4 ms·

do you have any examples of the flowcharts used for asm writing? i also recall someone using an excel spreadsheet when writing for itanium.

• retrac 4y ago
  https://www.ibiblio.org/apollo/Documents/GeminiMinnickMathFlow.pdf https://www.ibiblio.org/apollo/Documents/GeminiMinnickMathFl... (large PDF) This is the flight software used in the Gemini spacecraft (1960s). The actual assembly code did not survive. It was considered sort of incidental. For the designers and coders then, the flowcharts were the program, the real source. There's more information about the Gemini software and how the programmers worked here: https://www.ibiblio.org/apollo/Gemini.html#Evolution_of_the_Flight_Software https://www.ibiblio.org/apollo/Gemini.html#Evolution_of_the_...
  • titzer 4y ago
    Wow, that diagram is absolutely wild! Thanks for sharing. Handwritten flowcharts and most of the code is actually math formulas and matrix computations.
  • pests 4y ago
    I just read that entire page, amazing stuff.
• pdpi 4y ago
  Just literally draw a flowchart of what your program is supposed to do, then translate that flowchart. Something like each box gets its own label, diamonds are just some variation on `jz some-box-label`, etc. The problem with assembly isn't that it's too complex, it's that it's way too simple, so it's exceedingly easy to lose track of how your higher-level thought process maps to assembly code. The flowchart serves as an intermediate representation between the two — something you can reason about at a high level, but can almost mindlessly, mechanically translate to assembly.