Point one which is not the answer.
Even if you never program in it, I find it useful to know at least one assembler instruction set. This is part of the programmers never-ending quest to know more and therefore be better. Also useful when stepping into frameworks you don't have the source code to and having at least a rough idea what is going on. It also helps you to understand JavaByteCode and .Net IL as they are both similar to assembler.

To answer the question when you have a small amount of code or a large amount of time. Most useful for use in embedded chips, where low chip complexity and poor competition in compilers targeting these chips can tip the balance in favour of humans. Also for restricted devices you are often trading off code size/memory size/performance in a way that would be hard to instruct a compiler to do. e.g. I know this user action is not called often so I will have small code size and poor performance, but this other function that look similar is used every second so I will have a larger code size and faster performance. That is the sort of trade off a skilled assembly programmer can use.

I would also like to add there is a lot of middle ground where you can code in C compile and examine the Assembly produced, then either change you C code or tweek and maintain as assembly.

My friend works on micro controllers, currently chips for controlling small electric motors. He works in a combination of low level c and Assembly. He once told me of a good day at work where he reduced the main loop from 48 instructions to 43. He is also faced with choices like the code has grown to fill the 256k chip and the business is wanting a new feature, do you

1. Remove an existing feature
2. Reduce the size of some or all of the existing features maybe at the cost of performance.
3. Advocate moving to a larger chip with a higher cost, higher power consumption and larger form factor.

I would like to add as a commercial developer with quite a portfolio or languages, platforms, types of applications I have never once felt the need to dive into writing assembly. I have how ever always appreciated the knowledge I gained about it. And sometimes debugged into it.

I know I have far more answered the question "why should I learn assembler" but I feel it is a more important question then when is it faster.

so lets try once more You should be thinking about assembly

• working on low level operating system function
• Working on a compiler.
• Working on an extreamly limited chip, embedded system etc

Remember to compare your assembly to compiler generated to see which is faster/smaller/better.

David.

Point one which is not the answer.
Even if you never program in it, I find it useful to know at least one assembler instruction set. This is part of the programmers never-ending quest to know more and therefore be better. Also useful when stepping into frameworks you don't have the source code to and having at least a rough idea what is going on. It also helps you to understand JavaByteCode and .Net IL as they are both similar to assembler.

To answer the question when you have a small amount of code or a large amount of time. Most useful for use in embedded chips, where low chip complexity and poor competition in compilers targeting these chips can tip the balance in favour of humans. Also for restricted devices you are often trading off code size/memory size/performance in a way that would be hard to instruct a compiler to do. e.g. I know this user action is not called often so I will have small code size and poor performance, but this other function that look similar is used every second so I will have a larger code size and faster performance. That is the sort of trade off a skilled assembly programmer can use.

I would also like to add there is a lot of middle ground where you can code in C compile and examine the Assembly produced, then either change you C code or tweak and maintain as assembly.

My friend works on micro controllers, currently chips for controlling small electric motors. He works in a combination of low level c and Assembly. He once told me of a good day at work where he reduced the main loop from 48 instructions to 43. He is also faced with choices like the code has grown to fill the 256k chip and the business is wanting a new feature, do you

1. Remove an existing feature
2. Reduce the size of some or all of the existing features maybe at the cost of performance.
3. Advocate moving to a larger chip with a higher cost, higher power consumption and larger form factor.

I would like to add as a commercial developer with quite a portfolio or languages, platforms, types of applications I have never once felt the need to dive into writing assembly. I have how ever always appreciated the knowledge I gained about it. And sometimes debugged into it.

I know I have far more answered the question "why should I learn assembler" but I feel it is a more important question then when is it faster.

so lets try once more You should be thinking about assembly

• working on low level operating system function
• Working on a compiler.
• Working on an extremely limited chip, embedded system etc

Remember to compare your assembly to compiler generated to see which is faster/smaller/better.

David.

Point one which is not the answer.
Even if you never program in it, I find it useful to know at least one assembler instruction set. This is part of the programmers never-ending quest to know more and therefore be better. Also useful when stepping into frameworks you don't have the source code to and having at least a rough idea what is going on. It also helps you to understand JavaByteCode and .Net IL as they are both similar to assembler.

To answer the question when you have a small amount of code or a large amount of time. Most useful for use in embedded chips, where low chip complexity and poor competition in compilers targeting these chips can tip the balance in favour of humans. Also for restricted devices you are often trading off code size/memory size/performance in a way that would be hard to instruct a compiler to do. e.g. I know this user action is not called often so I will have small code size and poor performance, but this other function that look similar is used every second so I will have a larger code size and faster performance. That is the sort of trade off a skilled assembly programmer can use.

I would also like to add there is a lot of middle ground where you can code in C compile and examine the Assembly produced, then either change you C code or tweek and maintain as assembly.

My friend works on micro controllers, currently chips for controlling small electric motors. He works in a combination of low level c and Assembly. He once told me of a good day at work where he reduced the main loop from 48 instructions to 43. He is also faced with choices like the code has grown to fill the 256k chip and the business is wanting a new feature, do you

1. Remove an existing feature
2. Reduce the size of some or all of the existing features maybe at the cost of performance.
3. Advocate moving to a larger chip with a higher cost, higher power consumption and larger form factor.

I would like to add as a commercial developer with quite a portfolio or languages, platforms, types of applications I have never once felt the need to dive into writing assembly. I have how ever always appreciated the knowledge I gained about it. And sometimes debugged into it.

I know I have far more answered the question "why should I learn assembler" but I feel it is a more important question then when is it faster.

so lets try once more You should be thinking about assembly

Remember to compare your assembly to compiler generated to see which is faster/smaller/better.

David.

Point one which is not the answer.
Even if you never program in it, I find it useful to know at least one assembler instruction set. This is part of the programmers never-ending quest to know more and therefore be better. Also useful when stepping into frameworks you don't have the source code to and having at least a rough idea what is going on. It also helps you to understand JavaByteCode and .Net IL as they are both similar to assembler.

To answer the question when you have a small amount of code or a large amount of time. Most useful for use in embedded chips, where low chip complexity and poor competition in compilers targeting these chips can tip the balance in favour of humans. Also for restricted devices you are often trading off code size/memory size/performance in a way that would be hard to instruct a compiler to do. e.g. I know this user action is not called often so I will have small code size and poor performance, but this other function that look similar is used every second so I will have a larger code size and faster performance. That is the sort of trade off a skilled assembly programmer can use.

I would also like to add there is a lot of middle ground where you can code in C compile and examine the Assembly produced, then either change you C code or tweek and maintain as assembly.

My friend works on micro controllers, currently chips for controlling small electric motors. He works in a combination of low level c and Assembly. He once told me of a good day at work where he reduced the main loop from 48 instructions to 43. He is also faced with choices like the code has grown to fill the 256k chip and the business is wanting a new feature, do you

1. Remove an existing feature
2. Reduce the size of some or all of the existing features maybe at the cost of performance.
3. Advocate moving to a larger chip with a higher cost, higher power consumption and larger form factor.

I would like to add as a commercial developer with quite a portfolio or languages, platforms, types of applications I have never once felt the need to dive into writing assembly. I have how ever always appreciated the knowledge I gained about it. And sometimes debugged into it.

I know I have far more answered the question "why should I learn assembler" but I feel it is a more important question then when is it faster.

so lets try once more You should be thinking about assembly

• working on low level operating system function
• Working on a compiler.
• Working on an extreamly limited chip, embedded system etc

Remember to compare your assembly to compiler generated to see which is faster/smaller/better.

David.