Modern X86 Assembly Language Programming: 32-bit, 64-bit, SSE, and AVX

Introduction

Since the invention of the personal computer, software developers have used assembly language to create innovative solutions for a wide variety of algorithmic challenges. During the early days of the PC era, it was common practice to code large portions of a program or complete applications using x86 assembly language. Even as the use of high-level languages such as C, C++, and C# became more prevalent, many software developers continued to employ assembly language to code performance-critical sections of their programs. And while compilers have improved remarkably over the years in terms of generating machine code that is both spatially and temporally efficient, situations still exist where it makes sense for software developers ...