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Why Learning Assembly Language Is Still Good

nickirelan writes "Why Learning Assembly Language Is Still a Good Idea by Randall Hyde -- Randall Hyde makes his case for why learning assembly language is still relevant today. The key, says Randall, is to learn how to efficiently implement an application, and the best implementations are written by those who've mastered assembly language. Randall is the author of Write Great Code (from No Starch Press)."

17 of 667 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Debugging by dduardo · · Score: 4, Funny

    Microsoft not giving their employees access to the Window's source code eh?

  2. original title by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    "Why Learning Assembly Language Is Still Good and Why I Still Can't Get Laid"

  3. Re:Smaller code? We can hope... by Jeffrey+Baker · · Score: 5, Funny

    Fuck, I'd settle for viruses smaller than 400K! Of all things, you'd expect a virus to be lean and mean, but I guess the latest crops were made with Visual Virus .NET or something to that effect.

  4. In what other languages by foidulus · · Score: 5, Funny

    can you get away with naming a source file org.asm?
    * rim shot
    I apologize.

  5. Obvious qdb reference by revmoo · · Score: 4, Funny
    How does an assembly programmer commit suicide?
    goto cliff
    :cliff
    jmp 0xFFFFFFFF
    --
    I would expect such blatant racism on Fark, but on Slashdot? Mods please ban this asshole.
  6. What I Learned From Assembly... by Prototerm · · Score: 2, Funny

    ...is not to fear Binary Arithmetic. It's just like regular arithmetic -- if you're missing 9 fingers.

    --
    "My country, right or wrong; if right, to be kept right; and if wrong, to be set right." --Senator Carl Schurz (1872)
  7. Viruses by Sheepdot · · Score: 2, Funny

    Probably the best reason to learn ASM is so you can code your own viruses instead of stealing my own GPL'd malware.

  8. Re:far more important than optimization by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Shut up, Gabe, and release Half-Life 2 already.

  9. Re:I disagree by Jason1729 · · Score: 4, Funny

    I'll take that bet...but since you choose the algorithms, I choose the architectures, and I choose a base-line PIC microcontroller. It has a 2-level deep hardware stack, Let's see your recursive javascript code run on that.

    Jason
    ProfQuotes

  10. Re:Counterpoint by Wienaren · · Score: 2, Funny

    > when was the last time you thought "This word processor just doesn't respond to my keypresses fast enough."

    Yesterday, when using quanta 3.2.2.

    --
    -- The Online Photo Editor - http://www.phixr.com
  11. Re:Debugging by homeobocks · · Score: 1, Funny

    "Learning how to debug is just as precious to a programmer as learning how to code." That's nonsence. helloworld.cc worked the first time!

    --
    MOUNT TAPE U1439 ON B3, NO RING
  12. NIU does. by gillbates · · Score: 2, Funny

    Assembler is used as a weed-out course. This course humbles a lot of hackers....

    --
    The society for a thought-free internet welcomes you.
  13. Debug? What's that? by www.sorehands.com · · Score: 2, Funny

    I write my code right the first time. :)

  14. Re:don't bother........ by DrSchlock · · Score: 5, Funny
    I have a favorite fortune on my system...

    The First Rule of Program Optimization:
    Don't do it.

    The Second Rule of Program Optimization (for experts only!):
    Don't do it yet.
  15. Re:Because you can kill any 2.6.x kernel by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    Quiet! Here on /. we only talk about Windows exploits, and how insecure Windows is! We don't want anyone knowing that Linux has its own problems.

  16. 15? Pah! by Dr.Knackerator · · Score: 2, Funny

    Only 15 params? Way back about 94 when I was working at MS supporting Visual C++ I took a call from some plank who was moaning that he was getting an internal compiler error.

    Looked it up. The compiler was failing as there was a limit of *100* parameters. So I told him and started getting all wound up. I asked how many he was trying to pass. it was something like 120 odd. (i turned the mic off and laughed hehehe)

    He asked when it would be fixed. I suggested that as this was the first call ever on this topic it would not be a high priority.

    Customer goes mad and starts saying things like 'how am I supposed to get my work done now?'. I gently suggest that he could put the parameters in a struct and pass that across.

    Customer went dead quiet, thanked me and quickly hung up :)

    BTW if you want to know what torture is, trying having to explain how to use - extern "C" - about 3 times a day for 2 years.

  17. No! Go lower! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Personally I think the curriculum for coding should begin with asm, and the student should work his way up to the higher level languages.. c, pascal, and finally java or perl.

    I really think learning asm makes the most sense when using it on a cpu you've built from scratch. Though I think building a software simulation will do, as all the time spent debugging the hardware isn't really a skill a CS major needs anymore...