On 01/17/2017 10:28 AM, Devin Heitmueller via vcf-midatlantic wrote:
Should you decide to learn assembly, definitely starting on a simpler CPU is a worthwhile approach. Back in 1996 I took a class on Assembly at Brookdale Community College, and they actually taught it on the IBM 360 (i.e. through an emulator for DOS). I remember even then thinking, "Why the hell are they teaching assembly for such a dinosaur?" The answer was pretty simple - it's a hell of alot easier to learn assembly on a relatively simple CPU than what one might consider more modern processors.
Well if you know 360, it's trivial to learn 370, and then 390, then z/Arch, which is currently a very marketable skill, as 390 was when you took the course...so maybe they had that in mind, as a stepping stone. -Dave -- Dave McGuire, AK4HZ New Kensington, PA