"In this tiny ebook I'm going to show you how to get started writing 6502 assembly language. [...] I think it's valuable to have an understanding of assembly language. Assembly language is the lowest level of abstraction in computers - the point at which the code is still readable. Assembly language translates directly to the bytes that are executed by your computer's processor. If you understand how it works, you've basically become a computer magician." More of this, please.
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Member since:2005-07-08
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ARM assembly is much more complex than 6502.
Also, learning assembler on a Linux machine is pain.
How much code do you have to write to get a single pixel on the screen ?
Best is to have a small eval board with lots of LEDs with an Cortex-M3 on it and a debugger.
E.g. the Stellaris boards, which also often come with LCD.
Also the Raspberry Pi uses an ARM11, which is not widely used these days.
Member since:2005-07-06
Member since:2005-09-01
Member since:2006-05-30
*sigh* this is only half true. The design of the 6502 was very sweet, much more efficient etc and can be seen to have generally influenced the design goals behind the ARM family. However, the ARM is a RISC processor, the 6502 is pretty much CISC (though some argue this point.) Nothing in the actual ARM architecture shows any real influence from the 6502. In fact, there's zero compatibility and knowing 6502 assembler gives you no great advantage to knowing ARM.
Maybe the confusion comes from this: the ARM based Archimedes range of computers (which is where ARM originates from) were designed to be the direct drop in replacement for the 6502 BBC range used in schools in the UK. The main selling point initially was that they came with a very similar BASIC (same capabilities, but with a lot bolted on top) and that they could run *some* BBC software using the included software emulator. Schools in the UK had bought in to Acorn big style, and the BBC micro is very much the British Apple 2 (being that most kids from the 80's started their computing in School on a BBC.) Many would argue that the Acorn range of computers ended up crippling the UK school system, as they'd bought in to a dud and the dominance of PC in the rest of the world was already in place. But that's another day's battle.
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Exactly twenty years ago, a document was published that played a huge role in establishing the web as we know it today. Twenty years later, and this simple and straightforward document is proof of an irrefutable fact: while closed technologies can change markets, open technologies can change the world.Oh multitasking. That staple of computing that got thrown out the window with many modern smartphones. We got some rudimentary thing in its place - but even as multitasking on phone and tablets improves, its user-visible side remains cumbersome. Windows 8 has a neat implementation, and now it's time Android follows in it footsteps.They're here! Whether that excites you or not remains to be seen, but the Galaxy S4, which will most likely become the best selling Android smartphone of the year by a huge margin, has been reviewed by all the major sites, and there's lots of interesting conclusions in there - although I think most of you will get the gist.Nokia has posted its quarterly results for the first quarter of 2013, and just like the quarters that came before, there's not a whole lot of good news in there. The rise in Lumia sales still can't even dream of making up for the sales drop in Symbian phones, and when broken down in versions, the sales figures for Windows Phone 8 Lumias in particular are very disappointing. In North America, Nokia is getting slaughtered.
Member since:
2008-05-03
Perhaps ARM assembly is more appropriate. It is a contemporary architecture and it is used in 100-epsilon percent of all mobile devices.
A cheap board like the Raspberry Pi has IO pins that let you control stuff where timing is important and assembly could be appropriate.
Another possibility is the Arduino board which uses a completely different architecture, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atmel_AVR . There is no OS on top, only a small bootloader. And assembly is very appropriate to use here.
Edited 2012-07-09 05:53 UTC