Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!att!osu-cis!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!cwjcc!gatech!rutgers!cmcl2!lanl!unm-la!unmvax!nmtsun!caasnsr
From: caasnsr@nmtsun.nmt.edu (Clifford Adams)
Newsgroups: comp.edu
Subject: Re: Assembler curricula, was Re: using (ugh!  yetch!) assembler
Summary: Assembler Spoken Here...
Message-ID: <834@nmtsun.nmt.edu>
Date: 30 Jul 88 03:13:04 GMT
References: <6341@bloom-beacon.MIT.EDU> <60859@sun.uucp> <474@m3.mfci.UUCP> <24134@bu-cs.BU.EDU> <2601@ukecc.engr.uky.edu>
Reply-To: caasnsr@nmtsun.nmt.edu (Clifford Adams)
Organization: New Mexico Tech, Socorro NM
Lines: 23

In article <2601@ukecc.engr.uky.edu> wes@engr.uky.edu (Wes Morgan) writes:
>Why not teach machine organization concepts right alongside HLL programming?
>Certain topics, such as loop control and number crunching, could be programmed
>in both an HLL and in assembly.  This would give the beginning student both
>a better understanding of the machine and some rudimentary skills in assembly
>language.

	Here at New Mexico Tech there was (1 year ago) a course which
basically fit the above description.  It was called CS221, Computer
Organization, with an associated lab (CS221L), Systems programming.
The class taught the basics of computer and CPU organization, and
taught the PDP assembly language.  The lab taught C, and the students
each used it to write an assembler subset for our VAX 11/750.

	Overall, the class was a good introduction to assembly
language in a systems context.  This year, however, the class has
become a first-year class, and the lab has become a class of its own
(probably due to the difficulty of the lab for some students).

-- 
 Clifford A. Adams  ---  "I understand only inasmuch as I become."
 ForthLisp Project Programmer   (Goal: LISP interpreter in Forth)
 caasnsr@nmtsun.nmt.edu     ...cmcl2!lanl!unm-la!unmvax!nmtsun!caasnsr