On 12/20/2011 8:29 AM, J Arrizza wrote:
My point is being comfortable with assembler is likely an effect not a cause. If you have the motivation and skills to pick up assembler in a semester then you are probably going to be a better programmer in the end simply because of your motivation and skills, not necessarily from knowing assembler.
I don't agree, as I had been programming for two years before I learned assembler. My high level code made dramatic improvements after that.
In the end, this progression has been extremely beneficial in visualizing how all that abstract source code translates down into machine code. Memory allocation, speed and size optimization, etc. etc. make a lot more sense when you know how the machine behaves at a fundamental level.
Yes, exactly. Also, knowing assembler can get you out of many jams that otherwise would stymie you - such as running into a code gen bug.
Code gen bugs are not a thing of the past. I just ran into one with lcc on the mac.
