Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!att!ucbvax!husc6!yale!mfci!colwell From: colwell@mfci.UUCP (Robert Colwell) Newsgroups: comp.arch Subject: Re: using (ugh! yetch!) assembler Message-ID: <476@m3.mfci.UUCP> Date: 24 Jul 88 14:21:03 GMT References: <6341@bloom-beacon.MIT.EDU> <60859@sun.uucp> <474@m3.mfci.UUCP> <2926@utastro.UUCP> Sender: root@mfci.UUCP Reply-To: colwell@mfci.UUCP (Robert Colwell) Organization: Multiflow Computer Inc., Branford Ct. 06405 Lines: 47 In article <2926@utastro.UUCP> nather@utastro.UUCP (Ed Nather) writes: >In article <474@m3.mfci.UUCP>, colwell@mfci.UUCP (Robert Colwell) writes: >> Hell, there are still >> people who think assembly language programming is better; how would >> you prove to them they're wrong? > >I know of no programmer who thinks assembly language is better for all >kinds of programs, nor do I know a good one who feels it is *never* >better for *any* job. Until I can buy a compiler -- for any language -- >than can generate code that runs as fast as I can write by hand, I will >use assembly language where speed is essential. You will, indeed, have >a hard time proving to me that I'm wrong in using the tool that best >fits the requirements of the job. Just because you don't know any doesn't mean they don't exist. Look back about four years ago in all the standard trade rags and you'll find a letters-to-the-editor war waged on this basis. Directly equivalent to the "go-tos suck" war in CACM several months back. Anyway, that ain't what I'm talking about. I'm trying to draw what seems to me to be a direct analogy. OK, it won't work on you if you don't know any assembly language religious fanatics (and I grant there aren't many left.) What I'm saying is that no reasonable proof can be offered to cause someone to switch away from the tools they're using, and I think the same phenomenon applies to programming environments in the large. Heck, for all I know, your situation might be a case in point. Suppose you go to your boss (pretend you're in a commercial situation to make this cleaner) and tell him "hey, I can meet the target specs you asked for by coding in C over a period of 2 months, but I can exceed them by 15% by coding some of it in assembler (and it'll take a little longer)". Your job might be to get the initial prototype running, but his is to make sure he ends up with a product that he can maintain, extend, and understand, because you, the programmer, are statistically likely to leave within 2 or 3 years. So he may tell you to punt the extra performance. The issue here is on what grounds, and in what terms, the two of you can discuss which path to take. It's not as simple as "hand assembly code is faster than compiled code". Bob Colwell mfci!colwell@uunet.uucp Multiflow Computer 175 N. Main St. Branford, CT 06405 203-488-6090