From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 User-Agent: K-9 Mail for Android In-Reply-To: <1c082c61e95891f1a11a5ce79a04f3b7@proxima.alt.za> References: <1c082c61e95891f1a11a5ce79a04f3b7@proxima.alt.za> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 From: Ryan Gonzalez Date: Thu, 4 Feb 2016 09:58:22 -0600 To: Fans of the OS Plan 9 from Bell Labs <9fans@9fans.net>, lucio@proxima.alt.za Message-ID: Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Subject: Re: [9fans] FP register usage in Plan9 assembler Topicbox-Message-UUID: 82c4a4be-ead9-11e9-9d60-3106f5b1d025 On February 4, 2016 6:04:49 AM CST, lucio@proxima.alt.za wrote: >> Plan 9 assembly is nice because it looks mostly the >> same, and the simple addressing modes are mostly consistent, but it's >> far from being really consistent between architectures. > >Personally, I agree with the view that trying to generalise assemblers >across platforms is chasing a chimera. I loved the Univac assembler I >cut my teeth on and nothing has ever given me even a hint of the >comfort I found there. But I got used to the 8088 assembler and >managed to do some convincing work with it (I won't list the number of >issues I thought were total mindlessness by a crowd of engineers with >no visible theoretical background). > >On today's platforms, assembler is not an option, it is a nightmare. >Add all the hardware trickery that belongs to microprocessors, not to >an adult computer, doesn't make anything more palatable. Really, why >should the job of arranging memory on start up belong in the kernel >and not in a piece of dedicated logic that gets the job done and then >gets out of the way permanently, preferably switches off? > >One of these day some hardware engineer will figure a way to move the >logic of the power supply into the CPU. No, wait, we already have >voltage selections at different temperature as a kernel function, I >believe! > >Bottom line? Bless the Go Gods for having successfully subverted much >of this nonsense by providing a cross-platform development tool that >actually does what it says on the tin, despite efforts by the hardware >suppliers to relegate software development (the real thing, not >kid-scripting - or is it script-kidding?) to the smallest viable elite >of life-challenged droids. > *cough* that's what people said about Java *cough* >I really do feel better now, doctor! > >Lucio. --=20 Sent from my Nexus 5 with K-9 Mail. Please excuse my brevity.