Vaccinations; recent developments

[SeaMonkey]

...It's still very slow to load/store a range of 16 bit addresses.

The user had no idea that it was "slow."  It was
adequately "fast" for the task at hand in those
times.  Cassettes and Floppies then were truly
slow.

I know, I know...  Speed was money then, or so it
seemed.  3.5 MHz was really fast according to the
ads.  But, as the saying goes, who really gave a shat?

The Surgeon General engages in Desperate Propaganda.

[sarkeizen]

The user had no idea that it was "slow."

I was addressing your assertion that addressing modes make lack of registers irrelevant.  It is relevant in terms of performance and perhaps in annoyance to the coder.

[SeaMonkey]

I was addressing your assertion that addressing modes make lack of registers irrelevant.  It is relevant in terms of performance and perhaps in annoyance to the coder.

I comprehend.  Thankfully, coders of the day were up to
the challenge and honed their skills at writing tight code
to minimize bloat.  Necessity is the mother of invention and
necessity enabled coders to find new ways to accomplish
tasks.  Breaking new ground with innovative thought.

It was a delight working with each of the processors and
tweaking code to attain the highest possible performance.

Now, of course, that is a lost art.  Many Coders today are not
concerned with bloat or minor bugs.  Stuck in a rut they are.

[sarkeizen]

Thankfully, coders of the day were up to the challenge and honed their skills at writing tight code to minimize bloat.

That is more than a little romanticized version of history.  Example this rather famous game:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SwM06NbZ2r0

I can tell - just by watching - exactly what their code does as it takes 9s to draw a screen.  I can even tell you why the screen clears to white and why it does in little rectangles.

Just like the 6502 was a compromise so was the software written on it.  Sometimes it was bloated and sometimes it was fast it depended on the outcomes desired.

Also the idea that modern programmers are somehow less concerned with speed or bloat is a bit of a fiction.  ISA's are so complicated that compilers will generally do a better job than assembly programmers.  Not to mention that there is no longer a single target.   For example back when the PIII and P4 co-existed they had mutually exclusive optimal cases.  The PIII was a high IPC target whereas the P4 was a high-clock rate target.  So even something as simple as a memory move had to be coded very differently depending on which machine was running the code.

[Pirate88179]

That's awesome.  How old is the pic?  Ten?  Fifteen?

I am guessing about 10 years or so.  He is an awesome guy and his book  "I WOZ" which I read years ago is now posted on Youtube in an audio version.  I will edit and place a link here for those that want to listen to it.  It is a great book and gives one a lot of insight into what really went into making the world's first pc.

Bill

EDIT:  Here is the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dS4EROM1gDA