I did z80 on TRS-80 Model 1's and 6809 on the TRS-80 Color Computer. They were not very complicated machines and thus made it easier to create assembly languag

I did z80 on TRS-80 Model 1's and 6809 on the TRS-80 Color Computer. They were not very complicated machines and thus made it easier to create assembly language programs that actually did stuff you could observe quickly. I think the fast feedback loop between coding in assembly and having observable results (i.e. graphics etc.) made for a nice learning platform. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TRS-80_Color_Computer http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TRS-80_Color_Computer http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TRS-80#The_Model_I http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TRS-80#The_Model_I I think today's processors are very cool but trying to teach someone assembly on a monster like the modern processors and having to do all sorts of things to try and flip a single bit on the screen via GPU's etc. makes for a rough learning experience. I notice very few college programs are doing low level courses and I think it impacts the students in very subtle but real ways that creep into code because of their lack of the low-level details of how computers work.