6809 is vastly underrated I think. It is super simple, but also has everything you need to program efficiently. I think if I were to introduce people to assem

6809 is vastly underrated I think. It is super simple, but also has everything you need to program efficiently. I think if I were to introduce people to assembly langue programming first, I would pick that one. Especially being 8 bit with 16 bit addressing gives you a good segue into byte ordering. 6502 was my first (and only really significant) experience with assembly. It is so minimal as to be awkward at times, but as you say with the huge numbers of emulators and instructional materials around, it's hard to discount it. Personally, I would skip x86 altogether unless you actually want to do x86 programming ;-). I've never looked at ARM, but your description makes me want to play with it. The added bonus is that it is still relevant today.