This can be ignored if you like. But it may provide some insights so if you have time, you might want to look at it. Not tonight, while you have a program to write. A student writes to tell me he likes machine language better than assembly language and explains why. I have some thoughts on it, which I offer. Yale Patt Dr. Patt, Is it odd for someone to actually prefer machine language to assembly language? I know that we won't be using Yup. machine language anymore, but when I started the program I began writing in assembly format to see what it was like to program in assembly, and it wasn 't nearly as fun as machine code is. To me, the whole point of being a programmer and knowing how to manipulate things at the basic level, thus giving you the most control (it kind of gives you a God-like, out-of- proportion feeling) and I feel that I don't have that control with assembly language. Is there actually a loss of control with assembly, or is my feeling of loss simply happening because I'm no longer getting to work on the actual nuts & bolts of the program's software? It is understandable right now. But there is no loss of control, because when you use Assembly language, you "know" what the 0's and 1's it will get translated to because you have actually done it yourself (in assignments 1 and 2). So, assembly language is really programming at the machine language level without having to memorize all those 0's and 1's. You could look them up, as indeed I do in class. BUT so much MORE fun to not have to and to be able to write ADD for example and know that it does correspond to 0001 and there is some clerk (the Assembler) out there who will convert it to 0s and 1s for you. When you started learning (to program like we are, not the card thing with the people in white lab-coats in glass rooms) did you experience the same feeling? Sure. But very quickly (and I think you will also), you realize that you are much more productive because you don't have to continually stop and look things up, while at the same time, you do have the same total control over what gets done each cycle. Same thing next term with C. You will be writing programs in higher level languages, but because of 306 and the 312 lectures, you will know what is going on underneath. So, you will still be in control, even though there are clerks (Compilers) converting your code to the lower level machine language 0s and 1s. Good luck. Yale Patt <>