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From: doug@terak.UUCP (Doug Pardee)
Newsgroups: net.works
Subject: Re: Fie on assembly language?
Message-ID: <448@terak.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 15-Mar-85 13:10:28 EST
Article-I.D.: terak.448
Posted: Fri Mar 15 13:10:28 1985
Date-Received: Wed, 20-Mar-85 03:56:17 EST
References: <792@topaz.ARPA> <836@ames.UUCP> <425@terak.UUCP> <633@mako.UUCP>
Organization: Terak Corporation, Scottsdale, AZ, USA
Lines: 36

> What kills assembly is LIFE-CYCLE costs,
> which include maintenability, (ever try to modify a 1000 line assy program
> module that has little or no comments?) ...

No worse than modifying a 1000 line C program module that has little or
no comments.  And C programs seldom are commented as well as assembly
programs.

> Ten assy coders will write ten different
> ways, and none will understand the others' work without a great deal of time
> and effort.

Ten C coders will write ten different ways, too.  It's a trait of
programmers, not the choice of language.

> Another way of looking at HLLs is that they enforce a certain set
> of programming convention upon all users ...

In other words, HLLs allow marginally competent programmers to succeed
where they would have failed if they had to deal with assembler.

Actually, I agree with that concept, and I even laud it.  It means that
"otherwise hopeless" turkeys are able to do the drudge programming like
mailing-label programs, leaving me free to work on interesting stuff.

> assembly code has only one place: where run-time
> space or time considerations are the OVERRIDING concern.

Agreed.  If only more people recognized that there are indeed programs
for which space and time considerations *are* an overriding concern...

>

Nobody has mentioned portability -- maybe that's become a non-issue?
-- 
Doug Pardee -- Terak Corp. -- !{hao,ihnp4,decvax}!noao!terak!doug