AZM Books

Three teaching books and one assembler manual for working with AZM, the assembler used by the Debug80 environment. Start with the machine, move to the TEC-1G target and Debug80 workflow, then use AZM’s larger-program features for algorithms and data structures. Use the manual when you already know assembly and want the AZM language and tool behavior directly.

Introduction

Why assembly language, why AZM, why the Z80 — and what you’ll be able to do after each book.

AZM Book 1 — Z80 Fundamentals

No prior knowledge assumed. Learn the machine from first principles: memory, registers, instructions, flags, loops, subroutines, I/O, and the AZM features that make assembly practical and safe.

Fourteen chapters from bare machine code through ops, layout types, and register contracts.

AZM Book 2 — Programming the TEC-1G

In progress and publishable as a roadmap. Learn the TEC-1G as a concrete target: MON-3 services, Debug80 projects, keypad input, LCD text, the six-digit seven-segment display, scanning, sound, the 8x8 RGB add-on, and small interactive programs.

The outline draws on the Tetro and Pacmo TEC-1G game codebases without depending on those games as prerequisites. Their shared hardware layer comes before the case studies, so those chapters can grow into multi-chapter material later if the programs need more room.

AZM Book 3 — Algorithms and Data Structures

For readers who know the Z80 basics. Works through real algorithms — sorting, searching, strings, bit manipulation, recursion, composition, pointer structures — using the full AZM surface as each construct appears naturally.

Ten chapters from foundations to a complete eight-queens capstone.

AZM Book 4 — Assembler Manual

The AZM assembler manual. Covers AZM syntax, directives, expressions, labels, enums, storage, layout types, register contracts, op declarations, aliases, diagnostics, listings, output formats, ASM80-compatible output, porting, and source style.

This is the direct route into the assembler itself, not a beginner Z80 course.

Appendices

Quick-reference material for the whole series: number systems and ASCII, registers and flags, addressing modes, and a searchable Z80 instruction table.

Mermaid diagrams — These books are Mermaid-ready. All ` `mermaid` ` fenced blocks render as live diagrams. Future chapters will use sequence diagrams, flowcharts, and state machines to illustrate hardware flow, algorithm structure, and memory layouts.