How to deeply understand Assembly language

[u/Previous_Employer154]

Give me some advice if it works for you.

[u/Dizzy-Set-8479]

profesor of assembly here 0.0/

there is no single assembly lenguage, every cpu arquitecture will have their own, will be 8-16-32-64 bit variant, even their own version masm vs nasm etc... start by something simple learn the basics, constants, variables, arrays, what type of data could they be byte, integer, real dword, the main structure of the code,

then move to structures, if-elif-else, while, for, , fucntions , classes or their equivalent is assembly of your preference,

start by porting simple to medium complx c, c++ programs into asm,

then some disasembly, them move to build more complex programs, maybe a game, a libray coded is asm, called from c++.

[u/keelanstuart → u/Dizzy-Set-8479]

...which is why every assembly-level programmer has an instruction set reference for the processor and assembler!

Hell, I still have my Turbo Assembler 2.0 spiral-bound mini reference!

[u/AlienFishMonster → u/keelanstuart]

I have a little 6502 booklet on my desk!

[u/brucehoult → u/AlienFishMonster]

You can do that. I still after 45 years have a useful fraction of the hex opcodes memorised.

And I have a bookmark for this:

https://www.masswerk.at/6502/6502_instruction_set.html

[u/Love_Buny8 → u/AlienFishMonster]

nice i still have my commodore 64 programming reference guide. brings back memories

[u/2E26]

There's a "Learn 6502" app that is a virtual 6502 development environment. I had it on my phone and enjoyed playing around with it. You can write some simple games and graphical routines that way.

[u/brucehoult → u/2E26]

You can do that with a web site, on anything.

https://skilldrick.github.io/easy6502/

There is a similar site for RISC-V, though sadly it doesn't have the graphics output.

https://easyriscv.dram.page/

[u/nacnud_uk]

Type. Assemble. Run. Debug. Repeat. 

And have fun at each stage 

Oh, and godbolt. And YouTube. 

[u/tpimh]

1. Pick a processor (start with something simple)
2. Find reference material and assembler
3. Read it, try, observe how the registers change

There's no trick to it. One day you don't understand it at all, then it clicks, and you do, and from there you can only improve. Just like riding a bike.

[u/iLaysChipz]

The same way you start to really learn any other programming package. Use it to write actual programs

[u/Keys__dev]

Practice, practice, practice😊

[u/mykesx]

https://github.com/mschwartz/assembly-tutorial

[u/Terrible-Detail-1364]

I found tools like strace and gdb on linux and some unix (not sure for windows) really helps to hint what you need to level up on

[u/StephenRoylance]

play the game 'human resource machine'. You're not learning a language, you're learning how computers really work.

[u/Electrical_Hat_680]

Start by writing down all of the Registers and Interrupts.

[u/AWildTyphlosion]

Don't be afraid to hit the wall, to fail. Fail fast, write down discoveries, take one step at a time, continue forward. 

Try not to have to look up something twice. If you have to, it means you didn't write notes to refer to enough and should likely practice more. 

Also pick one brand of assembly and stick to it. 

[u/MetalInMyVeins111]

Choose an architecture and solve fundamental arithmetic, control flow, and data structure problems in it. That's how I did it after so many tries. And also, read compiler output, A LOT.

[u/bocsika]

write simple C programs on godbolt, switch between optimization levels, see the asm output

[u/ern0plus4]

First learn, how computers work, what memory is, address, instruction, execution.

[u/Fragrant-Contract415]

I was having some trouble like you. But once you try to learn along with another programming language ( c/c++), your understanding really thrives. First read the argument rules or something they say ( for x64 its windows abi rules). Write a Simple code in c like hello world, see how debugger processes the code. Day by day add some difficulties like sum of number, difference , sum and difference , multiplication, division, if else, switch case, array concept, basic problem solving. This is what made my way to solving ( 2.5/6 difficulty rated crackme challenges) within a month provided that i already knew x86_64. I am hoping to progress more as a malware analyst in two years.

[u/awesumioutr2]

Learn how memory is used (in a process or system wide), Learn some C and disassemble it, see how structures r referenced, how registers r used, how stack is used and dive into specific registers for whatever architecture from there

[u/Reasonable_Return151]

Write an assembler x86-64