Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!rutgers!husc6!cmcl2!brl-adm!adm!rachiele@nadc.arpa From: rachiele@nadc.arpa Newsgroups: comp.unix.questions Subject: teaching assembler Message-ID: <7501@brl-adm.ARPA> Date: Thu, 21-May-87 10:21:51 EDT Article-I.D.: brl-adm.7501 Posted: Thu May 21 10:21:51 1987 Date-Received: Sat, 23-May-87 01:18:21 EDT Sender: news@brl-adm.ARPA Lines: 18 I agree that assembler language should not be used for very many applications, and that learning assembler for one machine does not help you very much when you need to write a routine for some random machine. But the main idea behind teaching assembly language to students is giving them some training in the inner workings of a given machine. Understanding what registers (sp?) do and how indirect addressing and things like that are used can be very valuable, and some knowledge of the machine code is necessary for debugging on many machines. And I've found that the first assembler you learn is the hardest, after that even a vastly different machine becomes easier to understand. Please flame me on my content, not my spelling or grammer. Jim rachiele@nadc.arpa