Some Assembly Required Assembly Language Programming with the AVR Microcontroller

A family of internationally popular microcontrollers, the Atmel AVR microcontroller series is a low-cost hardware development platform suitable for an educational environment. Until now, no text focused on the assembly language programming of these microcontrollers. Through detailed coverage of assembly language programming principles and techniques, Some Assembly Required: Assembly Language Programming with the AVR Microcontroller teaches the basic system capabilities of 8-bit AVR microcontrollers.

The text illustrates fundamental computer architecture and programming structures using AVR assembly language. It employs the core AVR 8-bit RISC microcontroller architecture and a limited collection of external devices, such as push buttons, LEDs, and serial communications, to describe control structures, memory use and allocation, stacks, and I/O. Each chapter contains numerous examples and exercises, including programming problems.

By studying assembly languages, computer scientists gain an understanding of the functionality of basic processors and how their capabilities support high level languages and applications. Exploring this connection between hardware and software, this book provides a foundation for understanding compilers, linkers, loaders, and operating systems in addition to the processors themselves.

Introduction. Computer Systems. The Atmel AVR Microcontroller Family. Assembly Language. Integer Data Representation. AVR Core: Startup, Reset, and Memories. The Stack and Function Calls. Serial Communications Using the Universal Synchronous and Asynchronous Serial Receiver and Transmitter. Logical Operations. Control Structures. Interrupts. Arithmetic Operations. Arrays. Real Numbers. Programming the AVR in C. Appendix. Index.

Timothy S. Margush, Ph.D., was an associate professor of computer science at the University of Akron. For over 30 years, he taught courses in mathematics and computer science, including many on assembly language programming using a variety of hardware platforms.