Hi !

[georgegabor]

Hi everyone!

I'm new to programming and wonder if assembly would be to hard to start with or not.
Should i start with something easier like Phython ?
Is there any order/rank in terms of learning programming/programming languages ?

Thanks for you help  :t

[Magnum]

Welcome to the board.

I think assembly would not be too hard for you to learn.

There are a lot of talented and gifted people that are willing to help.

Andy

[hutch--]

George,

If you are learning from scratch you would be better served by starting with a simpler language. Assembler programming is an advanced area and unless you have a reasonable amount of experience with compilers and some assembler, you have little chance of succeeding with it.

[dedndave]

hi George, welcome to the forum   :t

i think it depends on your background and level of education
if you are good with math and technical subjects, assembly language may not be that bad

one way to find out is to install the masm32 package
in the masm32\examples folder, you will find many programs written in assembler
have a look at those - if it seems like too much to grasp, then another language may be a better choice

there are higher-level adaptations of assembler like HLA, EasyCode, and MasmBasic
these may simplify some of the code elements, but you're not really writing assembler   :P

you have to learn
assembler syntax and directives
assembly and linking, libraries, modules, resources, etc
intel x86 mnemonics
windows API

those are just to get started - it becomes more involved, from there
the first one isn't as bad as the others
no matter what language you learn, you will need to learn the syntax

as for building programs, it isn't simple for any language
you have to learn at least a little bit about how libraries and modules are put together
you have to learn how to add resources to the program, including manifests
some other languages may simplify this for you, to some degree - not assembler   

intel x86 mnemonics - i guess there are over 100 of them
i initially learned them by reading some simple code, then looking up each instruction
after that, i tried to use the other instructions, one by one, until i had tried them all
i have a background in electronics, so this part wasn't too bad for me

windows API - a LOT of material to learn, there
again, no matter what language you choose, the API is behind it
many languages package the API in easier-to-use functions
with assembler, you have to learn each API function "bare-bones", as you use them
i would have to guess that there are thousands of them - lol
and, some are rather complex - some are very complex

[Gunther]

Hi georgegabor,

welcome to the forum. I think that learning a high level language (C, BASIC, PASCAL etc.) isn't a bad idea. On the other hand, you'll understand the inner working of compilers only by learning assembly language. Python should'nt be your choice, because it's typically interpreted.

Gunther

[Vortex]

Hi George,

Welcome to the forum.

[frktons]

Welcome 

As Dave said, it depends on your background, your motivation, your age
probably is another factor, the younger you are the faster you learn, usually.

Have a look at some introductory books, articles, code, and decide for youself
if Assembly is the language of choice.

Frank

[georgegabor]

Thanks guys !!!

I guess i stick to Assembly as it seems very interesting, and happy you didn't dissadvise it :-)