ASTRA-256 Assembler
Release: 2020
ASSEMBLY BINARY COMPUTER
Maybe it sounds unusual but let introduce you a binary computer programmable in Assembly language.
PRACTICAL PLAYTHING
The ASTRA-256 software is an effective tool for those who want to learn the Assembly language but doesn't know where to start.
It is a fun toy for ‘real programmers’ and for those remembering the old LPG-30, Altair 8800, PDP-11.
Finally, it’s a very good mind-breaker that is not a wasting of time. With ASTRA-256 you can solve a real tasks. For example, tasks that ‘real programmers’ really solved at the dawn of computing. Along the way, you acquire Assembly programming skills and refresh your old math knowledge.
REASONS TO LEARN ASSEMBLY LANGUAGE
Assembly language allows to most effectively manage all the hardware resources. That’s why it is still used to program many microcontroller devices.
Assembly is still used to optimize programs written in higher-level languages.
Assembly experience will give you insight of how magic happens. What turns hardware understanding only zeros and ones into a living intelligent computer?
BACK TO THE PAST
In the software we tried to marry the atmosphere of the iconic 'first computers' with a practical training tool. At the same time, you can try yourself working in limited resource conditions in which real programmers had been working in their days.
ASTRA-256 FEATURES
The software represents a virtual computer with a von Neumann architecture. At your disposal are the following resources:
Architecture
The 8-bit processor has an 8-bit accumulator as well as 8-bit registers mapped to memory: instruction counter, input register, output register, stack pointer, FLAGS register.
Memory
256 bytes of memory (exactly as it was in the first versions of the Altair 8800).
Instruction Set
The Assembly instruction set is quite extended and contains 102 instructions. But a novice user does not need to know all of them. It’s enough to know only a part of them to start writing the first assembly code.
To learn more about instructions click on the Help View button in the app or read detailed documentation on the official website of the app. You might want to print it for more immersion in the programming process.
Instructions are grouped into 11 subdivisions:
Processor Control Instructions
Data Transfer Instructions
Exchange Instructions
Arithmetic and logical Instructions
Shift Instructions
Bit Manipulation Instructions
Stack Manipulation Instructions
Unconditional Transfer Instructions
Conditional Transfer Instructions
Input/Output Instructions
Miscellaneous Instructions
We provide the user with an extended set of instructions similar to those found in all modern microcontrollers, microprocessors. The ASTRA-256 allows to get basic programming skills in low-level hardware. On this foundations you can master coding of any modern microcontroller. After all, its basic operating principles remain the same.
PLAY, LEARN, PROGRAM!
The ASTRA-256 is a useful tool with ‘everything is at hand’. It allows to puzzle over the solution of real tasks with limited resources.
Write in Assembly language a square root extraction program, a trigonometric function calculator or an interactive game. And maybe you'll be the next ‘real programmer’ who send a man to the Moon.
Maybe it sounds unusual but let introduce you a binary computer programmable in Assembly language.
PRACTICAL PLAYTHING
The ASTRA-256 software is an effective tool for those who want to learn the Assembly language but doesn't know where to start.
It is a fun toy for ‘real programmers’ and for those remembering the old LPG-30, Altair 8800, PDP-11.
Finally, it’s a very good mind-breaker that is not a wasting of time. With ASTRA-256 you can solve a real tasks. For example, tasks that ‘real programmers’ really solved at the dawn of computing. Along the way, you acquire Assembly programming skills and refresh your old math knowledge.
REASONS TO LEARN ASSEMBLY LANGUAGE
Assembly language allows to most effectively manage all the hardware resources. That’s why it is still used to program many microcontroller devices.
Assembly is still used to optimize programs written in higher-level languages.
Assembly experience will give you insight of how magic happens. What turns hardware understanding only zeros and ones into a living intelligent computer?
BACK TO THE PAST
In the software we tried to marry the atmosphere of the iconic 'first computers' with a practical training tool. At the same time, you can try yourself working in limited resource conditions in which real programmers had been working in their days.
ASTRA-256 FEATURES
The software represents a virtual computer with a von Neumann architecture. At your disposal are the following resources:
Architecture
The 8-bit processor has an 8-bit accumulator as well as 8-bit registers mapped to memory: instruction counter, input register, output register, stack pointer, FLAGS register.
Memory
256 bytes of memory (exactly as it was in the first versions of the Altair 8800).
Instruction Set
The Assembly instruction set is quite extended and contains 102 instructions. But a novice user does not need to know all of them. It’s enough to know only a part of them to start writing the first assembly code.
To learn more about instructions click on the Help View button in the app or read detailed documentation on the official website of the app. You might want to print it for more immersion in the programming process.
Instructions are grouped into 11 subdivisions:
Processor Control Instructions
Data Transfer Instructions
Exchange Instructions
Arithmetic and logical Instructions
Shift Instructions
Bit Manipulation Instructions
Stack Manipulation Instructions
Unconditional Transfer Instructions
Conditional Transfer Instructions
Input/Output Instructions
Miscellaneous Instructions
We provide the user with an extended set of instructions similar to those found in all modern microcontrollers, microprocessors. The ASTRA-256 allows to get basic programming skills in low-level hardware. On this foundations you can master coding of any modern microcontroller. After all, its basic operating principles remain the same.
PLAY, LEARN, PROGRAM!
The ASTRA-256 is a useful tool with ‘everything is at hand’. It allows to puzzle over the solution of real tasks with limited resources.
Write in Assembly language a square root extraction program, a trigonometric function calculator or an interactive game. And maybe you'll be the next ‘real programmer’ who send a man to the Moon.
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