Assembly language is one of my most recent acquistions of programming languages. It has many attractions: it offers an unmatched level of control, with the processor and FPU being given instructions directly; and, once optimised, is the fastest method of achieving a logical operation. It is possible to construct programs from scratch by using a stand-alone assembler, such as MASM, but this is incredibly laborious, simple operations such as the initiation and access of an array being turned into a feat of organisation and logic. Instead, I prefer to use small snippets of assembly code incorporated into my Pascal programs, particularly in those routines which are heavy on calculation and include little mundane code for the manipulation of variables. Hence, a more efficient program can be produced, with the bulk code operated by Pascal and only the most calculation intensive sections being converted to optimised assembler; and experimentation has shown that this can give a nine-fold increase in the speed of a program. Currently, the background rendering device in Trooper II, all of the high resolution graphics engine, the texture mapper of my 3D engine, and the function iterator for the Mandelbrot generator are all coded in assembler, and I have come accross many situations where the Pascal, even if completely tight FOR loops are employed, is simply not fast enough to accomplish the task for a given frame rate. In these cases, the integration of in-line assembly code into the Pascal programs can give sufficient speed to make that operation viable. My standard procedure for the conversion of a complex logical procedure into optimised assembler is to write out that routine in Pascal, test until I am certain it is performing to expectation, and then to convert the Pascal directly into a crude assembler. This can be tested again, to ensure complete conversion, before the code is optimised. By the use of DB $66 tags, the 16 bits recognised by Pascal can be treated as the wole 32-bit registers, allowing extremely fast clearing and copying operation for images. I essentially learnt assembler out of necessity for fast code; and during this process I found The Art of Assembly Language an indespensible guide, providing an exaustive guide that allowed me to procure a secure grasp on the 80x86 and the FPU within a few weeks. Stand by for a download of the standalone Assembler, MASM on this page - in the meantime, an assembler, TASM, is incorporated into the Pascal 6.0 editor.