I know this is the most often cited advantage of C over asm, but given equal starting point (no libraries or equivalent libraries available for asm than in C), and a programmer equally skilled in both, the productivity is very similar. The difference starts to show up when the project grows, though - and it's mainly because of the optimisation the asm programmer tries to unconsciously keep on a very high level; and also because the longer asm function won't fit onto a screen (this might seem funny but I am convinced it is a significant issue).

As I might have already said, I am really no C-novice, having already contributed to many projects in C and also writing several pieces on my own; and although I admit I am learning, I look up as much stuff in C as many for the asm I am currently not working in (in the last 3 months I have worked in asm on 3 completely different architectures, for example).


There are much more detrimental factors to my programming effectivity than the choice of language; the need to switch often (see above) is one of the major one. Here (i.e. in _maintenance_ of various projects), C could show some advantage, too, as the syntax is grossly uniform across platforms.


Please note, I am not praising asm over C, as I would never praise Pascal over C without mentioning the context. I am just saying that the above assertion (effectivity), although used so often as an argument, is not quite true. YMMV.

JW