ABSTRACT
This chapter introduces basic program structure and a few easy instructions to show how directives and code create an assembly program. What are directives? How is the code stored in memory? What is memory? It’s unfortunate that the tools and the mechanics of writing assembly have to be learned simultaneously. Without software tools, the best assembly ever written is virtually useless, difficult to simulate in your head, and even harder to debug. You might find reading sections with unfamiliar instructions while using new tools akin to learning to swim by being thrown into a pool. It is. However, after going through the exercise of running a short block of code, the remaining chapters take time to look at all of the details: directives, memory, arithmetic, and putting it all together. This chapter is meant to provide a gentle introduction to the concepts behind, and rules for writing, assembly programs.
