Assembly vs. Everything Else (was: SemiOT: Mourning for ClassicComputing)

From: Derek Peschel <dpeschel_at_eskimo.com>
Date: Sat Aug 18 03:24:02 2001

On Fri, Aug 17, 2001 at 03:42:31PM +0100, Iggy Drougge wrote:
> Jeffrey S. Sharp skrev:

> >Ok, I'll give you that. Now, why is it so important to have a PRINT
> >statement?
>
> So that you may print "HELLO WORLD". It's essential for the newbie.

Now, are you going to print that at assembly time or at execution time?
Fancy assemblers can do input/output at assembly time. The difference is
important. If you're taeching the subject, you might as well teach it
seriously. :)

_Really_ fancy assemblers can imitate a Turing machine at assembly time.
Then your program can contain whatever you want (list of prime numbers,
factorial, counterexample to Fermat's last theorem, etc.) and your code need
not do any calculation at all. The risk is that your program may take an
infinitely long time to assemble!

-- Derek
Received on Sat Aug 18 2001 - 03:24:02 BST