Assembly Language for Greatness

Do you aspire to development greatness? If so, and your ultimate goal is to meet specifications, you fall short, according to Randall Hyde, author of Write Great Code. Hyde admits that greatness is a multifaceted attribute, but focuses on code efficiency, as it has been neglected over the past few years -- mainly due to the fact that the power of computer systems have increased dramatically, and schools are churning out programmers by the droves, many of which are only versed in development employing some software development tool -- and many of those tools lack don't optimize code for efficiency. There is many examples of bad code out there -- from the many software packages that you use everyday, to some operating systems -- but the software inefficiency that really costs are the ones that come part and parcel of your in-house development efforts -- be it to write brand new code or integrate software packages. I've seen it, and getting out of the hole can be downright frustrating -- frustrating for the developers who haven't a clue what went wrong, and their masters that whip them to complete coding jobs quickly, but hardly give them the time to do it right. Hyde suggests that practicing your skills at writing efficient code is one way of getting over the hump of inefficiency. One way to learn is to write in assembly language. Using assembly language, programmers are forced to squeeze every last bit of performance out of their code. I'm not sure how many developers would know what assembly language look like today -- I'm not sure if it's even taught anymore. Which is too bad. Efficient code is refreshing. When you see it, you notice -- an application executable that contains the entire program, GUI and all, does an amazing amount of stuff, quickly, and all packed into a little package that surprises with the power that comes with its size.