Re: Programmer/Writers

[voxwoman <voxwoman -at- gmail -dot- com>]

Who uses assembler anymore? Unless you're writing embedded systems, and I
think most people writing embedded systems are using some variant of C.

If you want to learn assembly, pick a processor. Each processor has its own
language. (I used to write firmware in an assembly language that I had to
invent for a custom computer, back in the day).

Before you can really do anything useful with assembly language, you need to
understand the architecture of the processor the language was written for.
You are really telling the hardware what to do for each clock cycle. I come
from an EE background, specializing in digital circuits. Assembly language
is like setting up a particular circuit for one clock cycle, and changing it
to another circuit for the next one. You could accomplish the same thing
with a breadboard, chips and a bunch of jumpers, but it would take forever.
Conceptually, that's what you are doing with assembly language.

But programming languages have evolved quite a bit from assembly - I still
haven't got my brain completely wrapped around object oriented programming
and things like methods. Mostly because I don't have an immediate need to,
and I also don't have the time to do it after hours.

-Wendy

On Mon, Jan 26, 2009 at 10:49 AM, Craig Haiss <craighaiss -at- yahoo -dot- com> wrote:

> Learning to program can be tedious if you start with a low-level language.
> C++, Java, and assembly language may run faster on a computer and be in
> higher demand on the job market, but they aren't a great starting point for
> learning to program; especially for language oriented folks like writers.
>
> I started with BASIC on an old Commodore 64. Because the commands were more
> like human language, it allowed me to learn the logical concepts of
> programming (loops, variables, etc.) without having to deal with language
> struggles. Also, it really helped a decade later when I had to write VBA
> macros for Word. Languages like C and Perl made a lot more sense after I had
> a good grounding in how computer programs functioned.
>
> Visual Basic and Python are great places to start if you want to learn to
> program.
>
> Assembly language is still beyond me. If anyone can recommend a good
> assembly book for beginners, I'd be grateful!
>
> Craig Haiss
> craighaiss -at- yahoo -dot- com
>
> What's your technical writing personality type?
> http://www.helpscribe.com/2009/01/whats-your-technical-writing.html
>
>
> --- On Mon, 1/26/09, Ed <hamonwry12 -at- hotmail -dot- com> wrote:
>
> > Subject: RE: Programmer/Writers
> > To: "'Gene Kim-Eng'" <techwr -at- genek -dot- com>, techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
> > Date: Monday, January 26, 2009, 9:25 AM
> > I became a writer because I *can't* program. I've
> > tried, keep trying, and it
> > just doesn't  make sense in my head. I can read and
> > mostly understand
> > others'code, and I can write HTML and CSS in my sleep,
> > but when it comes to
> > writing actual code, I don't understand why a few lines
> > that seem to make
> > sense in my head won't do what I want them to do.
>
>
>
>
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ComponentOne Doc-To-Help 2009 is your all-in-one authoring and publishing 
solution. Author in Doc-To-Help's XML-based editor,  Microsoft Word or 
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Help & Manual 5: The complete help authoring tool for individual
authors and teams. Professional power, intuitive interface. Write
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