My error on "real", Adam meant the old cliche "real programmers use assembler". I apologize, I thought Adam was asserting that vintage computing wasn't real when compared to day-job computing. As for favoring one assembly architecture over another: it's an old argument. Look at histories of each architecture: they are about circumstances, or sometimes design choices for purpose. Some are certainly simpler than others. ARM is usually about three architectures per processor! It's a fuzzier argument today, when computing resources are abundant. Not so much, when you haveta count cycles. Thus one value of preserving vintage computing: lessons learned from scarcity. And another, from Adam: simplicity, for education. As for my 'dissing emulators. I have my priorities too: I'm preserving hardware, because emulators make it easy to throw 'em out! And for "circumstantial" reasons: my nuts-and-bolts BSEE for instance. But here's good words for emulators. Some people who use 'em, will want the real (no quotes) copper and silicon. And: Emulators help debug and disassemble software, even vintage software. Here's an instance: http://www.retrotechnology.com/memship/cosmac_dev_sys.html#sim Emulators are of commercial interest too, in running legacy software, for purpose. That's why some computers become "vintage"; their software lives but the computers pass on. This brings us back to "hobby" versus "commercial". So: some good points, some bad points, on emulators. Herb On 8/7/2017 2:14 PM, Adam Michlin wrote:
My use of quotes was intended to show that I didn't agree with the word real, although I understand it was an attitude of the time.
I favor one assembly for educating students foreign to assembly language over the other merely because some are more beginner friendly.
Like it or not, emulators are going to become more and more a part of our hobby. How else I can get a classroom of students working on an Apple II? And then get 10 other teachers doing the same in their classroom?
Best wishes,
-Adam
-- Herbert R. Johnson, New Jersey in the USA http://www.retrotechnology.com OR .net preserve, recover, restore 1970's computing email: hjohnson AT retrotechnology DOT com or try later herbjohnson AT retrotechnology DOT info