[Novalug] [OT] The "real low level" of computers (it's not what you think)-- WAS: Packages v. ports v. source

Gopher gopher@3wa.org
Mon Mar 29 13:10:53 EDT 2010


On 3/29/10 12:19 PM, Bryan J. Smith wrote:
> As far as on 2G v. 3G, I'll stipulate we largely agree. I guess it 
> hits the wrong
> nerve when people mention assembler. Although learning to properly write
> threaded code in the language is a best step for a 4G coder. And I 
> don't see
> how 2G languages actually, directly contribute in some ways to this 
> understanding.
I love learning about PC architectures and computer history - it's a 
hobby, but in no way do I admit to having expertise in the subject. I've 
read K+R, I can read C code and (mostly) understand it and can even do 
simple debugging, but I am not a C programmer.  Mostly I use Perl and 
PHP as that's what mostly gets my day to day job done so I can go home.

That being said, for me, when I try to understand some new concept I've 
never seen before (like years before in my first attempt to learn C 
after just coming out of high school Pascal and not understanding why 
the hell I had to tack a '\n' on my print statements to make the damn 
thing give me an end of line marker) I always find my self 'popping off 
the stack' and looking at the next level of technology for the answer. A 
few years ago I started wondering 'exactly how does a PC boot' and kept 
going lower and lower in the technology stack until I was reading my old 
college physics and chemistry texts to understand how the electrons 
moved about, etc.

I've gotten to the point now that I realized that had I taken assembler 
years ago, I would have a lot more answers now (at least to my 
questions) than I've gotten out of futzing with C in the meantime.  It 
took me going through ancient hardware manuals and some assembler 
lessons to truly understand registers and why they are used the way they 
are.

So for some of us, I think assembler is required.  At least, that's how 
my wetwear's wired. From what I've learned of it so far, it's opened my 
eyes to tons of stuff at the higher levels.

:/

Gopher.

-- 



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