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asmlings

A Rustlings-inspired x86-64 assembly learning tool with interactive exercises

Dec 25, 2025

Built with

Bash
Linux

asmlings

Learn x86-64 assembly by fixing small programs. Inspired by rustlings .

46 exercises covering:

  • Basics (registers, arithmetic, logic)
  • Memory operations (load, store, addressing)
  • Control flow (comparisons, jumps, loops)
  • Stack and functions (leaf functions, recursion, stack frames, calling conventions)
  • System I/O (read, write, files, arguments)

Prerequisites

Linux with as, ld, and optionally gcc (for C interop exercises).

Quick Start

make                 # Build asmlings
./asmlings           # Start learning (watch mode)

Commands

./asmlings           # Watch mode - auto-checks on save
./asmlings list      # Show all exercises with progress
./asmlings hint      # Get hint for current exercise
./asmlings hint 05   # Get hint for exercise 05
./asmlings check 05  # Check specific exercise
./asmlings run 35    # Run exercise with stdin passthrough
./asmlings help      # Show all commands

How It Works

  1. Run ./asmlings - it watches for file changes
  2. Open exercises/01_intro.s in your editor
  3. Read the instructions, fix the code
  4. Remove # I AM NOT DONE when ready
  5. Save - asmlings checks your solution automatically

Compiling Assembly Manually

as program.s -o program.o            # Assemble
ld program.o -o program              # Link
./program                            # Run
echo $?                              # Check exit code

Resources

Development

make test            # Run test suite (requires bats)
make clean           # Clean build artifacts

AI Usage

Claude Code (Opus 4.5) assisted with:

  • Dynamic exercise validation system
  • Stdout/stdin capture via pipes
  • Modular architecture refactoring
  • Test suite (56 BATS tests)
  • Documentation

The core watcher, exercises, and hints were written mostly manually and polished by Claude.