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From: debray@arizona.edu (Saumya Debray)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.questions,comp.edu,comp.lang.misc
Subject: Re: Teaching Assembler on VAX (BSD 4.3)
Message-ID: <1762@megaron.arizona.edu>
Date: Thu, 11-Jun-87 11:22:50 EDT
Article-I.D.: megaron.1762
Posted: Thu Jun 11 11:22:50 1987
Date-Received: Sun, 21-Jun-87 01:31:28 EDT
References: <2046@a.cs.okstate.edu> <965@killer.UUCP>
Organization: U of Arizona CS Dept, Tucson
Lines: 32
Summary: the *REAL* way to learn about computers
Xref: mnetor comp.unix.questions:2838 comp.edu:457 comp.lang.misc:450

In article <965@killer.UUCP>, elg@killer.UUCP (Eric Green) writes:
> I've seen juniors in CS who program in PL/1 or "C" (depending on machine
> used), who don't know the fogiest thing about what goes on at a lower level.
> Most of them have a VERY hard time figuring out what an operating system
> is, because while they've READ about computer architecture, they've never
> EXPERIENCED computer architecture. Experience which programming in assembly
> language gives you, real quick.

I agree that many CS majors are woefully unaware of the machines they're
working with: I've seen many like that, too.  But I'm not sure that
assembly hacking is a panacea for this.  The problem is that when tinkering
with assembly language, it's all too easy to miss the forest for the trees.

When I was an undergrad (back in India, in 1980), we first studied p-n
junctions by solving (very approximately:-) the Schroedinger equation for a
semiconductor lattice; then used this to derive an RC model of a transistor;
and finally, used this, and standard circuit analysis, to derive the
characteristics of a 7400 NAND gate, and matched our predictions with the
data sheet of the chip ... One might argue that solving the electron flow
equations for a p-n junction would give me a lot of insight into the
workings of a VLSI chip, but I'm afraid most of us were too overwhelmed by
the level of detail to get a feel for the big picture.

The first computer I played with was an old PDP-11 that you booted by
keying switches on the front panel.  A lot of fun, and I got to memorise
the machine code for the loader fairly quickly, but I doubt it gave me any
great insight into PDP-11 architecture.  
-- 
Saumya Debray		CS Department, University of Arizona, Tucson

     internet:   debray@arizona.edu
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