On 16 March 2012 11:49, Farley, Peter x23353 <[email protected]> wrote:
> The other prerequisite to learning assembler is understanding the basic > architecture of the machine. For this knowledge you will eventually need to > read at least parts of the z/Architecture Principles of Operations manual > (available on the IBM website). This is a very large and imposing manual > that can seem overwhelming at first (and still is even when you are an > "expert"). Chapters 1 through 6 would enable you to gain a serious > understanding of the z/Architecture machines, but they do contain very dense > material to absorb all at once. Alternatively, you can use chapter 7 in > conjunction with reviewing the COBOL listing output I mentioned above to see > what each instruction does. This may provide a simpler introduction for you. Another less overwhelming approach to the Principles of Operation is to look at a much older one, such as the S/370 version GA22-7000 (but not the -00 version!) available on bitsavers.org and many other sites. There is nothing in the discussion of general instructions in such an old book that is obsolete; they will all work nicely on the latest hardware. Tony H.
