 | The MASM32 SDK version 10 |
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| Download Page | http://www.masm32.com/masmdl.htm |
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| Teaching MASM32 | Reference for teachers at educational institutions |
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| Support for MASM32 | The MASM Forum |
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| Description | The MASM32 SDK version 10 is a working development environment
for programmers who are interested in either learning or writing 32 bit
Microsoft assembler (MASM).
The installation is an automated process that installs the correct
directory tree structure on the local drive of your choice. Note that
MASM32 will not
install
on a network drive. MASM32 comes with its own runtime library written
fully in assembler and an extensive range of macros for improved high level
emulation and faster development. It builds its own IMPORT libraries for the Windows API
functions and supplies its own include files for a very large number of
API functions.
The
default editor in MASM32 has been fully recoded from scratch in MASM
and it is smaller, faster and more powerful with two (2) separate
scripting engines, a legacy version to maintain backwards
compatibility of existing scripts and a completely new one that is much faster and more
powerful than its predecessor. New CHM documentation and a wider range of "Create New"
project types directly supported by the new script engine from the
editor place a wider range of project types at your fingertips. There
is also a new format PLUGIN system for the default editor as well as
the old one for backwards compatibility.
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| DEP Compatibility | The MASM32 SDK
has been rebuilt to ensure it is fully compatible with the Data
Execution Prevention safety feature in later versions of Windows. |
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| Required OS Version | The MASM32 SDK requires Win2000 or higher Windows versions. A legacy version will be supplied for earlier Windows versions. |
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| Features | 1. The most up to date version of Ray Filiatreault's floating point library and tutorial.
2. A completely new dedicated time and date library written by Greg Lyon.
3. The MASM32 library with over 200 procedures for writing general purpose high performance code.
4. A new dynamic array system for variable length string and binary data with both a macro and procedural interface.
5. The include files and libraries have been upgraded to XP SP2.
6. A specialised linker, resource compiler and assembler from Pelle's tool set with working examples.
7. An extensive range of example code ranging from simple examples to more complex code design.
8. Prebuilt scripts in the editor for creating working templates for assembler projects.
9. A very easy to use console interface for developing algorithms, test code and experimental ideas in code.
More ...... |
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| Target Users | The MASM32 SDK
is targeted at experienced programmers who are familiar with writing
software in 32 bit versions of Windows using the API interface and who
are familiar with at least some direct mnemonic programming in
assembler. It is not well suited for beginner programmers due to the
advanced technical nature of programming in assembler
and beginners are advised to start with a compiler first to learn basic
concepts like addressing, programming logic, control flow and similar. |
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| Help Files | The help file system has been upgraded to CHM format so that MASM32 can be used on Windows versions that no longer support Winhelp help files. |
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| Application | MASM
is routinely capable of building complete executable files, dynamic link
libraries and separate object modules and libraries to use with the
Microsoft Visual C development environment as well as MASM. It is an
esoteric tool that is not for the faint of heart and it is reasonably
complex to master but in skilled hands it has performance that is
beyond the best of modern compilers when properly written which makes it useful for performance critical tasks. |
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| Things To Get | For
both space and copyright reasons
the MASM32 SDK does not include reference material from either the
Intel Corporation or the Microsoft Corporation but both make the best
comprehensive reference material available as free downloads. With the
Intel Corporation you would obtain the PIV set of manuals or later for
compete mnemonic and architecture reference and with the Microsoft
Corporation you can either use their online MSDN reference or download
an appropriate PLATFORMSDK or its successor for you own version of
Windows. If you can still find it it is useful to have the very old
WIN32.HLP file on yur computer even if you have to download the Winhelp
engine to use it on OS versions like Vista as it is a lot faster to
load than the later CHM format help files and works with the F1 help key system built into the default editor.
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| Why Write Assembler | The
simple answer is because you can. While there are very good compilers
that in many instances produce good quality code when run with the
right options, you are usually stuck with doing things their way where
with an assembler as powerful as MASM you have a high degree of
architectural freedom which you manipulate to your design advantage to
produce high precision high performance code without compromise to
language format or compiler designer preference.
MASM's
flexibility allows the skilled programmer to target areas as diverse as
dynamic link libraries for Visual basic, object modules that are linked
directly into a Visual C program and of course complete executable
files for task critical applications. MASM when mastered correctly put
power and performance into the hands of programmers that few have ever
seen and contrary to popular opinion, a modern assembler like MASM used
in conjunction with both macros and libraries can be coded at about the
same speed and reliability as C code. |
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| Warning | Not for the faint of heart. If MASM is to complicated for you, take up server side scripting. |
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| Licence | http://www.masm32.com/mlicence.htm |