"Nobody teaches assembly language"

From: Kevin Handy <kth_at_srv.net>
Date: Wed Jun 23 10:42:25 2004

Fred Cisin wrote:

>On Tue, 22 Jun 2004, Vintage Computer Festival wrote:
>
>
>>How about 6502 or 6809 stuff? :)
>>
>>
>
>I'm going to teach them how to make programs that run on
>the machines that are there.
>
>But I intend to also show them a little bit about other processors,
>including the lack of symmetry of the 80x86, what kinds of
>differences to expect, different mnemonics, different architectures,
>quirks, etc.
>
>
Give them a copy of simh, and have them write the same
program for all the available simulators included...

Well, you might actually be able to show them the same simple
program for the IBM-1401, PDP-8, PDP-10, PDP-11, VAX, ...
to get an idea of the different architectures. Something simple,
like calculating a polynomial (VAX = 1 instruction,
PDP-8=aaak! You expect me to type that in?).

simh has a lot of features that might make it worth using.
You can enter programs from the command line, single step
through them, examine registers, etc. The simulators are
complete enough to run operating systems (where available).
It is also available in Unix, and windows versions.

It doesn't have a 80x86 simulator yet.

>My goal for the semester is that they will be able to create
>simple working programs, be able to start on larger projects,
>and have a clue how to deal with other different situations.
>
>Teaching them how to learn assembly language is far more important
>than the mastery of a given one.
>
>Surely somebody will be offended by that approach.
>
>--
>Grumpy Ol' Fred cisin_at_xenosoft.com
>
>
>
Received on Wed Jun 23 2004 - 10:42:25 BST