Assembly usage

[DevilsCharm]

I was reading somewhere, it was a long time ago actually, that when complex applications are being made, many different languages are used. That wasn't a surprise to me, but I read that assembly was used a lot in order to keep the size of the program down. I thought assembly wasn't used anymore, though. Is what I heard true?

[bernkly]

I had never heard assembly language being used in writing complex program due to its limited capabilities. I had learned some assembly long ago but had forgoten now.

All i knew was the complex program such as credit card, smart card and etc was written in C language instead to keep the size small. I dont even think banking or insurance companies would hire any assembly language programmer or were they even existed. I myself are working for them.

[Jonas]

As someone who used to program a lot in assembly and machine language, I can tell you it is unlikely to be used much these days. It should be used more, but programmers have gotten extremely lazy, and compilers have gotten much less efficient as they have become more user friendly.

Some programs might use assembly for simple, short and/or key routines in order to maximize speed. If you have i/o routines that can be a potential bottle-beck for a program, you can overcome this a bit, by coding in assembly.