From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Message-ID: Date: Sun, 6 May 2007 16:35:24 +0800 From: "Rogelio Serrano" To: "Fans of the OS Plan 9 from Bell Labs" <9fans@cse.psu.edu> Subject: Re: [9fans] speaking of kenc In-Reply-To: <9a6eab03338d16bb29107e4e6c1df873@proxima.alt.za> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Disposition: inline References: <9a6eab03338d16bb29107e4e6c1df873@proxima.alt.za> Topicbox-Message-UUID: 5d0392b4-ead2-11e9-9d60-3106f5b1d025 On 5/6/07, lucio@proxima.alt.za wrote: > > im talking from the kernel writer point of view. and im most familiar > > with the x86. c assumes there is a system already running. and most > > probably that system is brought up using assembly coded initialization > > code. > > No one said that assembler is obsolete, only deprecated. Like many > "we have always done it this way" paradigms, it dies hard and it is > difficult to persuade "aficionados" that they would be better off > programming at a higher level and reserve their skills for those rare > occasions where they are ahead of the compilers or, as you rightly > point out, where there are no alternatives, such as in setting up the > stack or posting a kernel trap. > i see. i understand now that this thread is about putting asm in the system library or not. of course not. its a bitch to optimize. compiler technology has advanced by leaps and bounds. nowadays compilers are even made to schedule the machine instructions and do branch prediction. some massively parallel processors cant even be optimally hand programmed by assembler anymore.