Does anyone code in assembler today?

[jeff <jko@save-net.com>]

I guess most programmers work in Java one of the
newer object oriented languages.   Or maybe
Linux is not ideal for assembler and the few remaining
coders use other platforms?

The level of activity on this list and others indicate
the assembler community is not very active.   That
is one indicator.  Another is the number of people
interested in new programs.  Ten years ago when
i released a program, a large number of people
jumped on it to look at the code.  My release of a
few days ago resulted in three responses.

So.. maybe we are a small community which is
difficult to join?  That's OK, there is always a niche
for small fast code and as systems mature the
competition moves from features to speed. 

I think this happened to some extent with DOS.  Once
it matured the companies needed something new to
sell.  They had a problem with the competition building
fast programs optimized in .asm.  This happened with
spreadsheets and other programs.

Of course, the argument is that hardware is getting faster
and speed is no longer an issue.  Also, memory is cheap
and big bloated programs are best because they get into the
market quickly.  It is much easier to train programmers
in the newer languages and todays tools isolates everyone
from knowing much about hardware or hex.

So.. i wonder if it would be better to port some old DOS
libraries to work under X or stay with the console?  I see
some asm activity in graphics and games.  There is also
the embedded linux area...

 jeff (looking for an interesting asm project)