Teaching assembly language without using (as much) assembly language
Scott B. Hunter · Journal of computing sciences in colleges · 2005
According to the MIT Jargon Dictionary, C is often described, with a mixture of fondness and disdain varying according to the speaker, as 'a language that combines all the elegance and power of assembly language with all the readability and maintainability of assembly language. ' [E] This suggests that one should be able to use C, or something like it, to teach many (if not most) of the concepts covered in an assembly language course. This paper describes one such approach, using a limited version of Java. It describes how using such a language can ease the introduction of assembly language concepts due to the language being both more forgiving of, and more familiar to, the students. Assembly language concepts amenable to this approach are detailed, as are those that are not.