Way back when (2012 or something?) I posted my intention to learn 6502 assembly language, and explained that my roadblock to this point has been an inability to get my head around binary math-by-hand. Life, site hacks and other stuff got in the way, but I’m back to this again. I still do think it’s possible to do without being able to multiply 1101011101011101 by 101010111110110111 without the aid of a calculator. Someone pointed out to me that it helps to have a goal, in this case an “end-product” program that I want to write, so I’ve come up with an idea that I want to make real, or as “real” as any program code can be, I suppose.
Some people want to run a marathon before they die, or climb Everest. I want to learn 6502 assembly language.
If you don’t have a copy of Roger Wagner’s Assembly Lines: The Book, get one. Highly recommended. I’ve found it is the most approachable, well written book on the subject. It has spiral binding and is a great read if you’re kicked back on the couch with a cup of coffee. I also have piles and piles of assembly language books that basically just tell you what the opcodes do and cut you loose. Avoid those. Oh, and if you ever figure out what the pictures are at the beginning of each chapter, let me know. Weird, but cool in an amusing sort of way.
Thanks for the suggestion, Blake. I do have that book and it looks excellent. I keep going back and forth between trying to start with binary math again, as the books suggest, or see if I can get around it somehow.
My problem seems to be one of connections – to have the bits of binary explained to me (pardon the pun), that all makes sense, but I can’t make the translation, the connection to the methods, to solving problems myself. I’m not sure what to do about that…