StrongARM Assembly Resources

[Dan East]

Let see if I can round up some resources to get people started with StrongARM Assembly programming.<br><br>First off, get the in pdf format. It contains reference for all the opcodes, registers, etc.<br><br> provides a decent starting overview of ARM Assembly. He uses a BASIC wrapper to assemble his code. You of course can just create an .asm file and compile it with armasm.<br><br> that provides an introduction to ARM Assembly. Unfortunately it loads very slow. It may be good to host some of these materials here if the authors don't mind.<br><br>I would also recommend creating simple C files and compiling them with the "Assembly with Source Code" listing. You can then examine the assembly your C was compiled into.<br><br>Dan East

[BadBazza]

Thanks Dan, though my wife may be cursing you!!!<br><br>Keep on coding<br>Bad

[S]

http://www.rainer-keuchel.de/wince/armasm.html

[billcow]

[PDAFantast]

www.gbadev.org

[Ian]

Thanks for the links Dan, I will have a play.

I'm so sad, I spent many happy years writing assembler ( Motorola, Intel, VAX/VMS & some Z80) then I'm forced to learn something called C with some ++ bits to exist in the modern world & now that PocketPCs are all going StrongArm the circle comes round again to assembler ??

Ian

ps: the guys who wrote assembler games for the Z80 were not so fortunate, almost no registers, 8 bits 16Kb ram etc etc & so slow, we don't know we're living nowadays

[billcow]

WARNING
If you don't like long-winded posts that don't have any purpose, just skip this one.
END WARNING

That said, I completely agree with Ian. IMHO, we have been spoiled so much by languages like BASIC (specifically VB, I know BASIC has been around a long time, it just hasn't been capable of making anything useful until now) and to a lesser extent c(++) that we don't take the time to learn about how the computers work, or (for most people) worry at all about optimization. I am very thankful for things like the PocketPCs that, while being fast enough to do things like graphics, etc. are still slow enough to require optimization to reach acceptable framerates.

It's kinda strange that I hold this opinion; since I'm only 16 (Is anyone else here this young?) the oldest computer that I have used for any length of time is the 386. Although I did first learn to program on the Apple 2, I didn't write anything more advanced than a trivia game with it. Still, even with my (relatively) short time using computers, I think that people should get back to our roots of working all night for a week to squeeze one more cycle out of our polygon routine, or something like that at least

I am very thankful for things like graphing calculators like the TI-8x, the recent arrival of free dev tools for Game Boys/GBAs, and the arrival of PDAs. Without these, in a few years (maybe even months) optimization would be completely unnecessary, and nobody would be able to experience the joys of trying for hours to free up one more register so you can swap two variables (I know you can use XOR, but that doesn't show my point )

BTW, the people who wrote games for the Z80 certainly were unlucky in some sense, but at least they didn't get lazy.

Now that I've finished up with my soapbox, I'd like to say that I'm sorry for having subjected you to my long-winded, repetitive opinions.

[R0B]

[LeeLoo]

Hi !

I'm actively looking for a StrongARM assembler/disassembler on PC.

Where can I find it ?

In fact, I would like to unassemble a program of my Toshiba Pocket PC, change it, and then re-compile it with the changes.

Thanks,

LeeLoo

[refractor]

For a disassembler, try <a href="http://www.datarescue.com/idabase/ida.htm">IDAPro</a>.

I don't like it all that much, but it seems to work reasonably well with ARM bits and pieces.

(Oh, and the ARM ARM is available <a href="http://www.altera.com/literature/lit-exc.html">HERE</a> if anybody hasn't got it yet).

Cheers,

Refractor.

[Jim]

has anyone used this assembler on the pocket pc (link http://www.rainer-keuchel.de/wince/armasm.html ).

If so is it any good / worthwhile?

cheers
Jim.

[Sen]

http://www.heyrick.co.uk/assembler/index.html