A good 6502 physical reference book in 2021.

[ludoVIC]

Hello people, I have a simple reference question
It seems that the only book currently available at a reasonable price is "Programming the 65816 including the 6502, 65C02, and 65802".
Does anybody have a direct experience with it?
Might it be useful to systematically learn the 6502 asm, or is it more like a reference for later?

I really like the idea of having a paper book for better tracking my progresses,
Of course, I know about the various pdf books that I can gent and just print, but if there is something good that I can I buy, why not?
Thanks in advance!

[dougeff]

I own "6502 assembly language programming" by Lance A. Leventhal.

It is good, except that it contains examples that are no longer relevant, such as the 7 segment display, or the teletype machine. It's also a bit large (600 pages).

But I use it for reference, as it has a detailed explanation of every instruction.

There is also a free digital version some where... archive.org maybe?

[ludoVIC]

Hello, and thanks for the help.
I managed to find a digital copy of the Leventhal's book, which indeed seems very well written and is also available on ebay for an OK price.

I understand that you use it as a reference, but, anyway, do you think that reading it from cover to end might be a good idea?

Meanwhile, I am following the Nerdy Nights tutorials; I feel that a solid supplementary physical book might help for covering more asm details.
Generally speaking about books, if it is true that I could simply print the pdf online, I enjoy more the act of buying the book - assuming reasonable prices.

[calima]

I've read the 65816 book, it's a good one, though I already knew 6502 at the time and focused on the '816. It's split in chapters according to the cpus, so should be fine for 6502 too.

[Garth]

It seems that the only book currently available at a reasonable price is "Programming the 65816 including the 6502, 65C02, and 65802".
Does anybody have a direct experience with it?
Might it be useful to systematically learn the 6502 asm, or is it more like a reference for later?

It is definitely the best 65xx programming manual available, and a must-have for every 65xx programmer! It starts with the basics, followed by architecture, the CMOS 65c02's many improvements over the original NMOS 6502 including added instructions and addressing modes and fixing the NMOS's bugs and quirks, and then the natural progression to the 65816; a thorough tutorial, writing applications, then very detailed and diagrammed information on all 34 addressing modes, at least a page of very detailed description for each instruction, with info on every addressing mode available for that instruction, then instruction lists, tables, and groups, of all 255 active op codes, plus more. 469 pages. From Western Design Center. (.pdf) Note: There were many problems with the earlier .pdf version that were not in the original paper manual; but in late March 2015, WDC scanned and OCR'ed the paper manual and posted the new, repaired .pdf.

Leventhal's is also very good if you're limiting yourself to the NMOS 6502, ie, not having the extra instructions and addressing modes of the CMOS 65c02 let alone the 65816.

[never-obsolete]

I bought "Programming the 6502" by Rodnay Zaks, but a quick search tells me the price has gone waaaaay up over the years.

[Oziphantom]

The "Machine Language for the Commodore 64, 128, and Other Commodore Computers by Jim Butterfield" is the book on the subject, however it might be very pricey due to demand. Personally I preferred "Commodore 64 Machine Code by Bruce Smith" published by SHIVA.(however the VIC-20 version is for all intents identical and just as good for your needs) The Compute's journals are also very good if you can get them.

For reference, the Commodore 64 Programmers Reference Guide is the "bible" for 6502 needs.

These only cover N6502 however. But for NES that is all you need.

[Pokun]

I've also used the "Programming the 65816 including the 6502, 65C02, and 65802" to learn 65816 (for learning SNES programming), but I highly recommend it.


The quick digital instruction reference everyone (including me) seems to use is this. I've saved the page to my HDD so I can view it even when the internet connection doesn't work. Besides the instruction reference, it also has references for the registers and the addressing modes.

It is good, except that it contains examples that are no longer relevant, such as the 7 segment display

7-segment displays are still sold and used today. It's not very relevant for NES programming, but considering the 65816 and 65C02, as well as MCUs with those CPUs as core are still produced by WDC, they can easily be hooked up on a bread board.

[ludoVIC]

...at the end I decided to have a good electronic collections of most of the resources you mentioned (including the websites),
and I finally bought a physical copy of "Programming the 65816 including the 6502, 65C02, and 65802".
The price was honest (around 40 Euros) and it is already helping a lot

Thanks again for having shared your experience