[wellylug]The top 10 dead (or dying) computer skills

[Cliff Pratt]

Richard Hector wrote:
> On Wed, 2007-07-11 at 20:29 +1200, Phillip Hutchings wrote:
>> On 7/11/07, Cliff Pratt <enkidu at cliffp.com> wrote:
>>> nic wrote:
>>>> And then there's DSP code, where _sometimes_ you want to get every last
>>>> bit of performance out of a platform, and recoding an algorithm in
>>>> assembler is the only practical option
>>>>
>>>> And porting a system to a new platform: you have to write the boot code
>>>> in assembler, and you have to write the code create a C runtime
>>>> environment in assembler.
>>>>
>>> You do not have to write in assembler to create either boot code or to
>>> create a C runtime environment. You can do it in almost any language.
>> When you're creating the first compiler for an entirely new platform
>> you have to write _something_ in assembler. GCC won't magically output
>> valid code for an unknown platform.
> 
> You have to write something that can create assembler (and/or machine
> code - if you're creating assembly language you'll need an assembler (or
> assemble by hand)), so you'll need to know _how_ to write it, but not
> necessarily write it directly.
>
Exactly.
 >
> But you don't necessarily need to know that to create a boot loader or
> libc.
> 
Exactly. Doesn't anyone remember using peek and poke in Basic to crack 
programs??? Erm, I mean investigate the coding techniques of the game 
makers....

What do people think that assemblers are written in? Even if it is 
assembly code, who wrote the code to generate the code of the assembler?

Cheers,

Cliff