Itanium® Architecture for Programmers: Understanding 64-Bit Processors and EPIC Principles

1.3. Why Study Assembly Language?

The convenience and greater portability of high-level languages raise the very real question of why anyone should study assembly language. Is it some arcane rite of initiation for the truly computer-savvy? Or is the primary motivation to see how a computer really works?

In a purely intellectual sense, an in-depth appreciation of at least one computer architecture is incredibly helpful in trying to comprehend its most basic strengths and weaknesses. Moreover, in a pragmatic sense, assembly language may make it possible to accomplish the following:

• the fastest attainable execution speed;

• the least memory usage;

• very specialized data manipulation, thereby compensating for features lacking in a particular high-level ...