An interactive guide to x86-64 assembly
10 months ago
- #x86-64
- #programming
- #assembly
- Assembly language is the native language of the processor, focusing on data movement.
- Data is represented in bits, with hexadecimal notation used for human readability.
- Common bit sequences in x86-64 assembly include nibble (4 bits), byte (8 bits), word (16 bits), dword (32 bits), and qword (64 bits).
- Text is encoded in ASCII, where each byte represents a character.
- Data can be stored in memory (RAM) or in CPU registers.
- Memory is a contiguous list of 8-bit cells, addressable by numeric addresses.
- Registers like rax, eax, ax, and al provide access to different portions of data in the CPU.
- Assembly code syntax includes instructions executed in order, with Intel and AT&T dialects.
- Tools like the Compiler Explorer help visualize assembly code generated from high-level languages.
- Future articles will cover moving data and stack frames in more detail.