This book is intended to provide a highly motivating context in which to learn procedural programming languages. The ultimate goal of this text is to lay a foundation that supports the multi-threaded style of programming and high-reliability requirements of embedded software. It presents assembly the way it is most commonly used in practice - to implement small, fast, or special-purpose routines called from a main program written in a high-level language such as C. Students not only learn that assembly still has an important role to play, but their discovery of multi-threaded programming, preemptive and non-preemptive systems, shared resources, and scheduling helps sustain their interest, feeds their curiosity, and strengthens their preparation for subsequent courses on operating systems, real-time systems, networking, and microprocessor-based design.
