Guide to Assembly Language Programming in Linux eBook edition

The primary goal of this book is to teach the IA-32 assembly language programming under
the Linux operating system. A secondary objective is to provide a gende introduction to the
Fedora Linux operating system. Linux has evolved substantially since its first appearance in
1991. Over the years, its popularity has grown as well. According to an estimate posted on
htt p : //counter . l i . org/, there are about 18 million Linux users worldwide. Hopefully,
this book encourages even more people to switch to Linux.
The book is self-contained and provides all the necessary background information. Since
assembly language is very closely linked to the underlying processor architecture, a part of the
book is dedicated to giving computer organization details. In addition, the basics of Linux are
introduced in a separate chapter. These details are sufficient to work with the Linux operation
system.
The reader is assumed to have had some experience in a structured, high-level language such
as C. However, the book does not assume extensive knowledge of any high-level language—only
the basics are needed.