Re: [9fans] The developers of Plan9 think there was no point in coding in binary code three years ago as they did or make the Riga Technical University and University of Latvia?

[tlaronde@polynum.com]

On Wed, Aug 13, 2014 at 11:06:23AM -0400, erik quanstrom wrote:
>
> > > I say this because about three years ago the Riga Technical University
> > > and University of Latvia continued teaching coding in binary code, ie,
> > > machine language.
>
> that's great!  very vew people understand how any machine really works.
> it might not be something one can readily apply to another system, but it
> will give you insights that can be reused in a lot of situation.

D.E. Knuth has kept a machine language (MIX, and MMIX for the new
version) to explain the algorithm in TAOCP. And there are some
interviews of him explaining why. Since even "schools" should teach
the principles and not the particular means (why and what has to
be done and not how to do it precisely with the software or language
du jour), it is not bad per se.

If a real language has to be used, I don't understand why C seemed
to have never caught up.  Because it is high level for control and
expression, and low level, near the machine, so it seems the best
compromise. I really started to program a minimum correctly once
I understood at least roughly how the machine and the system were
working. Before...

--
        Thierry Laronde <tlaronde +AT+ polynum +dot+ com>
                      http://www.kergis.com/
              http://www.renaissance-francaise.fr/
Key fingerprint = 0FF7 E906 FBAF FE95 FD89  250D 52B1 AE95 6006 F40C