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From: stephens@latcs2.lat.oz.au (Philip J Stephens)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.apple2
Subject: Re: Re- HLLs vs. Assembly
Summary: Assembly as a tool to learn about hardware
Message-ID: <1991Apr9.150402.563@latcs2.lat.oz.au>
Date: 9 Apr 91 15:04:02 GMT
References: <Joe_Luzzi.FULLERTON_CC@QMBRIDGE.CALSTATE.EDU> <9104060651.AA18946@apple.com> <1991Apr6.100927.21953@nntp-server.caltech.edu>
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Todd P. Whitesel writes:
>
>I'm a positive example of the consensus that seems to be evolving here, that
>Assembly concepts should be a vital part of a good CS curriculum, and that
>they should be taught early on, because most of the hard-to-learn HLL concepts
>derive directly from Assembly concepts that are considerably easier to learn.

  I totally agree with Todd.  I too taught myself 6502 assembly
language, when I was only in Year 10 of school.  By Year 12 I had
produced several hi-res arcade-type games, a hi-res character
generator, an Applesoft renumbering utility, a disk sector viewer, a
sector copy program -- all in 6502 assembly.  I started off using the
mini-assembler in Integer Basic before moving onto Lisa, Big Mac and
Orca/m respectively.  By the time I started Uni, I already knew the
hardware of my Apple ][+ inside out, and had studied Pascal in my
spare time.  I was hacking into games (NOTE: I don't mean I was
pirating, I mean I was modifying games to do different things, such as
providing unlimited lives etc).  Learning digital electronics was a
breeze, and learning other HLL was easy.  In short, I had done myself
a favour by getting into the guts of my Apple when I did.
  So quite aside from the advantages and disadvantages of programming
in assembly, it is a MUST for anyone who wants a REAL understanding of
the computers they are fiddling with.  You can't program effectively
in a HLL if you don't know the hardware you're working on, it's
limitations and it's features.  It's as simple as that.

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