Who Still Codes In Assembler?

rednax asks: "We see a lot of discussion on /. regarding many 'high level' languages (PERL, Python and JAVA for example are all well covered) rather than assembly language. There are a few exceptions such as this discussion from waaaay back when, which touched on it. Assembly level languages obviously have a place in all systems at the lowest level to provide basic services, but what about other areas. Obviously there are trade offs. Speed and compact object code are the two main arguments for assembler, but how much do these matter when we can get 1GHz processors, and large amounts of RAM? How many /.ers do use assembler, and what for?"

"Obviously assembly code is needed in embedded systems - I do not mean embedded Linux systems here, but rather the specialised, dedicated processor systems that do control work. Gibson research is one of the few advocates for programming down at the bare metal level that I have seen recently, and I think his products show what can be done in an incredibly small space, when Assembler is used. This too is one of his works."