Spectrum Machine Language for the Absolute Beginner (Retro Reproductions)

I used this book when I was maybe 10 or 11, and it was great I was able to learn Z80 machine code and grasp the concepts of binary and hexadecimal because of the easy explanations provided in this book.More that 30 years later I bought this book for two reasons, number one I wanted to see how it compared to what I remember and number 2 I backed the ZX Spectrum Next kickstarter, and have been playing with Spectrum emulators and thought this book would be interesting to work through again.The book is a great resource, I have recommended it to people asking for a something consumable for an absolute beginner and this is an easy recommendation. Now, on re-reading the book and being an experienced assembly language programmer on a number of architectures I do recognize a few typos/minor errors in the book. But, it did not cause too much of a hindrance when I went through this as a child and I still think it is a great resource to get started.Thanks Acorn Books, for reprinting this book!

Excellent reprint of an accessible primer on Z80 machine code. This won’t teach you everything you need to know but is an excellent starting point and covers the essentials, and is accessible to anyone who’s previously found assembly language arcane and unintuitive.Don’t expect to be coding the next Miner Willy classic by the end of the book but on the other hand you’ll be able to look at lines of assembly and get a feel for what’s going on, and the next book you pick up on the subject will far more accessible after reading this.Anyone wanting to get up to speed or simply rediscover the joys of 8-bit computing will appreciate this affordable hardback at a time when original used copies can sell for more. Retro collectors will want period-correct original pressings but for those of us who just want the knowledge contained within won’t be missing out in any way.Highly recommended, four stars given purely for the original content. Point deducted for original presentation which is all in monospaced type and not as easy on the eyes as proportional fonts.

Tenia ganas de adquirirlo desde hace mucho, volvi con mi Spectrum desde hace más de 30 años, y la verdad es que recordaba mucho cuando desarrollaba videojuegos, perdi la práctica y la memoria despues de tantos años ya no es lo mismo para volver al Z80 en Assembler, un gran libro, bien estructurado siguiendo el original de los años 80/90 realmente brillante y muy recomendado.

This is a great book if you're interested in getting started with z80 assembly coding on the original ZX Spectrum or the ZX Spectrum Next. Machine language is stated in the title but this is really about assembly language: the human readable form of the 0s and 1s that comprise machine language (also called machine code). The author does explain the difference and provides the background so that the reader can make the distinction.It is an exact reproduction so the font, the writing style, etc. are as per the original from the 1980s. Consequently there a few typos from the original that are also authentically reproduced, but this doesn't detract from the usefulness of this book.

The content of the book itself is ok I suppose but there are two faults which are quite a big deal.Firstly the writing style might have been fine when the target audience was a bunch of kids who’d never so much as touched a computer before but now most of us have been using them for many years, a lot of us with prior coding experience, referring to registers continually throughout the book as fingers and toes is just outright confusing. You have to continually ask yourself what on earth they’re going on about. Use the analogy to start with but then drop it and use the proper terms.So onto the lazy reprint bit. This strikes me as just a money grab. It really would not have hurt for the people that reprinted it to have actually proof read it. Good luck getting the code examples and programs to actually work should you go to the effort of typing them in!! There’s errors all over the place!

This version of Spectrum Machine Language for the absolute beginner is a lovely book and is perfectly sized. The pages are slightly cream in colour (nice touch) and are of good quality. It feels really nice to hold and I thoroughly recommend getting a copy, especially if you fancy learning 8-bit machine code from one of the best introduction to 8-bit machine code programming books ever written!