The Art of Assembly Language, 2nd Edition

6.2 Arithmetic Expressions

Probably the biggest shock to beginners facing assembly language for the very first time is the lack of familiar arithmetic expressions. Arithmetic expressions, in most high-level languages, look similar to their algebraic equivalents. For example:

x := y * z;

In assembly language, you'll need several statements to accomplish this same task:

mov( y, eax );
          intmul( z, eax );
          mov( eax, x );

Obviously the HLL version is much easier to type, read, and understand. This point, more than any other, is responsible for scaring people away from assembly language. Although there is a lot of typing involved, converting an arithmetic expression into assembly language isn't difficult at all. By attacking the problem in steps, the same ...