FWIW, there ARE a few of us still out here in application programming land who are still supporting and updating assembler application code. Sometimes it is a conversion to COBOL, to be sure, but many parts are stubbornly stuck where they are in assembler and need to be updated as such for valid business reasons.
I am one of those who first learned machine and assembler programming by carefully studying the LIST option output of the HLL compilers we used at the time, along with the assembler manuals. Being able to read and understand the LIST output was very, very important for dump debugging when I started in this business about 630 months ago. Peter From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List <IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU> On Behalf Of Bob Bridges Sent: Tuesday, September 5, 2023 5:01 PM To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU Subject: Re: Ray Mullins on Assembler demand. -----Original Message----- From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List <IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU<mailto:IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU>> On Behalf Of Tom Brennan Sent: Tuesday, September 5, 2023 12:58 TB> The instructions, registers, etc. are not that difficult to learn. It's the macros, control blocks, subsystems, interrupts, memory layout, SVC's, (and I could go on and on) that can be the real value in doing ASM programming. If you're going to be a developer, or even installation sysprog, all that is important. Even when a C or Java or COBOL program fails, knowing how things work at the bottom can be the key to solving the issue. RHB> Reminds me of what I say about VBA. The language is easy, but getting useful in it requires knowledge of the object model of the app you're writing for (Excel, Access or whatever). That takes longer. Come to think of it I guess it's true of ~any~ oo language. TB> Skip Robinson once told me he started as an ASM application programmer. But I'll bet he was pretty-much the last one :) RHB> Not ENTIRELY the last one. I worked with an assembler programmer in, let's see, that would be 2012. I didn't think much of his debugging, but he was impressively competent when given clear instructions on the algorithm we needed. --- This message and any attachments are intended only for the use of the addressee and may contain information that is privileged and confidential. If the reader of the message is not the intended recipient or an authorized representative of the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any dissemination of this communication is strictly prohibited. If you have received this communication in error, please notify us immediately by e-mail and delete the message and any attachments from your system. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
