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16 units · 48 lessons

Computer Organization & Assembly Language

Computer Organization & Assembly Language from the first idea to exam level: every lesson builds on the one before, with a worked example, a step-through diagram where it helps, a quick check and practice that adapts to what you know. Follows Irvine, Assembly Language for x86 Processors (with Patterson & Hennessy for MIPS).

Computer Organization & Assembly Language at a glance

What does Computer Organization & Assembly Language cover?

Computer Organization Basics, x86 Architecture, Data & Directives, Data Transfer & Addressing, Arithmetic & Flags, Jumps & Loops, Stack & Procedures, Conditional Processing, Shifts, Multiply & Divide, Advanced Procedures, Strings & Arrays and Machine Code & RISC. It follows Irvine, Assembly Language for x86 Processors (with Patterson & Hennessy for MIPS).

How many lessons does the Computer Organization & Assembly Language course on Studious have?

16 units and 48 lessons, from "What assembly language is and why learn it" to "Simple MIPS programs". Each lesson has a worked example, a quick check and practice that adapts to what you know, and many have step-by-step diagrams.

Course outline

  1. Unit 1 · Week 1

    Introduction to Assembly Language

    1. What assembly language is and why learn it
    2. The assemble-link-execute cycle
    3. Virtual machine levels
  2. Unit 2 · Week 2

    Data Representation

    1. Binary, hexadecimal and integer storage sizes
    2. Signed integers and two's complement in x86
    3. Characters, strings and little-endian storage
  3. Unit 3 · Week 3

    x86 Processor Architecture

    1. CPU, memory and the instruction cycle
    2. x86 registers and flags
    3. Modes of operation and memory models
  4. Unit 4 · Week 4

    Assembly Language Fundamentals

    1. Literals, identifiers, directives and instructions
    2. A first program: adding integers
    3. Defining data and symbolic constants
  5. Unit 5 · Week 5

    Data Transfer and Addressing

    1. MOV, MOVZX and MOVSX
    2. XCHG and direct-offset operands
    3. Operators: OFFSET, PTR, TYPE, LENGTHOF and SIZEOF
    4. Indirect and indexed addressing
  6. Unit 6 · Week 6

    Arithmetic and Flags

    1. INC, DEC, ADD, SUB and NEG
    2. How arithmetic sets the flags
  7. Unit 7 · Week 7

    Jumps and Loops

    1. JMP and the LOOP instruction
    2. Summing and copying arrays with loops
    3. Nested loops
  8. Unit 8 · Week 8

    The Stack and Procedures

    1. The runtime stack, PUSH and POP
    2. Defining procedures: PROC, CALL and RET
    3. Passing values in registers and USES
  9. Unit 9 · Week 9

    Conditional Processing

    1. AND, OR, XOR, NOT and TEST
    2. CMP and conditional jumps
    3. IF statements and compound conditions
  10. Unit 10 · Week 10

    Conditional Loops and Structures

    1. LOOPZ, LOOPNZ and WHILE loops
    2. Table-driven selection and finite-state machines
  11. Unit 11 · Week 11

    Shift and Rotate Instructions

    1. SHL, SHR, SAL and SAR
    2. ROL, ROR, RCL and RCR
    3. Shift applications
  12. Unit 12 · Week 12

    Multiplication and Division

    1. MUL and IMUL
    2. DIV, IDIV and sign extension
    3. Extended addition and subtraction: ADC and SBB
  13. Unit 13 · Week 13

    Advanced Procedures

    1. Stack parameters and stack frames
    2. Local variables, ENTER and LEAVE
    3. Recursion
    4. INVOKE, ADDR, PROC and PROTO
  14. Unit 14 · Week 14

    Strings and Arrays

    1. String primitives with REP
    2. Two-dimensional arrays
    3. Searching and sorting arrays
  15. Unit 15 · Week 15

    Machine Language

    1. Instruction formats and opcodes
    2. Encoding instructions by hand
    3. How an assembler works
  16. Unit 16 · Week 16

    CISC, RISC and MIPS

    1. CISC vs RISC
    2. MIPS registers and instruction formats
    3. Simple MIPS programs

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