Kip Irvine- Assembly Language for X86 Processors- how relevant for Linux?

Question

How relevant would the book by Kip Irvine Assembly Language for x86 Processors be for the Linux operating system? In other words, the fact this is a book on x86 is there really much difference than learning x86 on Linux? Surely the operating system is just a layer of abstraction above the ASM anyway?

I am wondering whether to get this book but I am more interested in Linux-focussed programming.

Answer 1

1. From what I glean in the reviews on Amazon, that's a pretty windows-focused book.

2. Regarding your question "Surely the operating system is just a layer of abstraction above the ASM anyway?" - that's not really how it works. Assembly language programming is just like programming in any other language - you will have to work with the interfaces the operating system gives you if you want to do anything useful. Windows system calls and linux system calls work differently, and perhaps worse for the beginner, in the 64-bit world each has a different ABI. Stick with a reference that matches the system you're trying to program on, at least while you're a beginner, or you'll regret it.