Ketman Assembly Language Tutorial
Ketman 8086 Tutorial, Version 1.6
An assembly-language tutorial is not the same thing as an assembler tutorial - or not usually. Still less usually would it be an interpreter tutorial. But in this case that's what it will turn out to be.
The Problem
Because in my view there is nothing worse than trying to follow a technical explanation off the bare page, with nothing to illustrate the logical or arithmetical operations except your own imagination. I remember trying to learn ASM myself out of a book, and often wondered aloud why there was no tool that could help me understand what I was reading.
If I see an example instruction like "or ax,bx", I really don't want to read a page of text telling me what it does. There are a thousand tutorials like that. I want to carry out the instruction right there. I want to see the binary display of ax before the operation, and I want to see it after the operation. I want to see something like this:-
I also want to be able to reverse the operation easily, to undo what I've just done, so that I can do it again. Then I'll know what "or" does, and why I would want to use it. More than that, I want to be able to re-load ax and bx with new values by just deleting and typing, and execute the instruction with the new values, so that I can see the difference. And I want to be able to do all that without having to assemble anything.
The Solution
Having wondered enough times why such a tool didn't exist, I inevitably took the next step and said: If it doesn't exist, I'll have to invent it - an "assembly-language interpreter". And in some moment like that Ketman was born. Early next year, 2003, the project will be ten years old, and during that time hardly a day has passed that I haven't done some work on it. But it still took five years before V1.0 hit town. I do take my time; I don't cut corners; I don't use the public as beta-testers. When a new version arrives, it's because it's ready.
So forget the idea that this is a novelty toy. It began as a learner's tool for me, but it soon exceeded that specification. It's a real applications programmer's tool. The fact that it is the ideal platform for learning the language is only the first of its benefits. Because you will still be using it long after you have stopped describing yourself as a newbie.
So don't begrudge the small amount of time that this 8086 tutorial spends teaching you how to use the interpreter. It is the interpreter that will teach you assembly language, and it will do that a lot better than I could.
That's why the Ketman 8086 Tutorial comes as an .exe file, TUTOR86.EXE, and not as the usual collection of .txt or html files. The basic .exe is the same .exe that runs all the Ketman clones that are found in the Ketman Maximaster. That is the professional programmer's package, where the fullest explanations of all the tools are given - interpreter, editor, assembler, debugger, and associated widgets.
For the moment it is not essential to have the full Maximaster collection. TUTOR86.EXE is an independent program which you can work through without reference to the mother package.
It is loaded with the language-tutorial text, and that text also contains the minimum instructions necessary to use the tools to progress through the language tutorial. Later, if you decide that Ketman is the platform you'd like to opt for when writing your own programs, you can download it separately.
Download
To download the tutorial:
Ketman 8086 Tutorial (80 kb)
To download the Maximaster package:
Ketman Maximaster V3.6 Demo version (approx. 0.5 Mb)
To know more about the Ketman Maximaster, visit
Ketman Assembly Tools
Queries and support: btketman@btinternet.com
Some useful links:
Intel Assembly Language Sources
Art of Assembly Language Programming
