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I agree it's pretty neat. PDP 11 assembler code is the only assembler I can read like C. I've never come up to speed on x86, I sort of get it but it was weird

I agree it's pretty neat. PDP 11 assembler code is the only assembler I can read like C. I've never come up to speed on x86, I sort of get it but it was weird in a lot of places so I punted. I've done other assembler code, not a lot, but I've written swtch() (process context switch) in 68K and VAX assembly. Never liked anything as much as the PDP 11. So simple, so clean. The TA who taught the course where I learned PDP 11 assembly (Ken Witte) was so into it that he could read octal dumps like it was C. I remember getting him to come help me debug a problem, I coaxed him to my apartment with a 6 pack of beer, he looked at some octal and said "right there". Amazing guy but the PDP 11 code was so clean you could do that. Anyone have a modern instruction set they like as much?

userbinator 11y ago
The TA who taught the course where I learned PDP 11 assembly (Ken Witte) was so into it that he could read octal dumps like it was C I think this is a case of "do anything enough and you'll memorise it" - I can mentally disassemble most of the first-page x86 instructions from a hexdump, although x86 really looks much better in octal ( http://reocities.com/SiliconValley/heights/7052/opcode.txt http://reocities.com/SiliconValley/heights/7052/opcode.txt ), and I still have vague memories of some 6502 instructions from many years ago.
- joosters 11y ago
  I used to be able to do this for z80. I owned a spectrum and the user manual had a list of z80 instructions together with their byte code. Lacking an assembler, my only way of writing code was to hand write the numbers and then POKE them into memory. Ah, all those wasted hours writing code, only for it to instantly crash and lose everything...
  - userbinator 11y ago
    The Z80 instruction encoding is also more easily memorised in octal (as are the 8080 and 8085): http://www.z80.info/decoding.htm http://www.z80.info/decoding.htm

userbinator 11y ago

The TA who taught the course where I learned PDP 11 assembly (Ken Witte) was so into it that he could read octal dumps like it was C I think this is a case of "do anything enough and you'll memorise it" - I can mentally disassemble most of the first-page x86 instructions from a hexdump, although x86 really looks much better in octal ( http://reocities.com/SiliconValley/heights/7052/opcode.txt http://reocities.com/SiliconValley/heights/7052/opcode.txt ), and I still have vague memories of some 6502 instructions from many years ago.

joosters 11y ago
I used to be able to do this for z80. I owned a spectrum and the user manual had a list of z80 instructions together with their byte code. Lacking an assembler, my only way of writing code was to hand write the numbers and then POKE them into memory. Ah, all those wasted hours writing code, only for it to instantly crash and lose everything...
- userbinator 11y ago
  The Z80 instruction encoding is also more easily memorised in octal (as are the 8080 and 8085): http://www.z80.info/decoding.htm http://www.z80.info/decoding.htm