Summary

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This chapter presented the Intel CPU assembly language that you need to know to survive in the Disassembly window. It started by covering the basics of Intel CPUs, such as setting registers and interpreting status flags, and then moved on to the instructions required to manipulate stacks, data, pointers, and strings; compare and test operands; and jump, branch, and loop, among other actions. After the assembly-language code were tips and tricks that will help you get the most out of debugging at the assembly-language level.

Being able to read assembly language makes all the difference in the world when you're in the debugger trying to figure out why your program crashed. Despite the fact that some people try to avoid it like the plague, assembly language isn't that hard, and there's certainly nothing mysterious about it. The information in this chapter will give you the power to solve many nasty bugs that once stumped you.