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Author Topic: Is this a good z80 ASM book for me  (Read 6573 times)

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Offline Ephraim B

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Is this a good z80 ASM book for me
« on: March 22, 2015, 09:11:21 pm »
Due to my mother's computer restrictions, I feel like buying a z80 ASM book from Amazon would be better.

Is this book good for me: http://www.amazon.com/dp/0471081248/ref=pe_385040_128020140_TE_3p_dp_1?
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Offline TIfanx1999

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Re: Is this a good z80 ASM book for me
« Reply #1 on: March 22, 2015, 10:32:53 pm »
Just judging by the short description there I'd say not at this moment. Since you're a beginner, I'd suggest looking for a book that is an introduction to Z80 asm programming. You should keep in mind though;

1. These are generic z80 books and not all things will directly apply to TI calculators.
2. All the reading in the world won't matter unless you put it into practical use and actually write programs.
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Offline Ephraim B

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Re: Is this a good z80 ASM book for me
« Reply #2 on: March 23, 2015, 08:59:47 am »
Quote from: Art_of_camelot on March 22, 2015, 10:32:53 pm
1. These are generic z80 books and not all things will directly apply to TI calculators.

I don't think this should matter since I want to write ASM programs without the #include file anyways
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Offline pimathbrainiac

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Re: Is this a good z80 ASM book for me
« Reply #3 on: March 23, 2015, 09:07:43 am »
It does matter. The 83+ series has several specific free ram areas and other things that make it different.

Use 28 days. It's the best.
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Offline Ephraim B

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Re: Is this a good z80 ASM book for me
« Reply #4 on: March 23, 2015, 09:10:31 am »
It's not the best for me since my mother restricts my computer time. I would much rather read a tutorial in a book. What's the best z80 book for me?


Is this book better: http://www.amazon.com/Programming-Z80-Rodnay-Zaks/dp/0895880695/ref=cm_sw_em_r_tt?

Edit Sorunome: Merged double post
« Last Edit: March 23, 2015, 09:56:20 am by Sorunome »
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Offline Sorunome

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Re: Is this a good z80 ASM book for me
« Reply #5 on: March 23, 2015, 09:57:08 am »
No, again, that isn't calculator specific.

You could always print out the 28 days tutorial so that you are able to look at it without a computer.


Also, please don't double-post in the future.
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Offline TIfanx1999

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Re: Is this a good z80 ASM book for me
« Reply #6 on: March 23, 2015, 05:10:54 pm »
Quote from: Ephraim B on March 23, 2015, 09:10:31 am
It's not the best for me since my mother restricts my computer time. I would much rather read a tutorial in a book. What's the best z80 book for me?


Is this book better: http://www.amazon.com/Programming-Z80-Rodnay-Zaks/dp/0895880695/ref=cm_sw_em_r_tt?

Edit Sorunome: Merged double post
Based on the description, I would say yes, it is. You can also check reviews people have written on these books to get an idea what others think about them. However, I would use it as a supplement to a tutorial written with calculators in mind. The reason being that there are specifics that apply only to calculators.
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Offline ben_g

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Re: Is this a good z80 ASM book for me
« Reply #7 on: March 23, 2015, 05:37:35 pm »
Quote from: Sorunome on March 23, 2015, 09:57:08 am
You could always print out the 28 days tutorial so that you are able to look at it without a computer.
^This, and if you don't have acces to a computer most of the time, you might also want to print an instruction set to manually convert stuff to hexadecimal, and an include file so you know the adresses of RAM areas and bcalls.

To improve readability, it may also be better to write your programs on paper in the instruction mnemonics, then write the hexadecimal value next to it. After a while, you'll get good at programming in hexadecimal, but when you have only just started learning it, you'll forget what the start of your program does by the time you get to the end.
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Offline chickendude

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Re: Is this a good z80 ASM book for me
« Reply #8 on: March 29, 2015, 12:26:01 pm »
Programming the Z80 was released for free by the author, you can download a pdf from z80.info. It's a nice book, but these sorts of books tend to be a bit drier and more technical. As others have mentioned, it's not written with the calculators (or game programming) in mind. Personally, i'd recommend printing out 28 Days and following that up with Rodney Zaks' book if you want something more comprehensive, but if you're having trouble with the current z80 tutorials out there i think you will find that book just as confusing if not more. The introduction on the hardware of the z80 is really interesting and worth reading, though.

http://www.z80.info/z80books.htm has a list of books, but i've only looked at Rodney Zaks' book. The "Spectrum Machine Language for the Absolute Beginner" book looks promising for an introduction to z80 assembly, though.
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