> I learned MASM a few years back (2001)
Forget it and re-learn with NASM/YASM/FASM
> latest processor, Xeon
:-(
> have all sorts of extra register sets Kip never touched on. MMX
SSE4, SSSE5, 4D-NOW , ... you can safely ignore them
> the floating point processor.
Has been around since 8086 (!!!)
> an assembler or a compiler for this processor?
All (!!!) NASM, YASM, FASM, ...
> or do people write in C
YES. :-( Even worse, in Visual C++++++ .NET ...
> develop for a new processor that has new instructions and new registers?
Ignore them. The good "old" 80386-registers (EAX, ESI, ESP, ...) are
still present. Old instructions (NOP, MOV, CMP, CALL, UD2, XOR, ...)
as well. Even 8086 16-bit stuff (AX, IP, ...) is available, even 16-bit code still works (in 16-bit DOS).
> ordered from Intel a set of five (free) books
Very bad for a beginner. Check for a 80386 documentation.
