Re: [OT] Gibson's vision of computer languajes

[Darren New <dnew@san.rr.com>]

Jano wrote:
> 
> I'm pretty sure many of us know Steven Gibson. Today I've tested a
> freeware from him. In the instructions page he made these statements:
> 
> "All of my programs are so small and so fast because I write only in the
> one, true, computer language: Assembly Language. All other languages
> reduce to assembly language, but they lose a lot in the translation.
> (Judge for yourself.)"
> 
> "People who can't program in assembly language (just about everyone) get
> really annoyed with me when I talk about how much better it is than their
> pet language. But it's not my fault if they just say they care about
> quality."

Well, I think knowing how to program in at least one assembly language
is important, since you know how the machine works. However, there's a
difference between knowing how to program in assembler and programming
in assembler. Indeed, some of the most recent advances in computers
(RISC, etc) are predicated on the idea that you won't write in
assembler, and indeed it is less efficient to do so.

And no, not all other languages reduce to assembler. All other languages
reduce to machine code. Whassamatta? Can't toggle in the binary like a
*real* programmer?

-- 
Darren New 
San Diego, CA, USA (PST). Cryptokeys on demand.
  To the user, everything works just as expected,
    assuming the user's expectations are correct.