Write Great Code, Volume 1 : Understanding the Machine

If you've asked someone the secret to writing efficient, well-written software, the answer that you've probably gotten is "learn assembly language programming." By learning assembly language programming, you learn how the machine really operates and that knowledge will help you write better high-level language code. A dirty little secret assembly language programmers rarely admit to, however, is that what you really need to learn is machine organization, not assembly language programming. Write Great Code Vol I, the first in a series from assembly language expert Randall Hyde, dives right into machine organization without the extra overhead of learning assembly language programming at the same time. And since Write Great Code Vol I concentrates on the machine organization, not assembly language, the reader will learn in greater depth those subjects that are language-independent and of concern to a high level language programmer. Write Great Code Vol I will help programmers make wiser choices with respect to programming statements and data types when writing software, no matter which language they use. The second volume in the Write Great Code series supplies the critical information that today's computer science students don't often get from college and university courses: How to carefully choose their high-level language statements to produce efficient code. Write Great Code, Volume 2: Thinking Low-Level, Writing High-Level, teaches software engineers how compilers translate high-level language statements and data structures into machine code. Armed with this knowledge, a software engineer can make an informed choice concerning the use of those high-level structures to help the compiler produce far better machine code--all without having to give up the productivity and portability benefits of using a high-level language. It's a critical lesson that today's computer science students aren't always being taught: How to carefully choose their high-level language statements to produce efficient code. Write Great Code, Volume 2: Thinking Low-Level, Writing High-Level shows software engineers what too many college and university courses don't - how compilers translate high-level language statements and data structures into machine code. Armed with this knowledge, they will make informed choices concerning the use of those high-level structures and help the compiler produce far better machine code - all without having to give up the productivity and portability benefits of using a high-level language. Today's programmers are often narrowly trained because the industry moves too fast. That's where Write Great Code, Volume 1: Understanding the Machine comes in. This, the first of four volumes by author Randall Hyde, teaches important concepts of machine organization in a language-independent fashion, giving programmers what they need to know to write great code in any language, without the usual overhead of learning assembly language to master this topic. A solid foundation in software engineering, The Write Great Code series will help programmers make wiser choices with respect to programming statements and data types when writing software. Today's computer science students aren't always taught how to choose high-level language statements carefully to produce efficient code. Write Great Code, Volume 2: Thinking Low-Level, Writing High-Level shows software engineers what too many college and university courses don't: how compilers translate high-level language statements and data structures into machine code. Armed with this knowledge, readers will be better informed about choosing the high-level structures that will help the compiler produce superior machine code, all without having to give up the productivity and portability ben. "This, the first volume in Randall Hyde's Write Great Code series, dives into machine organization without the extra overhead of learning assembly language programming. Written for C/C++, VB, Pascal, Java, and other high-level language programmers, Volume I, "Understanding the Machine, " fills in the low-level details of machine organization that are often left out of computer science and engineering courses."--BOOK JACKET This book was required for a college course, and I must say, I'm glad it was. The book is greatly informative on all topics, and brings up relative points I had never thought of on programming. I'd highly recommend this book. v. 1. Understanding the machine -- -- v. 2. Thinking low-level, writing high-level -- -- v. 3. Engineering software -- -- v. 4. Testing, debugging, and quality assurance. Provides information on how computer systems operate, how compilers work, and writing source code.