Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!linus!philabs!cmcl2!seismo!hao!noao!terak!doug From: doug@terak.UUCP (Doug Pardee) Newsgroups: net.lang Subject: Re: structured assembler Message-ID: <1056@terak.UUCP> Date: Fri, 21-Feb-86 12:52:13 EST Article-I.D.: terak.1056 Posted: Fri Feb 21 12:52:13 1986 Date-Received: Wed, 26-Feb-86 04:55:49 EST References: <350@3comvax.UUCP> <463@kontron.UUCP> <1078@mmintl.UUCP> <454@ho95e.UUCP> <409@3comvax.UUCP> Distribution: net Organization: Calcomp Display Products Division, Scottsdale, AZ, USA Lines: 31 > if you have good programmers, [assembler] is not a problem. You almost got the point... "if you have good programmers". You see, a good programmer costs money to hire. But almost any twit can eventually mangle a C program around enough that it looks like it does something similar to what it was supposed to do. And that twit will be glad to work for a lot less money than good programmers command. When a company decides to develop a product in C or Pascal, it's because they know that they can hire a bunch of trained monkeys to do the job, and pay them in bananas. Of course the resulting product won't be as good as if it was done in assembler, but the company is looking at the bottom line. A company makes a profit by having sales>expenses. One way to do this is to have low sales and even lower expenses. That's the way that a company doing a product in C expects to make a profit. [For many companies, there is no choice because of limited capital.] Other companies, however, accept high expenses offset by even higher sales. Those are the companies that hire me, and that's why I earn 2 to 3 times as much as C programmers. Sure, I can program in C. I can also bag groceries and haul trash. As you can see, I have a number of marketable skills :-). But the profession I choose is the one that gives me the most challenge, opportunity, and rewards. Now for the bottom line for programmers: if you're a trained monkey, then you'd better stick with C and Pascal. But if you're really good, the fun, big money, and job openings are in assembler programming. -- Doug Pardee -- CalComp -- {hardy,savax,seismo,decvax,ihnp4}!terak!doug