Importance Of Assembler

[Iforgot]

Hi guys, I am doing a research for my school, and I would like to know from you guys what’s the importance of teaching assembler.

I also would like to know if assembler should be thought to new Programmers or Not

 

[Dusty]

Humble opinion.

In the days when RAM was extremely expensive and processors were extremely slow (in comparison to the latest offerings) Assembler was almost essential for the Systems Programmer to gain access.  Assembled programs were smaller and faster than those written in any other available language except direct coding (binary).

Nowadays it doesn't matter about program size or efficiency, access to cheap RAM and lightning fast processors make up for lazy or careless programming habits.  How many 'modern' programmers would know, or have to know, the byte size of a given instruction?  I'd guess not many.

However, to answer your questions - The teaching of assembler is not important and assembler need not be taught to budding programmers.

See the poll here, just one vote for ASM

Good luck

 

[Iforgot]

Tks a Lot , i would be happy with more opinions but thats good, but if some one else would give hes opinion i would apreciate....

Tks

[Dias de verano]

Is this how people do university courses nowadays? 

What happened to research? (I mean proper research)

[Iforgot]

this is an open research, a Term Paper, we can use any research and anyway to get information, even if you interview an expert if you need to,


thats i came here, cause we have to right a 5 page report on the subject, thats why i am researching opinions and ideas.

[Pat09]

The best programmers are the ones that know how to write code to work with the machine not against the machine. But the truth is this, we are still coding for 1980. The programs are still two dimensional. Until we start writing code built for 64bit and 128bit the cpu/ram of a machine is not going to help other than to open many programs at once. Personally I believe someone needs to rewrite a new binary, everything is based on the first idea, time to bring it up a notch.

[Iforgot]

Thats true though, but still in my opinion we should not know assembler, only if you show interest on learning, cause as c# developer i do not need assembler, at least i think like that, and assembler is robot Language, when i say robot i mean machine language, am i wrong?

[Dias de verano]

Iforgot, I find your attitude curious. Also typical of many younger programming students. All a compiler does is generate machine code. Even the cleverest optimizing compilers are stupid compared to the human mind. Many times it is necessary to code time- or space-critical sections sections in assembler. Surely the machine's operations and the code which controls them is the most fundamental and most interesting of all. Do not mention your contempt for assembler at job interviews, or you may not get the most interesting of jobs!

[h0w]

i am a current CS student going in to my 3rd year, i think that its important that students learn the assembler.. not only that but about the past of programming. even if these courses were not offered through my school/my major, i would certainly try to learn as much as i can. the more i know about the computer world from the past, i will be able to learn even more in the future. i like to learn from the mistakes people have made in the past.

plus knowing more couldnt hurt on an interview.

edit: im not saying spend 3 years learning assembly, but i think its always helpful to learn alittle.

[Aegis]

Personally I believe someone needs to rewrite a new binary, everything is based on the first idea, time to bring it up a notch.

There are people working furiously on quantum computing. 

In the current architecture (hardware), my limited understanding is that all we can do is process more information in the same time frame -- 64 bit vs. 32 bit, parallel processing, distributed computing, etc., because it all comes back to the binary state of 0 or 1 at a given moment.  Computers are efficient counters, at this point.

The more "three dimensional" multistate computing of the quantum bit, or qubit, is on the horizon, or probably closer than we realize.

even if you interview an expert if you need to,

Oh, heavens no!  Not that!   


Assembler is important.  All most of us do is program / develop at higher levels, because they are easier to grasp.  The compiler still "breaks down" our programs to something the hardware can use.

[KenJackson]

Learning assembler language is crucially important.  Any school that teaches Computer Science and doesn't require a course in assembler is doing a huge disservice to the student.

While it's true that it isn't frequently needed any more, due to the speed or processors and cheapness of RAM, there are three reasons why it's still very valuable.

• It helps the student understand how the machine actually works.  I occasionally run into someone who writes C or C++ for a living but lacks a fundamental grasp of how function arguments are pushed on the stack.  That amazes me.
• It's often helpful to understand it when stepping through code in a debugger.  Even though you probably do most stepping in the high-level language, bizarre things are not uncommon and stepping through the instructions can be helpful.
• There are still a few places where some actual assembler programming is required, e.g. startup code and device drivers.  Application developers may never need to do startup code, but it's not at all uncommon for embedded developers (like me) to have to work with it.

[qinghao]

I need clarification.

I think the Assembler is very important.But it is not fit for student learn Computer just a few of days in college. Because It is so difficult for a students who can not understand the computer science very well.

[Dias de verano]

I need clarification.

I think the Assembler is very important.But it is not fit for student learn Computer just a few of days in college. Because It is so difficult for a students who can not understand the computer science very well.

Student who can not understand the computer science very well should study other easier subject.

[qinghao]

Student who can not understand the computer science very well should study other easier subject.

Firstly,you are right.
But no everyone knew the dificult of the computer science before he had attended to It.

[qinghao]

someone needs to rewrite a new binary

someone needs Assembler to create base for others to use.