Path: utzoo!utgpu!watserv1!watmath!att!linac!pacific.mps.ohio-state.edu!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!wuarchive!emory!gatech!ncsuvx!news From: kdarling@hobbes.ncsu.edu (Kevin Darling) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.tech Subject: Re: Assembler Programming - Costs versus Benefits Message-ID: <1990Nov29.191224.710@ncsuvx.ncsu.edu> Date: 29 Nov 90 19:12:24 GMT References: <1990Nov25.040121.10773@zorch.SF-Bay.ORG> <1990Nov25.233007.19698@cs.umu.se> <7139@sugar.hackercorp.com> <1990Nov27.004859.16630@cs.umu.se> <7150@sugar.hackercorp.com> <7160@sugar.hackercorp.com> Reply-To: kdarling@hobbes.ncsu.edu (Kevin Darling) Organization: NCSU Computing Center Lines: 21 >> A correct 68000 program runs unchanged on a 68030. - Carl > Ah, then explain why Atari ST programs don't run on a 68020. [...] > Basically, writing a portable program is harder the lower the level > you write the program at. If you do everything through intuition in C, > you're unlikely to cause headaches for Amiga 3000 users. If you do > everything in assembly, it's a lot harder to keep all the differences > between the different processors straight... [...] > I'm not saying "it's impossible to write a portable 68000 program in > assembly", but rather "it's a whole lot harder to write one". Quit > with the theoretical BS and look at the real world. - Peter Depends on your "real" world ;-). In my [OS9] world, I haven't found a single 68000 program written in the last seven years that doesn't work on any 680x0. So it's obviously quite possible to write portable (within the same OS) asm programs. It can be, and _is_, done easily (the same goes for reentrancy). No, none of them were hot games; and yes, many game programmers are braindead when it comes to thinking about (any) compatability. Still, and especially when talking also about non-game applications, ST/Amiga/etc 68K asm programmers who write non-upward-compatible code have no more excuse than C programmers who might do the same. best - kevin