Learning Assembly Language on Mainframe [closed]

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I currently work on a team that handles mainframe programming and there is a need for me to learn Assembly language. I had an introductory class on x86 assembly and MASM in college three years ago and I am working with someone who has no experience in it who also needs to learn.

My question: is there anything different or specific about assembly on mainframe that I should be aware of or will learning from a book that covers basic x86 assembly like the text book I had in college suffice. Does anyone have any suggestions for a good book?

Thanks!

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I presume that by "mainframe" you mean IBM System z?

If you understand the concepts then all you should need is a reference manual to the instruction set architecture and a manual for the assembler you will be using. You may be lucky enough to find a document that combines both.

If it is System z that you want, I think you need z/Architecture Principles of Operation, SA22-7832 and one or more of the assembler books you can find at:

• http://publibz.boulder.ibm.com/bookmgr_OS390/libraryserver/zosv1r7/

I think you will find the mainframe instruction set more consistent, simpler, and easier to use than x86. Of course, that could be said about essentially any other architecture. :-)

Given how old this architecture is, probably any earlier ISA manual will do just as well. You may also need some information on the linkage conventions used by your compiler. Example source code for existing machine language library code might be really worth hunting down.

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Assembly changes based on the architecture of the processor. You need to know what type of processor the system is running (x86, SPARC, PowerPC or any of the many others) then you should be able to find a reference for that assembly language.

If the server is x86 then any accurate x86 reference should work.