[OFF-TOPIC] It is true that is impossible write in binary code, the lowest level of programming that you can write is in hex code?

[Tobiah]

On 11/04/2014 08:45 AM, françai s wrote:
> I intend to write in lowest level of computer programming as a hobby.
>
> It is true that is impossible write in binary code, the lowest level
> of programming that you can write is in hex code?
>
> What is the lowest level of programming computers that you can write ?
>
> Is binary code?
>
> Is hex code?

My first computers at home were Z80 powered Timex's.  I tried writing
video games in BASIC, but the machines were to slow to animate anything
at reasonable speeds.  I knew about machine language from a high-school
computer course (using and Apple IIe).  I bought a book on the Z80, and
started reading.

My Z80 manual showed each 8-bit instruction's anatomy in Hex and binary.
Some of the instructions used several bits to denote some aspect of the
instruction.

I got some graph paper, and started coding that way, using one square
per bit, and one line per byte.  I translated all the binary by brain
into integer, and used BASIC programs to 'poke' the bytes into memory
then execute at the starting address.

This was all quite educational and extremely tedious.  Eventually, when
I found out that assemblers existed, I wrote a crude one in BASIC, and found
that to be a luxury.

Later when I got an Atari 800, and the assembler cartridge I actually
wrote a working two player Tron type game in assembly.  Having delved
into all of this, I'd like to echo the sentiments of a previous poster,
that assembly is really the place to start for a low level language.
You get all of the control of machine language, with far less of the
headaches.  Depending on what you want out of your hobby, if a working
program that is of some use is one of those things, then start with
assembly.

If you just want to geek out and write a program that can guess a number
between 1 and 100 by using graph paper, then sure, go for binary writing.