programming for linux

[Amaranthine]

I decided to start learning some C/C++ and (the incredibly small difference of) assembly on linux.

I have been compiling stuff under g++. I wanted to do some inline assembly so I tried using __asm{ } hoping that would work, but it didn't. Can any of you tell me how to do this? Also I came across what looked like an assembler directive:
.byte <some offset such as 0x01>
or
.long
what is this?

And lastly I assume $ = hex number and % = binary number, but I am not positive so I might as well check. (example: mov al,$10 or mov al,%00000011)

(also, what can I use to assemble not-so-inline assembly?)

And I'm not sure if this matters but I am running RedHat 9.0

[joe_bruin]

since you didn't specify your architecture, i'll assume you're talking about an x86 machine. i've never really worked with x86 assembly, but i'll give it a shot.

the $(number) most likely means "immediate value".
the % is probably "indirect value".

gcc will assemble files with extension .s or .S (it actually calls the system assembler, "as", but it's much easier through gcc). gcc can also generate assembly code from c. just run gcc -S myfile.c and it will create myfile.s.

[Amaranthine]

Yeah I was referring to x86. Thankyou.
And you said you weren't familiar with x86, are you a RISC assembly programmer?

I am very interested in RISC machines (and RISC assembly for that matter) and hopefully by the end of this summer I will be able to purchase a b2600 (hp-ux risc machine).

Do you happen to know how to write inline assembly straight into a cpp or c file(on linux with gcc)?

[joe_bruin]

in my work i end up writing bits of assembly here and there, usually for risc processors or dsps. but i try to keep it to a minimum. why anyone would buy a pa-risc machine is beyond me, though. if you want to learn something useful, mips (some would say the purest risc architecture) or powerpc are probably in the lead. sparc machines and alphas are good buys on ebay nowadays, too. and all of those run linux better than hppa.

for inline assembly:

void my_function()
{
  // some c code
  asm("pushl   %ebp
       movl    %esp, %ebp");
  // some more c code
}

note that the above code does nothing (except cause a segfault).

[Amaranthine]

thanks again.
I was thinking about a mips(I have heard very good things, and the b2600 isn't exactly cost efficient), but I can't find anywhere that sells them (even the official site). If you know some place that does sell them if you could tell me I would really appreciate it.

[Hamlin]

This one also seems finished.