On Sun, 21 Oct 2001, Pablo Manalastas wrote: > > On Sun, 21 Oct 2001, Jerome Tan wrote: > > > > On the contrary, assembly languages are the most short-lived of > > > the programming languages. They DIE as soon as the manufacturer > > > stops producing the associated processor. > > > > > No... they don't die. The reference of the instructions and the bits/codes, > > etc. change... > > I do not know why English is such a beautiful language that so many > shades of meaning can be associated with the concept of DEATH of an > assembly language. Specific assembly languages for specific > processors have died. Period. They are dead because the processor > is not in use anymore. No one programs in that assembly language because > the processor is not there anymore to program for. Naanhin pa ang damo > kung patay na ang kabayo? > > > No... they don't die. The reference of the instructions and the bits/codes, > > etc. change... > > When the instruction set changes, then you have a different processor. > When the manufacturer freezes the processor into silicon, the instruction > set is fixed. Any change in the instruction set is usually an improvement > such as when i386 processor was upgraded to i486 and then to the Pentium. > Or the change could be a completely new processor. > > I think what you are trying to say (and please correct me if I'm > wrong), is that the practice of assembly language programming in general > (using some assembly language like i386 assembly) will probably never > die. Time critical portions of some applications need to be written > in assembly language. > > However, that does not change the historical fact that many assembly > languages have died.
So true! I miss my Z-80, it had a rich instruction set. However, there are those instructionsets that don't die, no matter what you do. The 1.7 GHz Pentium IV can still execute the 8088 instructions of MS-DOS, and can still run assembly language Wordstar-4 ! ! ! Chalk it up to Intel for keeping such compatibility from the late 70's! ! ! _ Philippine Linux Users Group. Web site and archives at http://plug.linux.org.ph To leave: send "unsubscribe" in the body to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To subscribe to the Linux Newbies' List: send "subscribe" in the body to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
