We began this chapter with creation of two templates--one for a 32-bit Windows executable and the other for a 32-bit Linux executable. While there are certain parts of both templates that may still be unclear, let that bother you not, as we will cover each and every aspect thereof when the time comes. You may use these templates as a skeleton for your own code.

The most significant part of the chapter, however, was dedicated to the Intel Instruction Set Architecture itself. It was, of course, a very brief overview as there was no need to describe each and every instruction--Intel did the job releasing their Programmer's Manual, which contains over three thousand pages. Instead, a decision was made to provide only the basic information and help us achieve certain level of acquaintance with Intel instruction set.

We ended the chapter by implementing the AES128 encryption algorithm with the aid of AES-NI extension, which makes the process of AES128 encryption/decryption significantly simpler and easier.

Now, when we understand the instructions, we are ready to proceed further to the memory organization and data and code addressing modes.