Table of Contents
PDP-11 Assembler
| Programming | What field the skill applies to |
| Mid 1980s? | An approximation of when the skill was made obsolete |
| Newer CPU architectures/RISC | The skill or item that made this skill obsolete |
| PDP-11 Instruction Set, MACRO(optional) | The knowledge needed to perform the skill |
| Until we fully break away from x86 architecture | When this skill could still be used in the real world |
This fine but arcane skill involved programming a PDP-11 in machine instructions: Optimization and scheduling (as such) were provided by the programmer. Since PDP-11s were limited to, variously, 48 KILObytes?, 128 KILObytes?, and ultimately 4 MEGAbytes? of memory, efficient code was essential, and assembler was the way to do it in those days. Assembler was used for OS development, real time programming, and stand-alone (today called “embedded”) programs.
