OT: Good introduction to CPU/Memory terms

[Seeker]

When I read about registers, pages in memory, offsets, all that, my
head swings because I don't understand a word. Is there some nice
tutorial that can teach that stuff?

 

[Richard Heathfield]

Seeker said:

When I read about registers, pages in memory, offsets, all that, my
head swings because I don't understand a word.

Mostly you don't need to know it anyway, not to write C programs.

Is there some nice tutorial that can teach that stuff?

I don't know of any *nice* ones, in the warm fluffy sense. But "The Art of
Assembly Language" is legally available online for free. It may or may not
be what you're looking for.

 

[Robert Gamble]

When I read about registers, pages in memory, offsets, all that, my
head swings because I don't understand a word. Is there some nice
tutorial that can teach that stuff?

www.google.com

Robert Gamble

 

[santosh]

When I read about registers, pages in memory, offsets, all that, my
head swings because I don't understand a word. Is there some nice
tutorial that can teach that stuff?

As Richard has mentioned, the 'Art of Assembly Langauge' available at
the URL below does an admirable job of introducing x86, 32 bit,
application oriented assembly programming. It only deals superficially
with Operating System related aspects like Paging etc.

<http://webster.cs.ucr.edu/>

Just Google for the terms that confuse you. Many links have excellent
information. However without some knowledge of Mathematics and Physics,
you're bound to be frustrated.

 

[Skarmander]

As Richard has mentioned, the 'Art of Assembly Langauge' available at
the URL below does an admirable job of introducing x86, 32 bit,
application oriented assembly programming. It only deals superficially
with Operating System related aspects like Paging etc.

<http://webster.cs.ucr.edu/>

Just Google for the terms that confuse you. Many links have excellent
information. However without some knowledge of Mathematics and Physics,
you're bound to be frustrated.

No knowledge of physics is required to understand the concepts he mentioned,
and no more knowledge of mathematics is required than what you learn in
elementary school. The smidgeons of discrete mathematics you'll need that
you probably haven't had in elementary school (boolean algebra, mostly) are
easy to pick up.

To understand the entirety of processor design does require a good deal of
both, but that's probably not what he's asking.

S.

 

[Seeker]

Mostly you don't need to know it anyway, not to write C
programs.

That's what the OT was in the topic for

I don't know of any *nice* ones, in the warm fluffy sense. But
"The Art of Assembly Language" is legally available online for
free. It may or may not be what you're looking for.

It is definitely an interesting read, I've not read it all yet. But
it's specifically targeted at x86. I want something broader; I was
always interested in console emulators (8-16 bit). I've found some
tech docs and I've got the source code for some emulators so i want
to see how they work, but the technical docs describing the system
talk about registers, ports, pages, memory, addressing modes as if
they're well-understood terms. And of course we're not talking about
x86 there.

So I was basically looking for an intro to that stuff that will make
it easier to move from CPU to CPU.

 

[Seeker]

www.google.com

What is this? Is it a "search engine" or something? I keep hearing
about them. They must be catching on. I'm too reluctant to use one
yet though.

 

[Robert Gamble]

What is this? Is it a "search engine" or something? I keep hearing
about them. They must be catching on. I'm too reluctant to use one
yet though.

Apparently.

Robert Gamble

 

[Ian Collins]

So I was basically looking for an intro to that stuff that will make
it easier to move from CPU to CPU.

google for 8051 programmers manual, it will give you a good introduction
to a venerable and still popular 8 bit micro.

 

[pete]

What is this? Is it a "search engine" or something? I keep hearing
about them. They must be catching on. I'm too reluctant to use one
yet though.

You may only act like it's your first day on the internet,
for one day.
After that, you turn into a troll.

 

[Seeker]

You may only act like it's your first day on the internet,
for one day.
After that, you turn into a troll.

It was a joke.

 

[Flash Gordon]

That's what the OT was in the topic for

Since you know it is OT, why not ask somewhere it is topical instead?

It is definitely an interesting read, I've not read it all yet. But
it's specifically targeted at x86. I want something broader; I was

So I was basically looking for an intro to that stuff that will make
it easier to move from CPU to CPU.

Then completely forget about *all* of that stuff and just write standard
C. Or standard Java. Or standard any language that is available across a
wide enough range of systems.

 

[Morris Dovey]

Seeker (in [email protected]) said:

| When I read about registers, pages in memory, offsets, all that, my
| head swings because I don't understand a word. Is there some nice
| tutorial that can teach that stuff?

The Google suggestion is probably good - but if you can't find
tutorials that answer your questions you might consider asking about
each term (one at a time) in news.comp.arch.embedded - and as a last
resort, e-mail your question to me. I'll either reply with a short
answer or with a link.

I'm also interested in hearing about any helpful tutorials you find.

 

[Seeker]

Then completely forget about *all* of that stuff and just write
standard C. Or standard Java. Or standard any language that is
available across a wide enough range of systems.

Well, the systems I'm interested in didn't have C or Java. They were
programmed in assembly only.

I asked here because it's a group frequented by programmers who
mostly know lots about low-level programming. If you don't like OT
posts you're free to ignore them.

 

[Mark F. Haigh]

When I read about registers, pages in memory, offsets, all that, my
head swings because I don't understand a word. Is there some nice
tutorial that can teach that stuff?

Yes. It's called "college". A tutorial is just about all it is these
days.


Mark F. Haigh
(e-mail address removed)

 

[Chris Dollin]

I asked here because it's a group frequented by programmers who
mostly know lots about low-level programming. If you don't like OT
posts you're free to ignore them.

We're also free to complain that they're off-topic. We don't /want/
to have to ignore off-topic posts; we'd prefer that they weren't
made or, if made in error, that the poster accepts redirection.

At some point the effort of ignoring OT posts - no, it /isn't/
free - outweighs the value of the group. We'd prefer that didn't
happen.

Acknowledging that you did wrong doesn't make it right.

 

[osmium]

When I read about registers, pages in memory, offsets, all that, my
head swings because I don't understand a word. Is there some nice
tutorial that can teach that stuff?

I have, but have never read, this book and I have no idea what you already
know, but take a look at the reviews. They should let you know if you want
to pursue this book, it is _Code_ by Charles Petzold. I don't think it goes
into paging, aka virtual memory, but any write up on paging is going to
assume you already know the stuff in this book. The Wikipedia entry on
paging is brief and, unfortunately, has no bibliography but it is still a
good starting point.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0735611319/104-5670269-5348738?v=glance&n=283155

 

[Seeker]

I don't think it goes
into paging, aka virtual memory

I thought paging is not virtual memory. That's what I understood from
the wikipedia article at least.

 

[Morris Dovey]

Seeker (in [email protected]) said:

| @individual.net:
|
|| I don't think it goes
|| into paging, aka virtual memory
|
| I thought paging is not virtual memory. That's what I understood
| from the wikipedia article at least.

On some systems, when resident (physical) pages are all in use, page
swapping (to/from external storage) is initiated. There are also
systems in which there is more memory than can be addressed, so
physical memory areas (pages) are mapped into/out of the address space
without involving external devices.

 

[Joe Wright]

It was a joke.

No, it was a bomb. Jokes are funny.