Raspberry Pi Assembly Language RASPBIAN Beginners: Hands On Guide

Very practical

It is easy to find good books about C# and Java. However, for many more specialized development tools it is hard to find a book that provides what a beginner needs. In many cases, a book thoroughly covers the language commands, but leaves the reader staring a a blank command line wondering "What, exactly, do I need to type to compile and run my program?" Bruce Smith's books do not fall into this trap. Smith provides not only the necessary coaching and instruction in assembly language for the Raspberry Pi's ARM processor, but also gives clear practical instructions for getting everything to work. One of the reasons I bought the book is its introduction to the ARM vector floating-point coprocessor, a topic that often gets short-shrift from authors. If I had to pick one nit with Smith's book, he fails to mention a little trap with assembling coprocessor code. Smith starts the book using the GNU assembler "as" and then moves to using gcc later in the book, which is entirely reasonable. However, some readers might like to know that if you want to assemble vector coprocessor code with "as" rather than gcc you must include the command-line parameter "-mfpu=vfpv2". Whether you are looking just to have some fun learning assembly language with your Raspberry PI or whether you view the PI as a stepping-stone to greater things ARM, Bruce Smith's book definitely belongs on your shelf. Read more