4 ms·

> You know what's universally regarded as un-fun by most programmers? Writing assembly language code. I beg to differ. Assembly is awesome. Some of the best ti

by pdkl95 11y ago

> You know what's universally regarded as un-fun by most programmers? Writing assembly language code. I beg to differ. Assembly is awesome. Some of the best times I've had programming were writing networking code (ethernet driver, TCP/IP stack, and HTTP server) in Z80 assembly. I wouldn't recommend assembly if you're writing something like a modern GUI app, but assembly on an embedded micro can be a lot of fun.

dalke 11y ago
Yes, "universally" should not then be restricted to "most programmers". Those are incompatible. It would be like saying that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights aren't meant to apply to all humans. I would prefer "what's near universally regarded as un-fun by programmers". Which would simply place you in the small minority, rather than being placed outside the universe of programmers. It could still be wrong, depending on the threshold for "near universal", but it wouldn't be obviously confusing.
- pessimizer 11y ago
  The vast majority of programmers have never written 10 lines of any type of assembler. I wouldn't doubt that most would scowl at the idea of having to write it, but that's just because they've been told it's unfun, and it doesn't look like algol.
hvm 11y ago
I've been working as a programmer for more than 6 years now. I still think my best work is a graphical library I built in 9th grade in assembly to use with my Pascal programs in MSDOS. mov ax, 13h int 10h ;SCREEN 13 rules!!!
- JustSomeNobody 11y ago
  Still have my copy of PC Intern[0] from which I was able to learn how to do the same. [0]http://www.amazon.com/PC-Intern-Programming-Encyclopedia-Developers/dp/1557551456/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1460723609&sr=8-3&keywords=pc+intern+system+programming http://www.amazon.com/PC-Intern-Programming-Encyclopedia-Dev...
  - sevensor 11y ago
    The good old days! After using edlin to write BASIC on my parents' 80286, we got a Pentium with a modem, and I used it to download Ralf Brown's Interrupt List and an assembler. Both downloads, I started before I went to bed and they were done by morning. (So as not to tie up the phone line during daytime.) Rbinter wasy my guide to causing a whole new world of exciting crashy behavior. Ultimately I wrote a paint program in assembly before I gave in and started using high level languages like C. And kids these days, they just don't understand!
- Shivetya 11y ago
  oh the Turbo Pascal and Turbo C days, where I had embedded assembly code mostly to have fun with 5.25 drives. Did fun experiments with copy protection back then; it was a thing; down to interrupt handling and more. also a fun way to seize up your computer when you got it wrong, I mean it compiled it should run, right?
tluyben2 11y ago
Modern GUI is relative: I make GUIs for Symbos in Z80 asm and it is great and modern.... for the target I am writing for :) But yes I write asm for modern embedded devices as well as 70-80s machines and I love both. So definitely not universally.
stcredzero 11y ago
Core Wars! http://www.corewars.org/ http://www.corewars.org/
- joshumax 11y ago
  Don't foget Microcorruption! Nothing like an MSP430 to give you a case of clinical depression! http://microcorruption.com http://microcorruption.com
pessimizer 11y ago
Writing assembler for Harvard architecture microprocessors is one of my favorite things to do in the world. Bringing some Frankenstein's monster laid out on a breadboard into life from nothing gives me a sense of accomplishment like nothing else. Strangely, PIC assembler is the only language that I can compose so quickly that I sometimes can't type fast enough to keep up.
EvanAnderson 11y ago
Yes. This. Years ago a "textfile group" I was involved with decided to release a 3 1/2" floppy diskette w/ our files at a hacker con. I thought it would be cool to put a custom bootsector on the disk-- something that displayed an easter egg rather than the boring traditional "Non-System disk or disk error" the bootloader on MS-DOS-formatted disks displayed. I ended up making a simple static mode 0x13 display w/ a gradient background and a text message. When I tested it I discovered my message was being displayed backwards and in the wrong positions. I'd set the direction flag earlier in the code and neglected to clear it. I was preparing to add the one-byte "CLD" instruction when it hit me that I could just leave the code as-is and reverse the data. I saved a byte and the code did exactly what I wanted. I was quite happy. You can't experience that kind of joy in a high level language.
michaelcampbell 11y ago
Note, "most". Neither the post nor its refutation has been proven, so rather than pedanticize, can we not take the quote in the spirit it was given?

by pdkl95 11y ago

dalke 11y ago

Yes, "universally" should not then be restricted to "most programmers". Those are incompatible. It would be like saying that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights aren't meant to apply to all humans. I would prefer "what's near universally regarded as un-fun by programmers". Which would simply place you in the small minority, rather than being placed outside the universe of programmers. It could still be wrong, depending on the threshold for "near universal", but it wouldn't be obviously confusing.

pessimizer 11y ago
The vast majority of programmers have never written 10 lines of any type of assembler. I wouldn't doubt that most would scowl at the idea of having to write it, but that's just because they've been told it's unfun, and it doesn't look like algol.

hvm 11y ago

I've been working as a programmer for more than 6 years now. I still think my best work is a graphical library I built in 9th grade in assembly to use with my Pascal programs in MSDOS. mov ax, 13h int 10h ;SCREEN 13 rules!!!

JustSomeNobody 11y ago
Still have my copy of PC Intern[0] from which I was able to learn how to do the same. [0]http://www.amazon.com/PC-Intern-Programming-Encyclopedia-Developers/dp/1557551456/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1460723609&sr=8-3&keywords=pc+intern+system+programming http://www.amazon.com/PC-Intern-Programming-Encyclopedia-Dev...
- sevensor 11y ago
  The good old days! After using edlin to write BASIC on my parents' 80286, we got a Pentium with a modem, and I used it to download Ralf Brown's Interrupt List and an assembler. Both downloads, I started before I went to bed and they were done by morning. (So as not to tie up the phone line during daytime.) Rbinter wasy my guide to causing a whole new world of exciting crashy behavior. Ultimately I wrote a paint program in assembly before I gave in and started using high level languages like C. And kids these days, they just don't understand!
Shivetya 11y ago
oh the Turbo Pascal and Turbo C days, where I had embedded assembly code mostly to have fun with 5.25 drives. Did fun experiments with copy protection back then; it was a thing; down to interrupt handling and more. also a fun way to seize up your computer when you got it wrong, I mean it compiled it should run, right?

tluyben2 11y ago

Modern GUI is relative: I make GUIs for Symbos in Z80 asm and it is great and modern.... for the target I am writing for :) But yes I write asm for modern embedded devices as well as 70-80s machines and I love both. So definitely not universally.

stcredzero 11y ago

Core Wars! http://www.corewars.org/ http://www.corewars.org/

joshumax 11y ago
Don't foget Microcorruption! Nothing like an MSP430 to give you a case of clinical depression! http://microcorruption.com http://microcorruption.com

pessimizer 11y ago

Writing assembler for Harvard architecture microprocessors is one of my favorite things to do in the world. Bringing some Frankenstein's monster laid out on a breadboard into life from nothing gives me a sense of accomplishment like nothing else. Strangely, PIC assembler is the only language that I can compose so quickly that I sometimes can't type fast enough to keep up.

EvanAnderson 11y ago

Yes. This. Years ago a "textfile group" I was involved with decided to release a 3 1/2" floppy diskette w/ our files at a hacker con. I thought it would be cool to put a custom bootsector on the disk-- something that displayed an easter egg rather than the boring traditional "Non-System disk or disk error" the bootloader on MS-DOS-formatted disks displayed. I ended up making a simple static mode 0x13 display w/ a gradient background and a text message. When I tested it I discovered my message was being displayed backwards and in the wrong positions. I'd set the direction flag earlier in the code and neglected to clear it. I was preparing to add the one-byte "CLD" instruction when it hit me that I could just leave the code as-is and reverse the data. I saved a byte and the code did exactly what I wanted. I was quite happy. You can't experience that kind of joy in a high level language.

michaelcampbell 11y ago

Note, "most". Neither the post nor its refutation has been proven, so rather than pedanticize, can we not take the quote in the spirit it was given?