NYCPHP Meetup

[Tedd Sperling]

On Jan 26, 2012, at 11:34 AM, Ajai Khattri wrote:

> On 1/26/12 11:03 AM, Rukbat wrote:
>> As someone who started by writing machine code (not assembly, bits - and in octal, which was the big thing back when we wrote code on stone with wooden chisels), I can say that's very true.
> 
> As someone who also cut his teeth writing code on 6502 and 68000 processors, I personally believe all programmers should have some experience writing machine code. Not for machismo or bragging rights, but simply because it gives you a different perspective on languages and runtimes in general. You understand a lot more how languages operate at a lower level and that makes you a better programmer when using high level languages.

Oh, you had it easy. I cut my teeth on pre-6502 processors, namely a home built variety (dual logic analyzers), where we programmed with dip switches and saved our programs to paper punch tape. Later we hard-wired our first assembly language.

Of course, most of us came from the "programming with rocks" community where an absence of a rock (i.e., a zero) was a new concept. Before that all our big programs resembled pyramids.

It's always nice to realize the value of 001.

Cheers,

tedd

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