[vcf-midatlantic] assembler is tedious (was WooHoo!) (Jeffrey Jonas)

[Herb Johnson]

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