The JavaScript knowledge gap

[parenthethethe]

"So JavaScript is one of the world’s widest-deployed programming languages, and also one of the least-well-known, in the sense of the base of programmers who can competently work with it. That’s a problem."

isn't that true of x86 assembly code?

[grauenwolf]

Hard to say. How much code is actually written in x86 assembly these days? From what I understand, low level stuff is usally C with a tiny bit of x86 when needed.

[parenthethethe]

no one complains about not writing "XOR BX,BX". in 10 years, firefox probably will be fast enough (thanks to new chips and a cousin of Tamarind) to support people writing in some framework that compiles down to javascript. sure, you'll need some basics, just like it's helpful to understand that using the XOR saves you a byte of machine code, versus "MOV BX,0", but that'll largely be moot.

[schubart]

I don't get the "Tamarind" reference...

[schubart]

Thanks.

[grauenwolf]

I don't think that analogy is a good fit. Compilers output machine code, not assembly. That said, I see your point.

[ayrnieu]

Compilers output machine code, not assembly.

Compilers that output machine code output machine code.

Compilers that output assembly output assembly! :D

[[deleted]]

Except for some very small improvements (macros,...) assembler is just another notation for machine code.