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POHow can I become good at assembly?
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copied!<p>The answer to this question is, of course, "write some assembly code!"</p> <p>But I can do that: I know basic x86 syntax, the types of registers and how to use them, subroutines, etc etc.</p> <p>When I took an assembly class, each assignment had a maximum number of instructions that we were allowed to use. If we went over, then we would lose points - so this taught us to do things <em>efficiently</em>. You know, efficiently in the way that, if you saw a C program doing such things, you might harp on that individual for creating difficult-to-follow code.</p> <p>For C, one can suggest "write a multi-threaded program" or "write a socket server/client". For PHP, suggestions might be "write a personal blog software". To learn the syntax of a language, "project euler" is often suggested.</p> <p>So my question(s) are:</p> <ol> <li><p>What kinds of things can I write in assembly that will let me hone my assembly and efficiency skills? For example, I could do a project euler problem in x86, but that doesn't help me with assembly-specific skills. What are project ideas I could do that can only really be coded in assembler?</p></li> <li><p>How would I go about profiling whether or not I'm writing "good" code? For example, with C and sockets, there are a billion tutorials on the web, and there are a billion people on my buddy list who can look at my code, and there are a billion SO questions about them: so it is easier to measure one's progress.</p></li> <li><p>Are there existing assembly heavy projects which I can look at to learn from? Or even parts of programs where they break into assembly for [specific task] for the sake of efficiency?</p></li> <li><p>What kinds of books should I be reading? Blogs of people who routinely look at low-level things?</p></li> </ol> <p>(preferably things I could do on x86 on linux. I figure the concepts will carry over to other architectures.)</p>

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