IMO, assembly will remain an optimal tool for writing simple programs for very small microcontrollers. Consider the ATtiny4, for example, which has 32B ram and

IMO, assembly will remain an optimal tool for writing simple programs for very small microcontrollers. Consider the ATtiny4, for example, which has 32B ram and 512B of flash for code. If you can operate within those constraints, then you can build at a <$1 price point, and run on 2mW of power, less current than an LED. Heck, you could run the thing off of a joule thief, and pot the entire assembly in epoxy. Fitting a pared down libC into that might be possible, but why bother? The system is so small and simple, that the rationale for a high level language doesn't really apply. Most of your code will probably just be bitbanging and setting control registers anyway. But, most importantly, assembly is just plain fun, which is what will keep you coming back to the platform :)