Even Older Man Yells At Whippersnappers

[Grant Edwards]

On 2017-09-19, Rhodri James <rhodri at kynesim.co.uk> wrote:
> On 19/09/17 16:00, Stefan Ram wrote:
>> D'Arcy Cain <darcy at VybeNetworks.com> writes:
>>> of course, I use calculators and computers but I still understand the
>>> theory behind what I am doing.
>> 
>>    I started out programming in BASIC. Today, I use Python,
>>    the BASIC of the 21st century. Python has no GOTO, but when
>>    it is executed, its for loop eventually is implemented using
>>    a GOTO-like jump instruction. Thanks to my learning of BASIC,
>>    /I/ can have this insight. Younger people, who never learned
>>    GOTO, may still be able to use Python, but they will not
>>    understand what is going on behind the curtains. Therefore, for
>>    a profound understanding of Python, everyone should learn BASIC
>>    first, just like I did!
>
> Tsk.  You should have learned (a fake simplified) assembler first, then 
> you'd have an appreciation of what your processor actually did.
>
>:-)

Tsk, Tsk.  Before learning assembly, you should design an instruction
set and implement it in hardare.  Or at least run in in a VHDL
simulator.  [Actually, back in my undergrad days we used AHPL and
implemented something like a simplified PDP-11 ISA.]

Alternatively, you should design an instruction set and implement it
using microcode and AM2900 bit-slice processors.
          
-- 
Grant Edwards               grant.b.edwards        Yow! Could I have a drug
                                  at               overdose?
                              gmail.com