[Tutor] Bit-level field extraction

[Alan Gauld]

> Heh, you and me both.  I cut my teeth on IBM System/370 assembler. 
> Last
> time I had a job where I actually did programming as part of it, it 
> was
> System/390 machine code.  That's right, machine code, not assembler; 
> I'd
> directly type my hexadecimal programs into low storage at the 
> operator's
> console.

Hah, if you haven't bootstrapped a VAX using the toggle switches on
the front panel you ain't a real progammer ;-)

Actually one of our local Universities still starts their computer 
science
courses by teaching students how to do that, before moving them onto
machine code, assembler, C and finally Java(*). It's like an 
historical tour
of computing/programming. The machine code is done on little hex
keypads with pocket calculator style printout rools! Its only when 
they
get to C that they get to use a PC!

(*) Actually they get to choose from several languages in their 4th 
(final)
year, including Lisp and Prolog(both), Haskell and PL/SQL...
They consistently produce very good graduates, so it seems to work.

Alan G