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.
Thinking Low-Level, Writing High-Level, the second volume in the landmark Write Great Code series by Randall Hyde, covers high-level programming languages (such as Swift and Java) as well as code generation on 64-bit CPUsARM, the Java Virtual Machine, and the Microsoft Common Runtime. Today's programming languages offer productivity and portability, but also make it easy to write sloppy code that isn't optimized for a compiler. Thinking Low-Level, Writing High-Level will teach you to craft source code that results in good machine code once it's run through a compiler. You'll learn: How to analyze the output of a compiler to verify that your code generates good machine code The types of machine code statements that compilers generate for common control structures, so you can choose the best statements when writing HLL code Enough assembly language to read compiler output How compilers convert various constant and variable objects into machine data With an understanding of how compilers work, you'll be able to write source code that they can translate into elegant machine code. NEW TO THIS EDITION, COVERAGE OF: Programming languages like Swift and Java Code generation on modern 64-bit CPUs ARM processors on mobile phones and tablets Stack-based architectures like the Java Virtual Machine Modern language systems like the Microsoft Common Language Runtime
Engineering Software, the third volume in the landmark Write Great Code series by Randall Hyde, helps you create readable and maintainable code that will generate awe from fellow programmers. The field of software engineering may value team productivity over individual growth, but legendary computer scientist Randall Hyde wants to make promising programmers into masters of their craft. To that end, Engineering Software--the latest volume in Hyde's highly regarded Write Great Code series--offers his signature in-depth coverage of everything from development methodologies and strategic productivity to object-oriented design requirements and system documentation. You'll learn: Why following the software craftsmanship model can lead you to do your best work How to utilize traceability to enforce consistency within your documentation The steps for creating your own UML requirements with use-case analysis How to leverage the IEEE documentation standards to create better software This advanced apprenticeship in the skills, attitudes, and ethics of quality software development reveals the right way to apply engineering principles to programming. Hyde will teach you the rules, and show you when to break them. Along the way, he offers illuminating insights into best practices while empowering you to invent new ones. Brimming with resources and packed with examples, Engineering Software is your go-to guide for writing code that will set you apart from your peers.
Assembly is a low-level programming language that's one step above a computer's native machine language. Although assembly language is commonly used for writing device drivers, emulators, and video games, many programmers find its somewhat unfriendly syntax intimidating to learn and use. Since 1996, Randall Hyde's The Art of Assembly Language has provided a comprehensive, plain-English, and patient introduction to 32-bit x86 assembly for non-assembly programmers. Hyde's primary teaching tool, High Level Assembler (or HLA), incorporates many of the features found in high-level languages (like C, C++, and Java) to help you quickly grasp basic assembly concepts. HLA lets you write true low-level code while enjoying the benefits of high-level language programming. As you read The Art of Assembly Language, you'll learn the low-level theory fundamental to computer science and turn that understanding into real, functional code. You'll learn how to: –Edit, compile, and run HLA programs –Declare and use constants, scalar variables, pointers, arrays, structures, unions, and namespaces –Translate arithmetic expressions (integer and floating point) –Convert high-level control structures This much anticipated second edition of The Art of Assembly Language has been updated to reflect recent changes to HLA and to support Linux, Mac OS X, and FreeBSD. Whether you're new to programming or you have experience with high-level languages, The Art of Assembly Language, 2nd Edition is your essential guide to learning this complex, low-level language.
Widely considered one of the best practical guides to programming, Steve McConnell’s original CODE COMPLETE has been helping developers write better software for more than a decade. Now this classic book has been fully updated and revised with leading-edge practices—and hundreds of new code samples—illustrating the art and science of software construction. Capturing the body of knowledge available from research, academia, and everyday commercial practice, McConnell synthesizes the most effective techniques and must-know principles into clear, pragmatic guidance. No matter what your experience level, development environment, or project size, this book will inform and stimulate your thinking—and help you build the highest quality code. Discover the timeless techniques and strategies that help you: Design for minimum complexity and maximum creativity Reap the benefits of collaborative development Apply defensive programming techniques to reduce and flush out errors Exploit opportunities to refactor—or evolve—code, and do it safely Use construction practices that are right-weight for your project Debug problems quickly and effectively Resolve critical construction issues early and correctly Build quality into the beginning, middle, and end of your project
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.
The classic guide to how computers work, updated with new chapters and interactive graphics "For me, Code was a revelation. It was the first book about programming that spoke to me. It started with a story, and it built up, layer by layer, analogy by analogy, until I understood not just the Code, but the System. Code is a book that is as much about Systems Thinking and abstractions as it is about code and programming. Code teaches us how many unseen layers there are between the computer systems that we as users look at every day and the magical silicon rocks that we infused with lightning and taught to think." - Scott Hanselman, Partner Program Director, Microsoft, and host of Hanselminutes Computers are everywhere, most obviously in our laptops and smartphones, but also our cars, televisions, microwave ovens, alarm clocks, robot vacuum cleaners, and other smart appliances. Have you ever wondered what goes on inside these devices to make our lives easier but occasionally more infuriating? For more than 20 years, readers have delighted in Charles Petzold's illuminating story of the secret inner life of computers, and now he has revised it for this new age of computing. Cleverly illustrated and easy to understand, this is the book that cracks the mystery. You'll discover what flashlights, black cats, seesaws, and the ride of Paul Revere can teach you about computing, and how human ingenuity and our compulsion to communicate have shaped every electronic device we use. This new expanded edition explores more deeply the bit-by-bit and gate-by-gate construction of the heart of every smart device, the central processing unit that combines the simplest of basic operations to perform the most complex of feats. Petzold's companion website, CodeHiddenLanguage.com, uses animated graphics of key circuits in the book to make computers even easier to comprehend. In addition to substantially revised and updated content, new chapters include: Chapter 18: Let's Build a Clock! Chapter 21: The Arithmetic Logic Unit Chapter 22: Registers and Busses Chapter 23: CPU Control Signals Chapter 24: Jumps, Loops, and Calls Chapter 28: The World Brain From the simple ticking of clocks to the worldwide hum of the internet, Code reveals the essence of the digital revolution.
This title shows the process of cleaning code. Rather than just illustrating the end result, or just the starting and ending state, the author shows how several dozen seemingly small code changes can positively impact the performance and maintainability of an application code base.
Explains how compilers translate high-level language source code (like code written in Python) into low-level machine code (code that the computer can understand) to help readers understand how to produce the best low-level, computer readable machine code. In the beginning, most software was written in assembly, the CPU's low-level language, in order to achieve acceptable performance on relatively slow hardware. Early programmers were sparing in their use of high-level language code, knowing that a high-level language compiler would generate crummy, low-level machine code for their software. Today, however, many programmers write in high-level languages like Python, C/C++/C#, Java, Swift. The result is often sloppy, inefficient code. But you don't need to give up the productivity and portability of high-level languages in order to produce more efficient software. In this second volume of the Write Great Code series, you'll learn: • How to analyze the output of a compiler to verify that your code does, indeed, generate good machine code • The types of machine code statements that compilers typically generate for common control structures, so you can choose the best statements when writing HLL code • Just enough 80x86 and PowerPC assembly language to read compiler output • How compilers convert various constant and variable objects into machine data, and how to use these objects to write faster and shorter programs NEW TO THIS EDITION, COVERAGE OF: • Programming languages like Swift and Java • Code generation on modern 64-bit CPUs • ARM processors on mobile phones and tablets • Stack-based architectures like the Java Virtual Machine • Modern language systems like the Microsoft Common Language Runtime With an understanding of how compilers work, you'll be able to write source code that they can translate into elegant machine code. That understanding starts right here, with Write Great Code, Volume 2: Thinking Low-Level, Writing High-Level.
