【正文】 ammers, especially C, Ada, and Modula2 programmers, have long enjoyed the benefits of a standard library package which solves many mon programming problems. Assembly language programmers, on the other hand, have been known to rewrite an integer output routine every time they need one. This book does not take that approach. Instead, it takes advantage of some work done at the University of California, Riverside: the UCR Standard Library for 80x86 Assembly Language Programmers. These subroutines simplify assembly language just as the C standard library aids C programmers. The library source listings are available electronically via Inter and various other munication services as well as on a panion diskette. Assembly language programming is time consuming. Software engineers estimate that developers spend only about thirty percent of their time coding a solution to a problem. Even if it took twice as much time to write a program in assembly versus some HLL, there would only be a fifteen percent difference in the total project pletion time. In fact, good assembly language programmers do not need twice as much time to implement something in assembly language. It is true using a HLL will save some time。t have much experience debugging assembly language programs, it39。t know it. Most people who make this statement simply don39。s most outspoken opponents rarely use anything but HLLs. Who would you believe, an expert well versed in both types of programming languages or someone who has never taken the time to learn assembly language and develop an honest opinion of its capabilities? In a conversation with someone, I would go to great lengths to address each of the above , in a rough draft of this chapter I spent about ten pages explaining what is wrong with each of the above statements. However, this book is long enough and I felt that very little was gained by going on and on about these points. Noheless, a brief rebuttal to each of the above points is in order, if for no other reason than to keep you from thinking there isn39。t know it. It is surprising how many people are willing to speak out against assembly language based only on conversations they39。s talking about, your natural tendency is to believe something if it appears in print. Having just read the above, you39。 1 The Art of Assembly Language 1. What39。s Wrong With Assembly Language Assembly language has a pretty bad reputation. The mon impression about assembly language programmers today is that they are all hackers or misguided individuals who need enlightenment. Here are the reasons people give for not using assembly: （ 1） Assembly is hard to learn. （ 2） Assembly is hard to read and understand. （ 3） Assembly is hard to debug. （ 4） Assembly is hard to maintain. （ 5） Assembly is hard to write. （ 6） Assembly language programming is time consuming. （ 7） Improved piler technology has eliminated the need for assembly language. （ 8） Today, machines are so fast that we no longer need to use assembly. （ 9） If you need more speed, you should use a better algorithm rather than switch to assembly language. （ 10） Machines have so much memory today, saving space using assembly is not important. （ 11） Assembly language is not portable. These are some strong statements indeed! Given that this is a book which teaches assembly language programming, written for college level students, written by someone who appears to know what he39。ve heard from friends, instructors, articles, and books. Oh, assembly language is certainly not perfect. It does have many real faults. Those faults, however, are blown pletely out of proportion by those unfamiliar with assembly language. The next time someone starts preaching about the evils of assembly language, ask, how many 2 years of assembly language programming experience do you have? Of course assembly is hard to understand if you don39。 assembly39。t much more difficult than learning your first programming language. Assembly is hard to read and understand. It sure is, if you don39。s also quite easy to write impossibletoread C, Prolog, and APL programs. Wi