From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on polar.synack.me X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=0.1 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_05,INVALID_MSGID autolearn=no autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: fc89c,97188312486d4578 X-Google-Attributes: gidfc89c,public X-Google-Thread: 103376,97188312486d4578 X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-Thread: 1014db,6154de2e240de72a X-Google-Attributes: gid1014db,public X-Google-Thread: 109fba,baaf5f793d03d420 X-Google-Attributes: gid109fba,public From: djohnson@tartarus.ucsd.edu (Darin Johnson) Subject: Re: What's the best language to start with? [was: Re: Should I learn C or Pascal?] Date: 1996/07/31 Message-ID: #1/1 X-Deja-AN: 171305066 sender: djohnson@tartarus.ucsd.edu references: organization: UCSD Computer Science and Engineering Department newsgroups: comp.lang.c,comp.lang.c++,comp.unix.programmer,comp.lang.ada Date: 1996-07-31T00:00:00+00:00 List-Id: > To my oppionion the same holds for software design. Assembly > language is no longer really needed. If you have the knowledge it can be usefull, > but is it really worth the effort ? The effort is already minimal. One lousy class. And assembler is constantly showing up in the workplace still, sorry. Sure, maybe your employees have no need of assembler, but other employees elsewhere may run across it. I see too often employers trying to convince schools that every student should be customized to their particular needs, and it ends up with conflicting requirements by the prospective employers. Almost everything in CS is considered useless by at least one person on the outside - architecture, assembler, theory, algorithms, ai, mathematics, software engineering, operating systems, and every single language, including C and C++. The other common complaint I see all the time is the "I personally don't use XXX, therefore no one needs to use XXX". This common attitude needs no further arguments to strike it down... The most common systems out there are Windows 3.1 and MVS. MVS needs assembler, and Windows 3.1 programming is difficult to understand without understanding architectural details. Find your best programmers and chances are they are somewhat familiar with some form of assembler. Sheesh, one class in 5 years covering *basics*, and you think it's not worth the effort... I suppose you thought calculus and history were useful but not worth the effort too. -- Darin Johnson djohnson@ucsd.edu O- My shoes are too tight, and I have forgotten how to dance - Babylon 5