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2 points by hjek 2514 days ago | link | parent

I read the first section of the readme without really understanding much but also not expecting to as I don't know x86 assembly. Then I decided to at least give the examples a superficial look as I'd noticed the word newcomers in the readme. But I couldn't see the number `42` in a program meant to print `42`, so that's where I gave up.

Is this meant to be a tutorial for assembly noobs?

For comparison I think your readme for Wart[0] is more welcoming: Briefly explaining what it is and how to run it, and then straight onto a simple example that people can actually try out.

[0]: https://github.com/akkartik/wart

2 points by akkartik 2514 days ago | link

That's a good point. I have similar instructions here, but they're in the second section, 3 screens down..

The audience is assembly-curious programmers, but you aren't expected to know any assembly. I just want to try to hook anyone interested in the goal. If you're interested in a stack you can understand from the ground up, I'm willing to try to explain things to you.

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2 points by hjek 2514 days ago | link

I might just be outside the target audience, for now. I don't even know any C. Realistically, I think it would have to be spoon-fed to me in some Bret Victor-esque crocodiles and eggs[0] manner for me to not lose focus.

I went through this absolutely fantastic SQL tutorial this week. Perhaps you might find their list of pedagogical principles[1] useful?

I think one thing that potentially could tempt me into low-level code would be making cool tunes[2][3].

[0]: http://worrydream.com/AlligatorEggs/

[1]: https://selectstarsql.com/frontmatter.html

[2]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GtQdIYUtAHg

[3]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qlrs2Vorw2Y

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2 points by akkartik 2514 days ago | link

I just made some tweaks to the Readme. What do you think?

https://github.com/akkartik/mu/commit/4650c8188f

https://github.com/akkartik/mu/blob/master/subx/Readme.md

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2 points by hjek 2514 days ago | link

Yea, I think that's more inviting.

I got to try out the point of compiling and trying out your programs now. `ex8`, `ex9` and `ex10` all segfault here.

Some time ago I was at a wedding, and I was terribly bored, until I found out that the guy to my left was writing washing machine software in assembly. In a way it seems awfully primitive, e.g. your `ex11.subx` is 350 lines long and prints out `.......` but I guess in certain systems it's the only option, and what's underneath it all in any system.

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2 points by akkartik 2514 days ago | link

Thanks for trying them out!

Those examples expect arguments at the commandline, and I chose not to perform error checking for an example :) The focus lay elsewhere for them. See the comment at the top for each.

ex11.subx is running a test for each of those dots :)

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