Carthy combines assembly language and computer architecture in this text with the intent that understanding one topic will assist the reader in understanding the other. The book consists of two sections. The first uses the Intel 8086 assembly language with DOS as the operating system for input/output operations. The second uses a simplified computer model to examine computer architecture.

The first chapter is an introduction to computer programming. It uses the C language to demonstrate problem solving. Knowing C is not a prerequisite, and the author tells the reader to use another text to learn C. C is used to demonstrate different programming techniques in a higher-level language.

The next three chapters cover most of the Intel 8086 assembly language. A program or fragment is shown in C and its equivalent is given in assembly language. Character I/O is accomplished through DOS via its interrupt mechanism. This is offered as a cookbook solution to getting information into and out of the computer at assembly level. Most of the assembly language instructions introduced are shown in program segments and explained.

The second section, on computer architecture, consists of three chapters dealing with general architectural considerations and a chapter of case studies. The first chapter in this section introduces all the computer system components (including memory, disks, and operating system and applications software) and offers short explanations of each. The computer architecture chapter investigates CPU design via a simplified architecture machine and a corresponding simplified assembly language. The next chapter enhances the base architecture with pipelining and caching. The case study chapter discusses the Intel 80X86 family, Motorola 680X0 family, PowerPC, and Digital Alpha.

Each chapter has the same form: a short introduction; a discussion of the topics, with examples of instructions or hardware; a summary; exercises; and a reading list of additional texts.

The unlisted third section of the text is the appendices. The most extensive are the two dealing with information representation (integers, complement, conversion, ASCII, and so on) and the instruction set for the Motorola 68000.

A diskette with all the sample programs is included. The Intel 8086 assembly language requires the MASM assembler to create executable programs. The Motorola 68000 examples were created on a Macintosh, and the files were placed on the diskette in DOS-readable form.

This book is used as a first-year text. It will give students some understanding of the 8086 assembly language, but will not prepare them to write other than toy programs. Also, students must learn a higher-level language syntax as well as assembly language syntax to be properly grounded in problem solving. The architecture portion of the text familiarizes the student with the standard design of a computer and CPU. If this text were used in a semester-long course, it would need to be augmented with other readings or extensive programming or design exercises.