On Programming For Adults: The NASM Macro Processor

One of the advantages of being an assembly language programmer is that you get to use an assembler.

Only assembly language programers know what an assembler is, so the best assemblers are written by the most dedicated assembly language programmers, the masters of our trade. [1]

I recently put the NASM folks to a test. I predicted they would pass the test, and they did.

Just try

nasm -E in.asm

This expands the text in the named file with the full power of the most comprehensive macro assembler I have yet seen. It also does nothing else.

NASM just gets it done.

So do assembly language programmers.

Note:

1. An “assembler” is not the machine used to construct assembly halls where young students watch principals in operation. Assembly language programmers read the principles of operation. [2]

2. This pun will be a recurring theme for the next 10000000000B or so posts about assembly language: [3]

  %define ALPs assembly language programmers
  %define PiP principals in operation
 % define PoP principles of operation
...
 young students watch PiP. ALPs read the PoP.

3. 1024. We assembly language programmers not only count in binary, we think in binary. For example, I am 01 For Chappaqua