Useful article on x86 disassembly skills

[Mike Hearn]

After finding that COM article, I decided to dig my way through the
backissues of MSJ to see what other gems I could uncover. Here's one
useful one:

http://www.microsoft.com/msj/0298/hood0298.aspx

It is a basic introduction to x86 assembly from a reverse engineers point
of view. Most of it is basic stuff you probably know already, however
there are some useful bits there - for instance, it took me some time
before I figured out that "xor eax, eax" was being used to clear the
register because it led to smaller code size whereas this article tells
you about that and similar tricks so it's easier to read optimized code.

It also gives you some useful constructs that access the TEB, for
instance now I know that these fs:[00000000] things are setting up new SEH
frames. A worthwhile read for times when disas is the only way forward....

thanks -mike