The value of assembler language programmers [was RE: Algol vs Fortran was RE: VHDL vs Verilog]

[e.stiebler]

Ethan Dicks wrote:
> [ actually a lot of good stuff] ;-)
> 25+ years later, how far have uber-fast machines with uber-large and
> uber-cheap storage really gotten us?  Not as far as the raw numbers
> might lead one to think.  I can buy a machine that about fits in my
> pocket that has 500 times the memory, 500 times the storage, and has a
> clock that's nearly 500 times faster for 1/500th the cost* - a
> 250,000X price-performance advantage.  I think quite a bit of that
> 500x multiplier is getting pissed away before I type a single
> character.  Yes it can do more; yes it feels faster.  That much
> faster?  Not in my opinion.

That's why I love to embedded stuff. And even here, any "reasonable" 
Real Time OS of today, can't really boot with 48 kbytes of memory.

Progress I guess ;-)