me!), but it also says that it's for DOS and Linux. However, I believe that the reason it says this is because it teaches using the NASM assembler, which, at the time this second edition of the book was published, was only available for DOS and Linux. However, they now have a Mac OS X version of NASM, and I've download it. So, here are my questions:
1.) Given the information I just gave about this book, I want to make sure that the information and code in it will apply to Mac OS X. It certainly sounds like it will, and I understand that there may be minor differences, but I just want to make sure that I'm in the right ballpark here by using this book.
2.) Since it teaches NASM, I'm assuming that NASM was the right assembler for me to download. I also just wanted to check and see if there's any other tools I should be downloading. The book mentions a NASM-IDE, but says that it's for DOS only. Is there anything else like this (or anything else at all) that I should obtain?
3.) Does NASM need to be installed? I went to the NASM website and downloaded the newest version (2.08rc1) for Mac OS X, and it unzipped in my Downloads folder. I've opened the folder and it's a bunch of files that I can't recognize (no install or app files in other words -- just files like rdf2bin, rdf2com, idrdf, and so forth). Is there anything else I need to do? Should I move this folder somewhere? What else do I need to do to get started here? Where would I write my code? How would I run the code? As of right now I have no idea where to go from here, and as you can tell I know nothing about how all this works. Maybe the book will tell me more when I get to the first code sample in the book, but it doesn't look like it, so I just wanted to ask for any information that anyone has time to give about anything relating to getting starting with assembly language and NASM on Mac OS X.
Thanks in advance for any help. I'd love to hear any input or recommendations on this subject, since it's something I really know nothing about, but you gotta start somewhere!
1.) Given the information I just gave about this book, I want to make sure that the information and code in it will apply to Mac OS X. It certainly sounds like it will, and I understand that there may be minor differences, but I just want to make sure that I'm in the right ballpark here by using this book.
2.) Since it teaches NASM, I'm assuming that NASM was the right assembler for me to download. I also just wanted to check and see if there's any other tools I should be downloading. The book mentions a NASM-IDE, but says that it's for DOS only. Is there anything else like this (or anything else at all) that I should obtain?
3.) Does NASM need to be installed? I went to the NASM website and downloaded the newest version (2.08rc1) for Mac OS X, and it unzipped in my Downloads folder. I've opened the folder and it's a bunch of files that I can't recognize (no install or app files in other words -- just files like rdf2bin, rdf2com, idrdf, and so forth). Is there anything else I need to do? Should I move this folder somewhere? What else do I need to do to get started here? Where would I write my code? How would I run the code? As of right now I have no idea where to go from here, and as you can tell I know nothing about how all this works. Maybe the book will tell me more when I get to the first code sample in the book, but it doesn't look like it, so I just wanted to ask for any information that anyone has time to give about anything relating to getting starting with assembly language and NASM on Mac OS X.
Thanks in advance for any help. I'd love to hear any input or recommendations on this subject, since it's something I really know nothing about, but you gotta start somewhere!
MacBook, Mac OS X (10.5.8)
